Bluebook Used Car Values

Q.I would like to get used car values for private sales. I know that kbb.com has values, but they are for retail and trade-in only. The difference between the two was $4,200 for my 94 JGC! Is there a site or source where I can find this info?

A.Best bet is to go to the library, bank, credit union, etc and look at the NADA blue book (its gold) They list 3 values: Retail, trade, and loan. Retail is the asking price for a fully reconditioned vehicle on a dealer's lot with warranty, advertising, sale reps, finance manger, and a dealer's license to protect. Trade is pretty close to wholesale prices that you would see at a dealer's auction. Loan value is used by a bank and is 90% of trade. The blue book also lists the value of various options (be careful, some of them are deducts!) plus low and high mileage tables. Best thing to do is copy the relevant pages and see where the dollars are being added in. If you have an account at a credit union or bank they will normally show you the book and calculate the values for you, just tell them you're looking at buying the same vehicle. The $4,200 you mentioned is the dealer markup for starting with a vehicle in on a trade-in or auction and adding new tires, warranty, etc etc. My rule of thub is that a good private party adertised price is a bit more than half the distance between trade and retail, then sell for a bit less than that. All of this gets adjusted for condition, desireability, etc. The other route is to check with www.cars.com www.autotrader.com See what prices come up for dealer and private party sales in a 100 mile radius of wher you live. If your's is significantly out of line, you won't get any response.

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