Car Pricing Sources Explained (2024)

The first thing a seller wants to know is how much cash the old clunker or nearly new dream machine will bring. When it comes to determining what a car is worth, value can be found in many places. The most common sources for pricing information are online resources, price guides, banks, and industry professionals.

Private Sale Pricing Sources

One of the first rules of successful selling is, “Know your market.” The following sources will help first-time and private sellers price their vehicles fairly based on local market conditions. By comparing similar makes and models in various conditions, determining a fair and reasonable price for your car should be quick and easy.

Autotrader

Autotrader’s Car Values page can help determine the asking price for cars like yours in your local market. The tool determines the value of your vehicle by looking at and comparing specific data from Autotrader’s listings, including:

• How many cars similar to the seller’s are listed locally
• Private seller’s average asking price
• Dealer’s average asking price
• Overall average asking price

Edmunds.com

In 2000, Edmunds.com began offering two services for determining vehicle values:

• True Market Value Used Vehicle Appraiser: Estimates transaction prices for used vehicles bought and sold by dealers and private parties.
• True Market Value Calculator: Provides estimated average price for new vehicles.

Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com)

When most people start thinking about selling a car or truck, someone is bound to ask, “What’s the blue book on it?” Many people don’t realize how specific that question is. Like Kleenex or Xerox, Kelley Blue Book has seen its trademark product and name adopted by the public as a generic term for an entire industry over the decades.

For used cars, Kelley Blue Book provides retail value, trade-in value, and private-party prices based on comprehensive sales surveys. KBB provides the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), dealer invoice price, and New Car Blue Book Value for new vehicles. KBB.com publishes market value prices for new and used automobiles, RVs, mobile homes, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and personal watercraft.

NADAguides.com

Since 2000, NADAguides.com has offered online information, products, and services for vehicle buyers and sellers. Online information includes used car prices based on various criteria, including overall category (e.g., hybrid, luxury car, van/truck), year, make, model and trim, mileage, and options. New car prices are also available for comparison.

In addition to new and used cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs, NADA Guides are available for classic, collectible, exotic and special interest vehicles, as well as boats, motorcycles, RVs, personal watercraft, ATVs, snowmobiles, and manufactured housing.

NADA (an acronym for National Auto Dealers Association) offers hard copy editions of its pricing guides, which are recognizable by their distinctive yellow-and-blue graphic design.

Dealer and Bank Pricing Sources

Although the following sources are not essential for private sellers, knowing your market can include finding out what similar vehicles are selling for at local dealers, what your vehicle is worth on a trade-in, and the car’s loan value at the neighborhood bank.

Black Book

Black Book offers subscription-only services, including Black Book Daily and Black Book Online, which are designed to track trade-in values for used vehicles. It’s a tool for dealers, but consumers can also use the service to get a range of values for their cars.

Bank Value

A local bank may be able to provide an estimate of a vehicle’s cash worth. Still, that figure is a loan value, typically a percentage measured against the vehicle’s wholesale price, and is also affected by the seller’s credit score. Consequently, this number should be considered a relative value and market indicator, not an estimated price for your car.

Wholesale Value

Wholesale value is the price dealers expect to pay for a car. Wholesale prices can help determine a vehicle’s price, but only as a benchmark for comparison’s sake. Quoted wholesale values usually are classified according to four conditions: Rough, Average, Clean, and Extra Clean.

Residual Factors

For pricing later model vehicles, sellers may want to check out the residual value figures for new leased vehicles. This is the estimated depreciated value of the car at the end of a lease. Your bank may be able to provide this information, and there are websites like LeaseWizard.com offering software for sale that calculates and tracks these numbers. The Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) is the foremost source for residual value forecasts, but these prices reflect what a vehicle will likely bring at auction, so this isn’t a good pricing tool for a direct private sale.