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You need to know how much your vehicle is worth, plain and simple. However, there are seemingly countless books for car valuations out there. Which ones are worth your time and which ones should you ignore?
Today, we’ll go over the different value books, examining how they get their values and when they should be used.
What’s My Car Worth?
You need to understand the worth of your car before you start selling it. Where do you start?
What’s my car worth? Well, the first step is understanding how you’ll be selling it. The vast majority of the time, your car will be worth far more when you sell it privately as opposed to trading it in.
Why doesn’t everyone just sell privately? In order for you to land that higher selling price, you’ll need to list it on a classifieds site, talk to multiple would-be buyers, have plenty of people come look at it, and eventually you’ll find the right buyer.
Compare that process to simply handing the keys over when you buy your new car. Trading-in is much easier. You’ll be sacrificing some profits for the ease of trading the car in.
If you’re looking at trading the car in, most price books will tell you that your car is worth less when being traded in. This begs the question, why are trade in values so low? The short answer is that the dealership has to recondition your car before it can be sold, which costs money. Alternatively, they may simply sell it as-is at a wholesale auction, which means less money than selling it to another car buyer. Oh, and not to mention, the dealer needs to buy the car cheap enough to be able to turn around and make a profit.
In order to determine your car’s true worth, you need to look at a few different book values in addition to understanding that it will vary based on how you sell it, who you sell it to, and your negotiation skills.
What Are All These Books?
Why are there so many vehicle value books? Why can’t someone just tell me what my car is worth?
Some books are intended for car dealership usage. This means that they’ll be focused on overall profitability and will often suggest lower prices than other books.
Some books are used primarily by financial institutions for setting loan to value ratios, and other books are intended for consumer usage. Different book values serve different purposes, and as a savvy car seller, it’s important you understand the distinction between each.
Another difference between the different book values is how they gather data, along with how they analyze it. Every book has its own data sources and evaluation algorithm, which is why the price is always different.
You should use multiple books and tools to understand the value of your vehicle, since there’s no definitive source. You should also understand that just because a vehicle valuation book says that your car is worth X, that doesn’t mean you’ll receive X. These values are data to use in negotiations.
What is Kelley Blue Book?
Kelley Blue Book is perhaps the first name that comes to mind when most people think of a car evaluation tool. KBB has been around since 1926 and has grown by leaps and bounds since the first booklet was published.
Kelley Blue Book is known for providing different values based on whether you are trading a vehicle in or selling it privately. There are also different price estimates for vehicles based on the condition that they’re in. This actually harms the accuracy of Kelley Blue Book, since people often overestimate the condition of their vehicle.
When Should I Use It?
You should use Kelley Blue Book with every car transaction that you make. However, be aware that this book is known for giving values that are higher than what a car dealer will offer you for your vehicle. Kelley Blue Book is better for evaluating the price of a car sold privately.
Founded in 1955, Black Book has been on a mission to provide accurate car valuations since its inception. Black Book charges a subscription fee, which means it’s typically only used by dealerships and financial institutions that will use it enough to justify the cost. Black Book is heavily used by car dealers to determine how much you should be offered for your trade-in.
Black Book reaches its values by evaluating the sales data generated by over 60 auction companies around the country. Some of this data is even obtained by physically visiting auction houses and viewing their books.
When Should I Use It?
Black Book values are typically not available to individual consumers, since they focus on serving car dealerships. However, here at CarEdge we partnered with Black Book to get their data into your hands. CarEdge members can now see Black Book trade-in, private party, and retail valuations in their dashboard. This means you’ll have the exact same information the dealer is using when you visit them.
Short for the National Automobile Dealers Association, NADA has been in operation since 1917. Shortly after forming, they released NADA Guides to help determine the value of any given vehicle. These guides were published as books for quite some time. These days, NADA Guides are trusted by millions of consumers that want to understand the value of their vehicles.
NADA Guides uses local market demand, wholesale prices, and retail market prices to determine the valuation of any given vehicle. One downside of this approach is that they do not factor in condition or mileage, which creates estimates that are usually higher than what might be realistic.
When Should I Use It?
You can use NADA Guides whenever you might otherwise use Kelley Blue Book. In fact, combining multiple books is a great way to help paint a picture of what your car is worth. Use NADA Guides in conjunction with other valuation tools and you’ll be ready to negotiate with the dealership. Take note that car dealerships and lending institutions often use NADA Guides to come up with financing offers, since they tend to overvalue vehicles (this helps with loan to value ratios).
NADA Guides are often used by financial institutions when they’re deciding how large of a loan they can approve for you.
Edmunds began publishing a car-buying guide in 1966. Over time, it evolved into becoming one of the most frequently referenced sources for car buying information. In the 1990s, Edmunds pivoted into the digital space and started to help consumers evaluate car prices.
These days, Edmunds is known for two impressive tools:
True Market Value
This car evaluator helps consumers to decide what they should be paying for a new car and how much they should sell their current car for. While some have criticized the aging design of this tool, it’s still well worth using when you want to gain more insight into your car’s value.
Total Cost of Ownership
Ever wanted to know how much it would cost to own a BMW? This tool can help you to compare cars by presenting facts about the ongoing costs of ownership. It’s based largely on reported maintenance costs, along with gas mileage information.
Edmunds also publishes plenty of videos, guides, and walkthroughs on a variety of auto topics. They’ve earned their place as an authority in the auto industry.
When Should I Use It?
You should use Edmunds whenever you’d like to know the value of a car. Since it’s free to use the tool, you should use it to evaluate your new car, along with the car you’ll be selling. Combined with other value books, this information can help you to negotiate with the dealership or a private buyer.
Galves began in the 1920s as a wholesale car dealership that sold hundreds of cars per month. As the company evolved, they saw a need for a tool that could evaluate the price of vehicles. Since nothing else existed, they created it. It was a printed book that aimed at helping car dealers to understand which prices they should use for buying and selling vehicles.
Much like their old books, modern Galves is a tool that helps car dealerships to price their cars. They also use the same data to power a platform called Accu-Trade, which is specifically geared toward advising car dealerships about the amount to offer a client on a trade-in vehicle.
When Should I Use It?
Unless you get a job at a car dealership, you likely will not be using Galves. Instead, use tools like Edmunds, NADA Guides, and the Kelley Blue Book to evaluate your car.
Galves exists to serve car dealerships, though, which means that you should be aware of it. Galves often provides lower valuations than other services, which is one reason why dealerships like to use it.
Red Book is a unique entry on this list, since this service doesn’t actually operate in the United States (or even in North America). Instead, this service is for Australia and the Asian Pacific. It’s similar to Kelley Blue Book in that it uses the make, model, mileage, and condition to reach the value of a given vehicle. Red Book is well-respected throughout Australia and used by car buyers and car dealers alike.
When Should I Use It?
Australian and Asian Pacific consumers should use the Red Book for any auto transaction that they’re making. It’s always worth understanding the value of your vehicle when you’re about to buy or sell a vehicle
Dealerships around the country use vAuto to manage their inventory and evaluate car prices. This subscription-based service is only available for people who are willing to pay an expensive fee, which means that this tool is often used exclusively by car dealerships. vAuto has access to data from two different sources: Manheim and Autotrader. All of their data is parsed and analyzed to determine how much a vehicle is worth.
When Should I Use It?
As a car buyer, you won’t be likely to use vAuto. Instead, you’d be better served to use sites like Kelley Blue Book and the NADA Guides to evaluate your car’s worth.
Manheim Market Report, otherwise known as MMR, is a service that provides wholesale car buyers with valuable insights into car values. Manheim is an auction house that has branches all around the country, so they have millions of auto sales that they can analyze.
When analysis is done, MMR provides its users with precise reports that include the retail and wholesale value of a given car, along with predictions and insights into how much the car will be worth in the future.
When Should I Use It?
As a consumer, you won’t have access to the MMR unless you decide to pay their expensive membership fees. It’s not worth it for someone who just wants to know the value of their trade-in or new car. Instead, use services like our Market Price Report, NADA Guides, Edmunds, and the Kelley Blue Book.
In addition to referencing book values we recommend you get quotes from “digital car dealers” that are desperate to buy your used car. We’ve gathered some useful online tools that you can use to generate quotes for your trade-in. These quotes will be massively helpful when you are at the dealership.
Carvana. Known as the “Cardian Angel,” this easy to use tool provides a customized trade-in quote that you can either accept or use in negotiations.
CarMax. Simply input your VIN and receive an online quote for a trade-in. Most cars will receive a quote, while other car owners will be asked to come in to receive a quote.
Vroom. Get a quote based on your VIN and mileage instantly. You’ll receive a redeemable quote that you can use as a negotiation tool.
Which Book is Right for You?
There’s no rule that says that you can only use one value book. Combine our Market Price Report with NADA Guides and CarEdge’s Black Book evaluation to showcase that you know the value of your car when you’re at the dealership or selling your care to a private party.
Every piece of data that you bring with you will become an important tool when you’re looking to trade in a car or sell it privately. You can even secure quotes from sites like Carvana and Vroom when you want to effectively negotiate for a higher trade-in value.
How much is the car dealership going to offer you for your vehicle? You can bet that they’ll come in with a low offer, so you should be prepared with plenty of information to allow you to counter that offer.
Consumers have access to a number of services that can allow them to understand the value of their cars, including Kelley Blue Book, NADA Guides, and Edmunds. All of these sources can be used by consumers when they are deciding how to price their vehicle.
However, car dealerships have access to different sources of information that help them to determine how much to offer you for your car. One of these sources is called the Manheim Market Report, otherwise known as MMR. MMR values are designed to allow car dealerships to assess how much should be offered for any potential trade-ins.
Today, we’re going to take a look at MMR values, including what they are, how MMR reaches its prices, and how these values will affect your car buying experience.
What is MMR?
MMR, which is short for the Manheim Market Report, is a specific report that’s available to auto wholesalers. Manheim is a brand of wholesale auction house that has auctions in every state (and most major cities). As such, there are millions of sales transactions being tracked every month through their services.
Manheim put together the MMR to help car buyers and sellers understand how much they should be paying for a vehicle. MMR values are a specialized tool that’s only available to people who buy cars at wholesale prices, which typically means that it’s used by car dealerships.
How Does MMR Reach Its Value?
MMR provides data about the wholesale prices of vehicles for the past 13 months. All of this data is generated by real vehicle sales at the Manheim auction houses found throughout the country.
While their method for gathering data is straightforward, the way that they present it is quite helpful to anyone that is looking to buy or sell a vehicle at a wholesale auction.
MMR values will show prices in wholesale and retail markets, with three different tiers of prices that are based on the condition of the vehicle. Additionally, the report shows prices going back one year, six months, and two months. Then, predictions are made for how the price will change in one month and one year.
Are MMR Values Accurate?
Since MMR gathers data based on its own sales, it can be considered to be quite accurate. Every sale made at an auction house in the Manheim network is tracked, analyzed, and used when someone generates a report for the same vehicle.
Car dealerships use MMR values in conjunction with other vehicle evaluators to help them determine how much to offer a customer for their trade-in. An MMR readout will give a car dealership a general idea of how much they could sell your trade-in for at an auction, which guides how much they’ll be willing to offer you.
Something that’s unique to MMR is that the prices are updated and refreshed every night. Since Manheim auctions are operating all the time, this allows Manheim to integrate new sales data into their pricing evaluations regularly. Other similar evaluators will only update data every week or every month.
When Should I Use MMR Values?
Like a few other auto evaluation services, you won’t be interacting with the MMR directly. However, it will impact the offers that you receive from car dealerships on your trade-in. Dealerships will often use the MMR, Black Book, and vAuto to reach an offer price for your vehicle.
When you trade in your vehicle, your job is to have plenty of data available to counter the car dealership’s offer. Before visiting the target dealership, you should use a CarEdge trade-in valuation provided by Black Book, Kelley Blue Book printout, and perhaps a NADA Guide evaluation. On top of these evaluations, having a real offer from sites like Carvana and Vroom will encourage a dealer to offer more for your trade-in.
Remember to negotiate the price of your trade-in and the price of your new car in two separate negotiations. If you end up negotiating both at the same time, the car salesperson has the opportunity to manipulate the numbers to make it seem like you’re getting a better deal than you are. Start by negotiating the price of the new car, then mention that you have a car that you might trade-in for the right price.
Interested in learning how people come up with car values? You can learn more about other evaluation books here.
Understanding the value of your car is vital when you’re thinking about trading it in or selling it privately. This can help you to know that you’re not asking for an overinflated price, but also need to be aware when someone is offering you too little. That where things like Galves values can be helpful.
While there are many price books out there, today, we’re going to take a look at Galves. Dealers and financial institutions use Galves to determine how much to offer you for your vehicle. While you won’t be likely to use Galves directly, it’s worth learning about the tools that the dealerships are using.
What is Galves?
Galves began in the 1920s as an automotive wholesale company that sold hundreds of cars per month. In the 1950s, they saw that there was a gap in the market for an auto evaluation tool that would assist dealers in streamlining their operations. They filled this gap by publishing the first edition of a printed book designed to address vehicle pricing.
Today, Galves operates a service that helps dealerships in the same ways that their physical books used to. Galves calculates the price of any given vehicle. This price is often used to justify quotes that are lower than the customer might be expecting.
How Does Galves Reach its Value?
Galves does not publicly discuss exactly how it reaches its values, but we know that a vehicle’s sales history is a primary factor in the way that they perform their calculations. Other factors include the make, model, miles, and condition of a given vehicle. All of this data is processed by their proprietary algorithms to determine the value of the car.
Galves uses their data to power a platform called Accu-Trade. This platform uses vehicle-specific information and historical sales data to generate an estimate of much should be offered for trade-ins. Dealers consider this data to be accurate and have confidence in basing their offers on Accu-Trade’s valuations.
Are Galves Values Accurate?
Galves is believed to give lower estimates than other auto evaluators. The theory is that they “lowball” customers by using Galves’ evaluations to guide their quotes. Some dealerships do use multiple price books and use the lowest value out of all of the books to craft their offer to the customer.
However, dealerships believe that Galves gives them accurate information. This is why it’s become one of the standard price books for thousands of dealerships around the country. It’s a trusted resource, has been used for decades, and helps car dealers to make as much money as possible.
When Should I Use Galves Values?
Galves does not make their data available to the general public for free. Instead, dealerships, auctioneers, financial institutions, and sales managers have access to their platform. A consumer could subscribe to Galves, but it’s not usually worth the price when you only want to buy a car once every few years.
Instead of relying on Galves values, we recommend using the CarEdge trade-in valuation tool. We partnered with Black Book (another book valuation company that dealers use) to allow our members to access trade-in, private party, and retail estimates for any VIN they enter.
Be aware that many dealerships will use Galves values as their justification for quoting you a low price. At the same time, most online price evaluators will quote a value that’s more than your car is worth to a dealer.
Car dealerships have to factor in the price of performing any maintenance or repairs on your car before it can be sold (oftentimes referred to as reconditioning). With many cars, dealerships have to consider that it will cost up to $2,000 to make an average trade-in vehicle retail-ready.
It’s wise to secure quotes from other dealerships that you can leverage in your favor. Carvana, Vroom, and CarMax all offer easy-to-obtain quotes for your car. Since the dealerships know you already have these quotes, they’ll be more likely to offer you a fair value in order to make the sale. That way, you’ll know you’re getting a good deal.
While you may not use Galves, you can trust that it’s a source that dealerships will use to get some of their information. Other price books that dealerships often use are vAuto and the Black Book. They’ll often use all three to determine the price to give you for your trade-in.
Interested in learning how people come up with car values? You can learn more about other evaluation books here.
You need to know the value of your car before you start to think about trading it in or selling it privately. With either option, you’ll need to know how to set your price accurately. Otherwise, you run the risk of selling it for too little or asking too much. That’s where Edmunds values can be helpful.
There are several prominent companies out there that are designed to help sellers to evaluate the price of any given vehicle. But the question remains: Which ones should you be using?
Today, we’re going to take a look at Edmunds, a source of car information that also provides an evaluation tool. We’ll discuss who they are, how they find their prices, and how accurate their estimates tend to be.
What is Edmunds?
Edmunds began as Edmunds Publications in 1966. It was a printed booklet that aimed at helping shoppers to make informed buying decisions. In the 1990s, Edmunds made a series of maneuvers to become a digital source of auto information. Consumers trusted them for advice about car buying and understanding the value of a car.
These days, they are known for their True Market Value tool. This tool analyzes a number of factors to determine the correct price for a vehicle. Due to their existing reputation as a trusted source from which to buy vehicles, their True Market Value tool was quickly accepted as a great way to understand the value of the car.
In addition to their True Market Value tool, Edmunds is known for providing useful information about cars, along with their tools that allow buyers to search the inventory of a network of dealerships. The True Cost-to-Own feature, which compares maintenance costs for vehicles, has drawn the attention of car buyers for years, as well.
How Does Edmunds Reach Its Value?
Edmunds uses a car’s make, model, mileage, condition, and styling to determine the worth of a vehicle. From this information, it provides a valuation both for trading it in or selling it to a private buyer. They collect and analyze car sales from an unknown number of sales across the country. Overall, it’s a worthwhile tool when you want to determine how much your car is worth.
Their search tool could be improved by showing consumers how many car sales are used to generate an evaluation. It would make their tool more trustworthy and help customers to gain an idea of how accurate their values are.
Are Edmunds Values Accurate?
Edmunds True Market Value tool is fairly accurate for new cars. However, most dealerships do not use this tool as a reference point. It may be worth bringing up an estimate in private sales, though, as many consumers are aware of the authority behind the Edmunds brand.
In the True Market Value tool, predictions are available for all models. New predictions are published regularly and they can help you to decide when it might be the best time to buy that exact model. It’s another good tool to help you secure a great deal on your next car.
When Should I Use Edmunds Values?
Edmunds has plenty of great information and tools available for car buyers. Keep in mind that once you share your personal information with Edmunds it’s likely you’ll be getting phone calls from dealers, so we really don’t like that this is a requirement (especially when the dealers don’t use Edmunds Values when quoting a trade-in).
Understand that the Edmunds Value will likely be higher than what a dealer offers you. It’s good to have a variety of information before negotiating the sale of your vehicle, and it’s also important to have realistic expectations. That’s why we recommend looking at other car values, such as the offer comparison tool here.
Edmunds provides a number of tools that we believe are helpful for consumers to understand how much to pay for a car. However, don’t expect dealers or private buyers to pay you exactly what is estimated. Instead, use the information as a negotiation point to help you nail down the exact price of the car.
If you’re buying a car at a dealership, make sure to negotiate the trade-in value of your old car and the price of the new car separately. If you try to negotiate them together, it’s easier for dealerships to move numbers around to make you feel like you’re getting a better deal than you really are.
We suggest that you start by negotiating the price that you’ll be paying for the new car in the beginning. Focus on the out-the-door price. Once you’ve agreed on that price, then say that you might want to trade in your current vehicle. Next, it’s time to negotiate the value of your trade-in. You can use Edmunds to make your case for its value, along with other tools, such as CarEdge’s integration with Black Book evaluations so that you know what a dealer will offer you.
Knowing the value of your vehicle is vital to ensuring that you receive a fair price for it, whether you seek out a private sale or a trade-in. Whichever way you plan to sell your car, you need to know what it’s worth. That’s why Red Book values were created: To evaluate your car.
Even though our services cater to the market in the United States, today, we’re going to examine Australia’s main source for auto evaluations. Understanding how services that are similar to the Kelley Blue Book function in another country can help to form a well-rounded perception of the auto industry.
In today’s post, we’ll go over what Red Book is, how they reach their values, and whether those values are accurate.
What is Red Book?
Red Book serves Australia. It allows residents to evaluate their current vehicles or evaluate vehicles they’d like to buy. It functions in a similar way to Kelley Blue Book and other tools that are available in the United States. However, it will cost money to evaluate a vehicle using their services.
A Red Book Valuation Report, which costs $33, will provide an evaluation of the target car, including reports that will help with selling, trading-in, or buying. Even though it may feel strange to pay a fee for this service, if it saves you more than $33 on the value of your car, then it’s worth doing.
Red Book does provide a number of free tools that help Australians browse different cars so that they can make informed buying decisions. Red Book can also evaluate bikes, boats, and some commercial products. They’ll even help you to arrange to secure a pre-purchase inspection of any new car.
One of the main features marketed on the Red Book website is its “News & Advice” section. They have over 390 articles published that cover a wide range of topics. It’s clear that the goal of this section is to be a source of news and knowledge to Red Book customers.
Operating under the same name but on a different website, Red Book also serves the Asian Pacific. All of the same services that they provide to Australians carry directly over to their Asian Pacific website. Coverage includes countries such as Thailand, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.
How Does Red Book Reach Its Value?
Red Book uses many of the same criteria as other similar services: Kilometers traveled, condition of the car, options and features included, and aftermarket features. They gather their data through a number of sources, including auction house sales data, car dealership, field research, and analysis of the major auto classified websites that serve Australia.
Red Book’s data is gathered and analyzed constantly, with their official numbers being updated and made available each month. Red Book does not publicly discuss their method for analyzing and parsing all of the data that they gather, so we’re assuming that they have a proprietary algorithm that does much of the heavy lifting.
Are Red Book Values Accurate?
Government departments and car dealerships throughout Australia recognize Red Book’s accuracy. The company has a reputation for providing quality price valuation services in both of these areas. Car dealerships and consumers often use Red Book evaluations in negotiations to determine the final price of a vehicle.
When Should I Use Red Book Values?
Australian car buyers should use Red Book before heading into any auto transaction. The data is invaluable for the Australian market and having a Red Book Valuation Report will help you to understand what you should be paying for a new car, as well as what you should receive for your old car. While it is upsetting that they charge for their valuation report, when compared to the potential savings, it’s worth the price.
Ultimately, Red Book values are accurate and they provide a great service to Australian consumers. The company constantly gathers data, analyzes it, and makes sure that they provide the most up-to-date information possible.
On top of their auto valuations, they provide plenty of useful tools, services, and information to anyone that is looking to learn more about cars. Even if you’re not sure what kind of car you want, Red Book can help you to weigh your options and pick out your next vehicle.
Interested in learning how people come up with car values? You can learn more about other evaluation books here.
