CarEdge Insights
CarEdge saved me over 4,500 dollars on a brand new Honda Pilot. I can't say thank you enough.
Price intelligence
Find a wide range of vehicle listings with market insights on new and used listings near you.
What Are Galves Values?
🚘 Search for cars with no ads
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.
What Are Edmunds Values?
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.
Compare Offers in Minutes with CarEdge
It’s free, and takes just a minute. See what online car buyers will pay for your car!
What Are Red Book Values?
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.
What is vAuto?
🚘 Search for cars with no ads
The value of your car plays an important role in getting you into your next car. You might decide to use your old car as a trade-in, or perhaps you’d like to sell it privately and use that cash as a down payment. Either way that you’d like to go, you need to understand what your car is worth. That’s where vAuto comes in.
There are plenty of auto evaluation tools out there, commonly called “books” because of the way in which they used to circulate. These days, most of the evaluation tools are online and can provide an instant value of any car.
Today, we’re going to take a look at vAuto. We’ll go over what vAuto is, how it reaches its value, and examine how accurate their values are.
What is vAuto?
Founded in 2006, vAuto is a company that was formed by “automotive industry veterans” that aims to give car dealerships a new way to manage their inventory of used cars. Their inventory management tools changed in 2010 when vAuto was bought out by the AutoTrader Group, which gave them access to all of the data from two of the nation’s biggest wholesale markets: Manheim and Autotrader.
All of this data serves to provide car dealerships with more information about their used car inventory. The goal is to help dealerships make the most of their used car inventory and ultimately make the most money possible.
In 2014, vAuto finally grew beyond its original purpose as inventory management software and launched Conquest, a tool for new cars and pricing services. These days, dealerships around the country use vAuto to manage their inventory, evaluate cars, and even guide the reconditioning process of trade-ins.
Have you noticed that all of their services are for car dealers? That’s because vAuto is not a consumer-facing company. The car dealerships are their customers, not car buyers. As such, they restrict access to their services to those who pay a subscription fee.
How Does vAuto Reach its Value?
As discussed, vAuto has access to two valuable marketplaces for wholesale cars: Autotrader and Manheim. Using this data, vAuto calculates how much a dealership should pay for a car. Not only that, but they estimate how long it will take to sell the car in question.
Unfortunately, vAuto does not disclose any part of the algorithm used to calculate car values. We can assume that it takes into account all of the usual data, such as make, model, mileage, and condition. All of this information can be used to determine how much you should be offered for your trade-in.
Are vAuto Values Accurate?
Dealerships have been using vAuto for over a decade. It’s designed to help them manage multiple aspects of their business. Evaluating used and new cars is only one of the services made available by vAuto. As such, car dealers are quite confident in the services that they receive from vAuto.
Most car dealerships consider vAuto to be an important part of their auto valuation process. They’ll run your car through vAuto to gain a better understanding of how much to offer you, how long it’ll take them to sell it, and how in-demand your particular car might be. With all of this information in hand, they’ll make you an offer with the goal of making a profit on your car.
When Should I Use vAuto Values?
You won’t be using vAuto, as they are a subscription-based service that caters directly to car dealerships. However, you can use our Market Price Report, Kelley Blue Book, and NADA Guides to determine the value of your vehicle. You can even make use of CarEdge’s new integration with Black Book to help you understand what you’ll be offered for your trade-in.
Most car dealers will use vAuto in conjunction with the Black Book to determine what to offer a customer for their trade-in. You should understand that they’re likely going to show you the lowest valuation they can find, so don’t be afraid to push back. Highlight the valuations from other services to show that your car is worth more than what they’re offering.
One great strategy is to obtain quotes for your car from other dealerships or sites, such as Carvana and Vroom. Take these real quotes to the target car dealership to show them that you already have offers on the table. If they want your business, they’ll likely offer you more for your car.
Interested in learning how people come up with car values? You can learn more about other evaluation books here.
What Are NADA Guides Values?
🚘 Search for cars with no ads
Whether you’re selling your car privately or trading it in to a dealership, you absolutely need to understand the value of your vehicle. The last thing that you want to do is get taken advantage of because you don’t understand your vehicle’s worth. That’s where NADA Guides values become important.
However, there are quite a few different car evaluation tools out there. These are known colloquially as “books,” since they began as physical books. With so many options, which bok value should you use?
Today, we’re going to take a look at NADA Guides, one of the most popular car value estimators out there. We’ll take a brief look at their history, discuss how they reach their values, and examine when you should use their evaluation tool.
What is the NADA Guide?
Short for the National Automobile Dealers Association, NADA has been around since 1917. Not long after their formation, they started releasing NADA Guides, which is an evaluator tool used to determine how much a used car is worth.
Back in 1933, it was released as a periodical publication that has grown into a fully-featured website that helps consumers to understand as much as possible about a car’s value.
NADA Guides values are trusted by countless car dealers and consumers when it comes to understanding the worth of any given vehicle. They are widely considered to be an equivalent to the popular Kelley Blue Book. There is much debate about which one of the two is more accurate, but the truth is that they are both worth using.
How Does NADA Reach Its Value?
Since NADA Guides was created out of a car dealers’ association, NADA Guides use real sales data from car dealerships to reach their values. NADA Guides use three primary criteria to determine the value of any given car:
- Local market demand
- Wholesale price
- Real-time retail market prices
NADA Guides put heavy emphasis on the car’s wholesale price, as opposed to focusing on mileage and conditions, as other value estimators do. The downside to this, however, is that NADA assumes that all vehicles are in great condition. This practice results in overinflated prices in situations in which the vehicle does have mechanical or cosmetic issues.
You should use NADA Guides values in conjunction with other value estimators to paint a picture of your car’s worth. Dealerships will use NADA Guides to establish a loan value for when they look for financing offers, then they’ll typically use the Black Book to reach their offer amount. This means that you should use everything at your disposal to counter their offer and ask for more. You deserve to get the most out of your trade-in.
Are NADA Guide Values Accurate?
NADA Guide values are considered by many to be overinflated, due to the fact that they don’t factor in the condition of the vehicle. However, many dealerships and consumers still use these guides to get an idea about what their car is worth.
Dealerships typically use the Black Book and NADA Guides in addition to their own appraisal to determine the value of your trade-in. They want to make money off of your trade-in, so they’ll generally offer you a much lower value than what you’re expecting.
When Should I Use NADA Guides Values?
You should use NADA Guides whenever you are planning to trade in or sell your car. Don’t rely solely on Kelley Blue Book — use NADA Guides, as well. Both are free, so you might as well put them to work for you! The more information that you can bring to the dealership with you, the better your negotiation will be. There is no single source that dictates your value; you’ll need to use multiple sources to understand the worth of your vehicle.
NADA Guides are largely used by financing companies, too.
Ultimately, NADA Guides are a great resource for anyone that wants to gain an understanding of the value of their car. Just like with Kelley Blue Book, don’t expect a car salesman to suddenly accept your value from NADA Guides. You will need to secure several other quotes from sites like Carvana, Vroom, and Carmax, and leverage these offers during your negotiations. You should do everything that you can to get a great deal on your new car.
If you’re selling your car privately, NADA Guides and the Kelley Blue Book can work together to justify your asking price. You can use both in your negotiations with the other party to help you get the best price for your car.
Interested in learning how people come up with car values? You can learn more about other evaluation books here.
