What is the difference between Kelley Blue Book value and NADA guide value?

Question

I have a car that I want to trade in, and it's value is higher in the NADA guide? Should I use this when negotiating with the dealer, or will they not care what NADA says?

Answer 1

I think Kelley is often overpriced and NADA a bit underpriced (except in your case!) so it's best to average the two to get an idea of a car's value. Why not show the dealer the NADA price? You have nothing to lose and it may get you a better price!

Answer 2

There are different versions of both of those guides for the general public and dealers. There are also other guides that are only distributed to dealers and many dealers use those. The Black Book guide is one of those and is used by many dealers.

Take an average of the public KBB and NADA values but keep in mind that dealers will ALWAYS reduce the guide values for any reconditioning costs. And there will virtually always be some reconditioning costs unless your car is in perfect condition AND has just been thoroughly detailed. Even in that case there will usually be a $100 or so reduction just to have the service department inspect the vehicle before it's offered for sale. The service department ALWAYS charges those back to the sales department so there's no way around that.