How Much is Your Car Really Worth?

One of the most important elements of preparing a car for sale is choosing the price to list it at.  Surprisingly, it can be a bit trickier than one would think.  For some of us, our cars have been extravagantly well taken care of.  A bit like a pet dog perhaps.  But despite all of the pampering and “extras” that you may have added to your car, sentimental value must conform to the raw, real-world value that someone is willing to pay for your car.  So let’s talk some free options that will get you on your way to pricing your car so that it’s fair for you and fair for buyers.

Kelley Blue Book:  Having been around since 1918, KBB is one of the most well known car pricing service and is likely one that you are already familiar with.  It’s super easy to use and it is also where I recommend beginning your journey of pricing your car.

Clear Book:  Once you have the estimated value of your car from KBB, head on over to Clear Book to generate a second value.  Clear Book is another free resource that is also very easy to use. Clear Book claims about a 90% guarantee on its pricing accuracy.  It can also be useful to see if there is a difference between the two generated values of your car.  These services work based on massive compilations of data of recorded car sales and the more data that you collect on your own will make the job of pricing your car a bit easier.

NADA Guides:  This is a good vehicle appraisal resource that I would recommend for your third data point.  Similar to KBB, NADA Guides is a very comprehensive website that yields loads of useful resources and information for free.  After you have found what NADA Guides has valued your car at, it’s time to retreat to the drawing board to create your very own asking price.

Based on the information that you’ve gathered from these three separate sites, you should have a pretty decent idea on what to list your car at.  Here are a couple of tips that I’ll leave you with:  The first thing to remember is that location is everything!  Selling a convertible during winter in Ohio is bound to yield a meager harvest.  So if you’re about to move, it just might be worth bringing your car with you to sell at your destination where the value might be higher.  The last thing to mention is that you can try listing your car at a value slightly above what you actually want for it.  This gives the buyer a bit of haggling power and will likely facilitate the negotiations of a sale.  Best of luck!