Used Car Values Explained
Posted by Betsy Briggs on Sat, Mar 06, 2010 @ 03:27 PM
I bet when you decide to sell your car, you look up the Kelley Blue Book value. Am I right? This is what most people do. It's all they really have to determine the value of their car. Is it right? Is it a good guide? Well yes and no. First of all, if you own a newer car, it tends to be high and if you own an older car, it tends to be low. But what about the 3 price points? There's Suggested Retail, Private Party Value and Trade-in.
Suggested Retail is supposed to be what I can ask as a dealer. I rarely can ask that much, unless it's an older car. Private Party is supposed to be what YOU the individual seller can ask/get for the car. But the individual BUYING from you wants a deal! They are taking all the risk, so they want a heck of a deal! If they buy from a dealer, they have a company, brick and mortar, to go back to and complain and demand their money back or get a problem corrected.
Trade in value is supposed to be the wholesale value. The amount you will get if you trade your car in at a dealer. This range of low to high is usually about right. After I appraise a vehicle and determine its value based on many different pieces of information, I check Kelley Blue Book trade in. I am usually somewhere in that range with my offer. But that doesn't mean I EVER just look up KBB trade to determine my offer.
Here's the "catch 22" on selling your vehicle privately. You want MORE than trade in or wholesale for your car. The buyer wants to pay much less than he/she would at a dealer. I, the dealer, can't ask KBB Suggested Retail for my car because it would place my car at a higher price than the other comparables out there for sale. So my price is closer to Private Party. So your buyer is most likely going to want to be somewhere between trade and private party values. Keep in mind the pricing seems to be most accurate on middle aged vehicles but Suggested Retail is still too high.
The other catch is the time (and possibly money) you must invest in this process. You need to put your car on the web. You need to have it detailed or clean it really well - it's like selling a house! You have to be home when your buyer wants to come see it. They will keep you home on weekends, stand you up, offer way less than you are asking and ask if you will take payments! The nerve of them! All for a potential what? $500 - $1000? maybe? Will it sell? How long will it take? Some of my inventory sells in a few days and some takes many many months. You just don't know. All the while your depreciating item is continuing to depreciate! How frustrating!
Come straight to Auto Buying Service and you will get a fair wholesale offer for your car, truck, or van! If you owe money on it, we will handle the payoff. You don't have to go to the bank with the stranger buying your car so they can watch you pay off your car and be promised a title. We won't ask you to leave your plates on the car just long enough for us to get it home. We will have your plates removed for you and give them to you in a bag so you don't have to touch them.
You get the idea. We are a small company, family owned and operated. We have about 12 employees, 4 of which are family, the rest just feel like family. :) We will offer you coffee, give you a comfortable place to wait while we appraise your vehicle / buy your car. The process of buying your car only takes about 15 minutes. Next time you decide to sell you car, think of Auto Buying Service in Merrifield / Fairfax.