Since 1926, most people have trusted Kelley Blue Book (KBB) when buying and selling used cars. 1 The Kelley Blue Book website attracts about 20 million unique visitors a month and shows how popular it is. 2 Kelley Blue Book is one of the multiple often used and appreciated manuals in the automotive industry. But the question is still, “Is it accurate and reliable?” When Kelley Blue Book (KBB) first emerged, it was generally utilized to guess and value cars, and finally, new car expenses were comprised. Blue Book is used more commonly, although the accuracy of pricing information is careful somewhat less. The price information is not guaranteed and is often very different from the information on Black Book.
KBB Issues
There are several common factors when a car is misrepresented in KBB. The biggest cause of price discrepancy is consumer bias. Many people think that the cars they sell or trade-in are better than they are. In other words, if you misjudge the car’s condition, the KBB evaluation and reality may not match.
Another factor that makes pricing wrong is time lag. Kelley Blue Book uses its algorithms to capture data on cars sold around the world. Since it takes time to collect this data. The value you see does not necessarily predict the true value of your car 100% accurately.
One of KBB’s pricing issues is due to data mismatches. Many car dealers use other assessment methods instead of Kelley Blue Book. KBB’s biggest competitor is NADA’s used car guide.
Gift of research
The value of the Kelley Blue Book was adjusted by analyzing huge data. Such as actual sales transactions and auction prices and taking the seasonality and market trends into account. Due to the large regional differences, the car market is adjusted to reflect more than 100 different regional conditions. And updated weekly to provide consumers with the latest used car price information. KBB uses several key data sources to obtain its data, including wholesale auctions, independent dealers, franchise dealers, and interpersonal transactions. In the past, it was heavily dependent on wholesale auctions, which reflected information from key sources. These sources are consumers, dealers, financial institutions, car rental companies, and leasing companies.
The formula for accurate used car price determination by KBB
KBB uses secret algorithms that include data collected from wholesale auctions, and independent and franchise dealers. It also includes rental companies, car manufacturers, and individual buyers to calculate the value of the car.
The algorithm also takes into account qualitative data. Past trends, current economic indicators, industry evolution, location, and timing will also affect KBB’s numerical assessment.
By combining these, KBB derives four values.
The value of a private party. The amount of money for buying a particular used car for personal trading.
A trade-in price: The amount to be cashed when having a dealer trade in a used car
A suggested retail price: The amount of used car that the dealer would want
A certified used car price: The value of the car subject to the Approved Used Car System.
Criticism of KBB values
Over the years, KBB has been one of the main sources of automotive sales estimates. The data they organize, and the algorithms they employ to create estimates, are scrutinized and, in most cases, very reliable.
However, rare items can influence the accuracy of KBB numbers.
- Consumer bias
- Delay time
- Variation in data
What type of details does Kelley Blue Book provide?
The Kelly Blue Book tells you how much your car is valuable. Knowing important information about your car can help you estimate the value of your car more. The price assessment of this book can give you a good idea of what your car is worth based on several different specific criteria. Such as the age and mileage of your car.
KBB provides pricing for new, used, and certified used vehicles. Based on this information, you can also find out how much money your car could cost if you were to trade it out at a dealer. Or, you can know the rough estimate when you buy a car from a dealer by yourself.
It should be noted that all prices on the Kelley Blue Book are unique to the U.S. People in Canada and other countries may feel that the value is not very accurate.
How is the price of used cars using KBB determined?
Data in Kelley Blue Book is updated regularly. Several factors affect this price.
- Car price at a wholesale auction
- Price offered by an independent dealer or franchise dealer
- Pricing of a car model set by the manufacturer
- Rental vehicle
- Description of Lessons
Personal transaction
Kelly has algorithms that determine the value of a car based on past trends in the industry, current financial conditions, developments in the industrial production process, when you are trying to price a car, where you are assessing a car, etc.
Other Resources
It’s always a good idea to know as many things as possible about the car you’re considering buying, taking back, or selling. So be sure to consult KBB and other guides like Edmunds, NADA, J.D. Power, Consumer Reports, and more.
Edmunds evaluates the car’s condition in five items (KBB is four items). Some of the car industry’s authorities see Edmunds as more accurate than KBB. But this may differ from car to car. Depending on the car model, some people think that Edmunds is more accurate than KBB. But if we use it together, we can average the relatively accurate figures of the car.
Bottom lines
To be precise, it is called Kelly Blue Book Value, and it is an assessment tool that can find an assessment amount close to the selling price of your car by searching on the net. Suppose you enter your car details such as year, manufacturer, mileage, options, color, condition, etc. You will see the price within the acceptable range.
The value of the Kelley Blue Book has been publicly available for the last few years. Kelly Blue Book was a wholesale pricing tool that determined prices based on the condition of each manufacturer and model. Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and so on. Instead of the physical “Bluebook” that was regularly delivered to the dealer, you can find the Bluebook value of your car online at KBB.com.
Read also, O’Reilly Auto Parts
