Did you know that the top-selling vehicles over the last few years have all been pickup trucks? The Ford F-Series, Chevy Silverado, and Ram Pickup lines have all sold over 500,000 models every year in recent history.
Every time one of these vehicles is sold, a buyer has to decide how they want to begin their negotiation with the seller. The seller may be a private individual or a representative from a dealership.
In most cases, the negotiations begin by using an objective third-party standard for car value estimate. This is known as the Kelley Blue Book car value.
If you're planning for the purchase of a new vehicle and want to know what is a fair price in terms of the blue book value of your car, look no further. In this article, we will walk you through everything you need to know about using a car value calculator and getting a sense of a fair price for you to pay.
What Is the Blue Book Value of the Car?
Kelley Blue Book value is to determine a standard value of the car by an independent third party as a calculator for old car value or car value estimate. This party is known as Kelley Blue Book for car value estimates. The standard goes back decades all the way to the 1920s.
It exists as an independent industry standard for blue book value car or car value estimates. Information in the blue book informs manufacturers, dealers, consumers, and trade enthusiasts.
The Kelley valuators help to list the value of both new and old vehicles as a calculator for old car value. They don't just do vehicles, however. You can find a Kelley Blue Book value of your car for other motorized vehicles including snowmobiles, motorcycles, and boats.
Three Valuations
The Kelley Blue Book value of your car is updated once per year. The updates include new numbers for three different valuations for car blue book value.
Trade-in Value
First, the Kelley Blue Book value of your car provides information about trade-in value. This is the amount of money they believe you should expect to receive for a fair trade into a dealership.
Private Party Value
They also provide a private party value. The private party value helps to give you a sense of what you can expect to pay a third party if you're purchasing a vehicle from a private individual.
Retail Value
Finally, the Kelley Blue Book value of your car provides a retail value which is the estimated price you can expect to pay if purchasing from a dealership.
The company also provides three different types of values for new vehicles. Ultimately, the manufacturer determines one of these, which is the manufacturer suggested retail price or MSRP. Subsequently, the dealer can choose to put the car on the market for more or less than the suggested MSRP depending on local market factors.
They also provide an invoice price, also known as a dealer invoice for the value of my car. This number helps give buyers a sense of what the manufacturer is actually charging the dealer when they sell the car to them.
Finally, they provide a Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price for the value of my car which helps to give you a sense of what other buyers are paying for a specific car. Because mileage is equivalent at zero for all new vehicles, this can provide a standard for comparison to other dealerships across the country. Supposedly, this is based on recent sales information that is reported into the Kelley Blue Book value of your car.
The History of Kelley Blue Book
The first Kelley Blue Book came out in 1926. Since then, every year it is printed as a guide with a blue cover with thousands of data points for auto dealers and potential buyers.
When you know what the Kelley Blue Book car values say about the value of the car you want to purchase, you are giving yourself a leg up. It is an industry standard that allows for fair negotiation.
Whether or not you want to trade in your used vehicle to a dealer, or if instead, you want to purchase a new or used vehicle from a dealer or private individual and need a car value estimator, blue book car values provide a helpful benchmark. Getting information about a car's value from an objective third party like blue book car values helps to keep the process fair and makes ripoffs less frequent.
Many car negotiations begin with the Kelley Blue Book value as a standard of comparison for the initial terms to be a calculator for old car value or book value of car. From there, buyers and sellers can haggle based on finer points about the vehicle's condition and local market factors to determine book value of car.
How Much Is My Car Worth?
As mentioned above, the Kelley Blue Book value provides a standard of comparison for vehicles across the country. Kelley Blue Book looks at a number of factors before determining their evaluated prices that are updated each year.
They first look at the body style of the vehicle to try to create an apples-to-apples comparison even between cars of the same make and model. They also look at the year in which the vehicle was manufactured.
Beyond this, they look at specific features of the vehicle like the engine size and the transmission type. There may be custom trim levels or accessory options that are available on certain vehicles. Kelley Blue Book does its best to account for these changes in value and provide tiered pricing information.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they look at the general condition of the vehicle as well as the mileage. This is because it gives information about the level of car depreciation.
Buyers can expect an average vehicle to depreciate at a rate of between 15 and 20% every year. When a vehicle is in greater demand, the depreciation slows and the vehicle retains its value for longer. You can find vehicles that have low rates of depreciation because their body styles do not change from year to year.
This is because manufacturers know that these vehicles hold their value the way they are already being manufactured. In short, they don't want to fix what isn't broken.
You can also look at the Kelley Blue Book value as a calculator for old car value because it will help you determine which of these vehicles are likely to have lower rates of depreciation based on history.
Another Standard: National Appraisal Guides
One other option for consumers is known as NADA. This stands for National Appraisal Guides, which have a long history back to the era of the origination of Kelley Blue Book.
These guides provide information about current used car values based on actual wholesale transactions. They are able to see approximately 80% of these total transactions in the market due to special business relationships and retail transactions. NADA has a special relationship with JD Power and Associates and can use PIN data to assess retail transactions in real-time.
They also request price information from other online resources and factor that into their pricing algorithm. The goal of the NADA guides is to provide an expected retail value of what a consumer can expect to purchase at the dealer's lot.
How Can I Check the Trade-In Value of My Car?
You can use these resources to check the car trade-in value of your car or book value of car. You can either request the current Kelley Blue Book car values to be sent to you, or you can go online to KBB.com to find up to the minute accurate valuations of your vehicle of interest.
Of course, other resources exist for consumers to check car trade-in value. Black Book, NADA guides, Edmunds, and Auto Trader are all examples of common sources of up-to-date pricing information. We recommend averaging multiple data points to increase confidence in your benchmark value.
What Is Vehicle Black Book Value?
While Kelley Blue Book car values for car value estimates have been a long-standing standard for car valuation, it does have a major competitor. Black Book is used by many major online used automobile sources such as Cars.com. The Black Book value or car value calculator helps to give the buyer a sense of the wholesale or auction value of the vehicle.
Black Book car value calculator or car worth calculator looks at pricing information provided by wholesale auctions as well as the actual seller to buyer vehicle transactions all around the United States.
In contrast to the Kelley Blue Book value of a car for car value estimates of used car prices, the Black Book car value calculator values are updated every week. However, for many vehicles during many weeks, the values do not change significantly.
How To Determine Value of Used Cars
Black Book car value calculator for car value estimates recognizes that purchasing a vehicle at different times of the year can lead to different pricing valuations. There is significant fluctuation in the market in terms of supply and demand depending on the time of year.
Of course, this is more significant in certain areas of the country than in others. For example, in San Francisco, where the weather is similar throughout the year, these fluctuations are less extreme compared to a place like rural Montana.
Overall, the Black Book value as a blue book value of a car can be a helpful adjunct to the Kelley Blue Book value for used car values using a car value estimator. This is especially true if you are looking to purchase vehicles through Cars.com or through a wholesale auction.
How Do I Find the Value of My Used Car?
As discussed, the best way to start to assess the value of your vehicle is to look at the Kelley Blue Book value for car value estimates or another third-party objective standard. After that, you can have your vehicle appraised by a local third party for a small fee.
How to Calculate Car Value After an Accident
To calculate used car values after an accident, first check your car book price prior to the incident on Kelley Blue Book. Then look for a car value calculator that factors in the extent of the damage done to provide you with a new estimated car value.
Oftentimes, a quality car worth calculator can give you a solid estimate of your car’s new value in relation to its previous car book price. A good vehicle value calculator factors in insurance concerns, total damage, and sales viability.
How Do Insurance Companies Calculate the Value of a Car?
Insurance companies have their own car value estimator systems that assess the value of your car before extending/changing coverage. Oftentimes, they have an on-site used car value calculator that takes into account the type of car, its age, its accident history, and its current value in relation to its car book price with a service like Kelley Blue Book.
Used car values may differ from insurance company to company, depending on how their car value estimator tools weigh the previously-mentioned factors.
How to Calculate Car Value Based on Mileage
According to most experts, your estimated car value will depreciate by an average of $0.08 for every mile on a vehicle’s odometer. Furthermore, a vehicle value calculator will usually dock 10% off your new car’s value just for driving it off the lot.
However, the easiest way to calculate your car’s value is with the help of a car value estimator. Finding your used car’s value in relation to its car book price is an inexact science. But, a good used car price calculator will give you an idea of what you might be able to command when putting a vehicle on the market.
How to Determine Wholesale Value of a Used Car
To calculate the wholesale price of a used car, use a website like Kelley Blue Book to estimate its car book price. Then, factor in its condition with the help of a reputable car worth calculator to assess an estimate wholesale price.
If you don’t want to use a used car price calculator, you can also have your used car appraised by a trusted car dealership. However, be careful! A used car value calculator isn’t trying to sell you a car. A car dealer usually is. They may inflate the wholesale value of a used vehicle in hopes of securing a deal with you on another vehicle.
How to Calculate Market Value of a Car
To find the market value of your car, head to a website like Edmunds or Kelley Blue Book. Use their “price my car” function, enter in relevant information like your car’s make and model, mileage, and condition, and then utilize the assessed value to estimate your car’s total market value.
What Is the Most Accurate Used Car Value Calculator or Guide?
One of the problems that buyers face with blue book value for cars or blue book value for used cars is that there are variations between the pricing values provided by different sources for used car values. The Kelley Blue Book car values may say one thing while Edmunds, Black Book, or NADA car blue book values may say another. So how do you know which you should trust?
Overall, Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds car blue book values help to supply buyers with a good general ballpark reference as a calculator for old car value and blue book value for cars or blue book value for used cars. This helps to give buyers a sense of the range of expected values based on current market conditions using blue book car value. These are specific to the particular make and model that you select as well as the condition and features included.
The sources for this information are different, so depending on the vehicle, there can be almost no variation or a significant amount of variation between the two providers.
After using these two, we recommend including Black Book or NADA guide information for blue book value of car in an average for calculator old car value or along with blue book value of a car.
Exploring Multiple Streams of Information
One of the best ways to determine which of these sources is most accurate for you is to shop around. There are many different large car shopping sites available for free on the Internet.
Auto Trader and CarsDirect include weekly pricing information for blue book value used cars based on individuals who have purchased the exact same type of vehicle you want to buy. If you go around and enter your information into a few different sites, you can get a ballpark estimate by averaging them together. This works the same if you are also a seller and once you offload one of your used vehicles.
It's safe to say that if you average three or more data points for used car values or blue book value car or car blue book value, you are likely to end up within the reasonable ballpark range of an expected estimated value for used car values that is accurate for your purposes using blue book car value.
Sticking to the Blue Book Car Value
At the end of the day, the blue book car value or car blue book value or blue book value car of your vehicle of interest is likely to be the benchmark from which you start your negotiation. If you are purchasing a used or new vehicle, looking at used car values provided by Kelley blue book value of a car or blue book value used cars gives you some degree of protection and leverage when the dealer wants to inflate their price. Conversely, as a seller, you can be sure that you are getting a reasonable price for your car based on its features and condition.
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