Published on
Determining the value of a car is one of the first steps in the buying and selling process. Whether you are selling or buying a car, one of the first things that people tend to do is consult Kelley Blue Book to determine its value. In a previous article, I wrote about another popular service: Carfax. If you didn’t read my article about Carfax, I analyzed its effectiveness based on how the service works, and also by taking into account the testimonials people that have used its services. If you haven’t read that article yet, it’s definitely worth reading! Now it is time to check out one of the other pinnacle devices that many people use when buying or selling a car: Kelley Blue Book.
With Carfax, I found that there was a good deal of criticism regarding its effectiveness, but does Kelley Blue Book merit the same criticisms? For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, Kelley Blue Book is an online appraisal service that calculates the
estimated value of what your car is worth. To some, the estimated monetary value of your car may seem to be dead on accurate. In fact, some people swear by it. But to others, particularly sellers, the determined value of their car may seem to be totally off and misguided. ”How can my car only be worth $3,200?” Okay folks, let’s look at some of the reasons why Kelley Blue Book is effective or not. For those that feel that their cars have been severely under-valued, let’s check out why that is and how you can contest that figure.
As with Carfax, it is important to understand how Kelley Blue Book works. First off, there are two types of transactions that Kelley Blue Book has to analyze: Car sales from dealers and car sales between private parties. The Kelley Blue Book value for dealers is a pretty straight forward calculation. Kelley Blue Book determines a value of this nature based on the average asking price between dealers. Considering the fact that dealers try to maximize the value of profit by listing cars for a touch higher than their true value, the Kelley Blue Book appraisal value will turn out to be more than what you should be paying.
At Military Car Lot, the majority of our military community is working together. Most of our users are buying and selling directly from one to another. Now this is where things can get a little tricky. Many will list their car based on what it is worth to them. Buyers ultimately don’t care that you’ve delivered 1,000 pizzas with your car without a having a single problem aside from running out of gas in the the bad part of town. In fact, it might actually hurt your cause by saying that you’re selling a pizza mobile. So, how does Kelley Blue Book know what my car is worth? Kelley Blue Book calculates this value based on the average price that the specific model of car has been sold for in the past. When you buy a car from someone, how many times has a seller bestowed upon you the deed without the selling price scribbled in? With the power in your hands, do you write the true price paid on that line? Unfortunately, there are many instances of people buying a 2008 Jetta for $1,500. That drags the average sale price down. Is this enough to depreciate the value of your car? Maybe yes or maybe no. Aside from that, Kelley Blue Book might not take into account a loaded trunk with premium subwoofers or that sweet newly installed cool air intake under the hood. On our site, we have a ton of listings of souped-up cars. The military likes to ride in style. So if you’re listing a car like that, it definitely helps to make an easy to read list of the upgrades. In your car falls into this category of awesomeness, that is a pretty straight-forward way of defying Kelley Blue Book. Aside from that, I had a tough time finding any bad criticisms of Kelley Blue Book. The editor’s opinion concludes that Kelley Blue Book is definitely worth checking out!
