How Kelly Blue Book Values Your Car

Also known as Kelley Blue Book, or KBB, Kelly Blue Book is the leading resource for car buyers and sellers seeking pricing valuation. However, out of the millions of people who use Kelly Blue Book to value their vehicles, only a handful understands how the valuation is made. This issue can lead sellers to overvalue their car or for buyers to assume a lesser value. Worse yet, sellers may accidentally undervalue their own vehicle and let it go for too little.

 

Kelly Blue Book's Default Rating

When you use Kelly Blue Book's "Suggested Retail Value" tool to price a vehicle, the amount you get is based on your car being in "Excellent Condition," in addition to the information you input. What exactly does "Excellent Condition" mean?

 

According to Kelly Blue Book, a vehicle is in excellent condition when it has had absolutely no paint or body work done, and is free from blemishes and scratches. It is in excellent mechanical condition and needs no reconditioning. The vehicle must have a clean title history, pass smog certification, and the engine compartment must be clean with no fluid leaks or visible wear/defects.

 

But as if that wasn't all hard enough, the vehicle must have complete and verifiable service records. Therefore, less than 5% of vehicles fall into this category. Yet most vehicle sellers immediately assume that the suggested retail price for their vehicle is the bare minimum they should request when selling their auto.

 

Get a More Accurate Kelly Blue Book Value

To get a more complete picture of your vehicle's worth, use all of Kelly Blue Book's valuation tools. Your choices are "Dealer Trade-In Value," "Private Party," and "Suggested Retail." What you'll discover is that a dealer will offer you far less for your vehicle, even if it happens to be in "Excellent Condition" compared to Kelly Blue Book's suggested retail value. You'll also see that though a private party will likely offer more than a dealer, it's still below the suggested retail value.

 

So why does Kelly Blue Book give you a "suggested" value, then tell you to expect far less from either a dealer or a private party? Well, in our more than 20 years' experience working in the auto industry, we've discovered that the suggested retail value is actually representative of what a dealer will ask for the used vehicle when selling it on the lot. That's why the price is higher than most people can actually sell the vehicle for--the price is inflated due to the dealer's overhead and other costs he must recoup.

 

So How Do I Still Get a Good Value for My Vehicle?

What Kelly Blue Book's valuations are telling you is that you will get roughly 15% more money from a private buyer than a dealer, depending on the condition and type of vehicle. However, the effort and cost involved in advertising, showing, and negotiating a private sale can overshadow any benefit that extra money brings you.

 

The excellent alternative to this Catch 22 is to sell your car, truck, or SUV to an auto buying service. They'll appraise your vehicle at your earliest convenience, give you a cash offer right then and there. In our case, we guarantee to offer more for your vehicle than any dealer will, and more importantly we handle all DMV paperwork, smog certification, and transportation of the vehicle. That way, you get that extra 5%-15% over dealer trade-in value without paying out of pocket for advertising, smog check, etc.

 

Sounds like something worth looking into, doesn't it? Especially since it's completely free (though we do accept hugs and handshakes). You can find out, right now, exactly how much money you can get for your vehicle and get that cash in your hands today. Just click here, fill out a brief form, and a valuation expert will phone you shortly.