Has anyone else noticed that trade-in values differ quite a bit on these two sites? KBB generally provides a higher value, which is what I would use if I wanted to trade in my maxima, but does anyone know what dealers use to determine the value of your car?

Ron

 

The dealerships use something called the black book. It's kind of like the NADA book you find in many part store's except it has a black cover. They also call local dealerships and find out what they have gave for trade in's on similar car's like your's. But in the past I have found that the Kelly Blue Book is usually the most accurate of them all. Hope this help's and good luck on trading your car.

 

I got a printout of KBB & went to the dealer with it. he gave me an amount between WHOLESALE & RETAIL KBB value. You MUST print out a copy to show him what you want. Of course this is when I bought my 2k Blazer (crap), and i know that the domestic dealerships are much more pressured to sell cars & are more willing to work with you. I traded in a 1997 Hyundai Elantra, so i was expecting a LOW trade-in... but I was pleasantly surprised!

Good Luck,
G

 

KBB is higher than either Edmunds or NADA. When I traded my 2K GXE for the 2K2 SE, I printed both KBB and NADA but only showed them the KBB one. That didn't matter because they go by their own NADA books although it might have helped me to talk them up from the NADA value.

 

For a private sale of your car, I'd use the KBB numbers cause they're higher. If I was buying a new car from a dealer or a used car from a private party, I'd use Edmund's because the numbers tend to be lower and more in your favor. I actually think Edmund's is a better representation of the actual marketplace right now.

 

Most dealers use Galves Wholesale Guides to determine trade-in values. NADA also has a wholesale book that is not available to the public and has comparable values to Galves. I find that the consumer editions of KBB and NADA are grossly inaccurate. They over value cars by a large margin. Edmunds.com is one of the most accurate consumer prices guides and I would recommend using this one.

 

Has anybody compared edmunds/kbb/nada to the Consumer Reports service?

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Ron