Talk:Kelley Blue Book

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Kelley has become a generic name due to its longevity so folks have a tendency to look there for vehicles. With the advent of the Internet, vehicle information that is more relevant to the consumer is now available through other sites such as Edmunds.com or Yahoo cars. Kelly historically focused on dealer cost which was OK when they were the only company around. Today, consumer information can be best obtained through other websites.

[edit] Copyvio assertion

Reverted an edit by User:Alabamaboy because the copyvio assertion links to a page which distinctly notes that it itself took its text from Wikipedia, not the other way around. --Dachannien 03:09, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question

How does KBB come up with their values for used cars? Iansanderson 18:18, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

I was wondering the same thing. -- Beland 03:53, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Found the answer on their FAQ and added it to the "services" section. -- Beland 04:00, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

There may be a kernel of data based on actual retail sales, but I know that there's a lot of guesswork in there. First of all, the regional variations. Try entering an Alaska zip code in on a Toyota or Honda or Subaru and you'll barely see any different from a lower 48 zip code. Try buying a Toyota or Honda or Subaru in Alaska, and the difference is far wider. Second, any car with a cult around it...the Miata, the MR-2, old Toyota trucks, Jeeps, things like that, KBB is usually just wildly inaccurate. Usually low. Regional variations also play into this, as vehicles like this vary more by region than something like a Toyota Corolla would.

KBB obviously has some formula they apply to all locations whether they have data for them or not (and I'm inclined to believe that for most, it's "not"), which produces figures that are just worthless for a lot of them.

Also, if they're getting their data from dealers, it is obviously in the dealer's best interest to report as high a price as possible. This gives them wiggle room to say their cars are "BELOW KELLY BLUE BOOK!" I'm not going to delete it because I don't have a reliable verifiable source (except you could verify this by actually looking at used car prices yourself), but I do not believe that KBB themselves are a credible source.Andy Christ 21:23, 20 July 2007 (UTC)