Guide to using Kelley Blue Book
The Kelley Blue Book website (kbb.com) is a useful resource for car research, especially if you are contemplating trading a vehicle you currently own and/or purchasing a used vehicle. It also has a great deal of information on new vehicles, but the used car value ratings are the truly valuable portion of this website.
The Kelley Blue Book (KBB) value rating will give you a reasonably good idea of the value of a trade, or what you can expect to pay for a used vehicle, with prices adjusted for your area. Having this information will help keep a dealer honest and prevent a certain amount of "creative mathematics" when you sit down to talk about price.
To use this feature, click the Used Cars tab and then the Used Car Prices tab to the far left of the screen. You can then approach the pricing from a number of directions; a specific model and year, a price range, or a vehicle type. If you are evaluating your own vehicle for trade purposes, the most logical way to proceed is to put in the make and model.
Let's say for example that I have a 2005 Ford Explorer that I want to trade. Once I put in the year, make and model I get a screen with three options: Trade in Value, Private Party Value, and Suggested Retail Value. Since I want to trade my Explorer, I click the first option. The website then leads me through a series of screens where I am asked to put in the trim line, mileage and the equipment on the vehicle. After that comes the somewhat subjective part; I am asked to rate the vehicle's condition. There are very few trades over two years old that really rate in Excellent condition unless they truly were kept in the garage and only driven by a little old lady once a week 2 miles to church. (We've all heard that story more than once, haven't we?) After reading the qualifications, I rate my vehicle honestly as "Good." At that point, another screen appears with the KBB value for my area, and I find out that I can reasonably expect to trade this vehicle for about $9,300.
If I want to know what I might pay for a similar vehicle from either a dealer or private party, click on either of the two tabs to the left. A private party might reasonably sell this vehicle between $11,000 and $12,600 depending upon the condition, whereas a dealer would probably charge about $14,800 for one. KBB assumes all vehicles sold by dealers are in "Excellent" condition.
Armed with this set of figures, you can now make much more informed choices. I have found that when looking to trade a vehicle, it is a very good idea to take a printout from KBB along. It keeps dealers from greatly inflating or low-balling your trade. They also realize that you are a shopper who has done his or her homework. Likewise if you are searching for a used car without a trade, a KBB printout is a very useful piece of paper to take to a dealer. I once had a dealer drop their price $4,000 after I proceeded to demonstrate that I had done my research and that no, that very well-used Suburban was NOT worth $11,000.
In summary, Kelley Blue Book is one of a number of vehicle research tools that can be utilized in the vehicle shopping process. While it is not fool proof, spending twenty minutes on this website honestly evaluating the vehicle you have and/or the vehicle you want can make a great deal of difference when you find yourself sitting across the desk from the sales manager at the dealership. Knowledge is power, so go well armed. Happy shopping!
