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The first blackbook car values was established back in 1955 by a group of businessmen located in Gainesville, Georgia. Although they weren’t technically in the automotive industry, they were passionate about cars and attended public auctions so that they could learn more about the values of used cars.

Almost 60 years later, this type of book is still used by some of the car dealerships to put a value on a used vehicle that a customer wants to trade-in. In addition, they used the book for establishing a retail price on the used cars that they plan on selling. At the moment, the only financing source that requires that a car dealership must use a blackbook value is GMAC while other financial institutions prefer using the NADA or Kelley Blue Book values.

These books can be used by anyone, from used car lots, individuals as well as dealerships. However, you need to know that the services are not for free and if you visit the blackbook website, you will find all sorts of sources and payment options and you cannot get any car values for free unless you pay for it, in comparison to the aforementioned NADA and Kelley Blue Book.

You have the possibility to subscribe to the following accounts in Internet form or book form. Each of these subscriptions will include all of the following four resources:

a)      Black Book Daily – the first type of publication updates the used car values on a daily basis. You need to know that if you buy the book form, you will still be able to check the daily updated values on the web. The annual book has more than 18,000 used car models dating back 15 years and it is also available as a weekly update at a lower cost;

b)      Black Book Finance Advance – due to the reason that GMAC is at the moment the only lender that uses the values listed in the blackbook, this publication will tell you what the financial institution will lend on a certain year / make / model vehicle;

c)       Black Book Activator – you have the possibility to browse a dealer’s inventory on the Internet. Of course, these dealerships must sign up for this program first;

d)      Handheld, Internet Data, and Custom Solutions – with this option, you will have the possibility to use your smartphone as well as other on-the-go device for checking used car values when you are not near a PC / notebook.

You need to know that if you are not a licensed auto dealer or a licensed used car lot, you will not be getting the same version as they receive. Although the blackbook car values will give you a wholesale or a trade-in value of any of the used cars, the dealer’s book will have lower prices. Why?

blackbook Blackbook Car Values

Because if you plan on using your car as a trade-in at a dealership and purchase another one, that dealership will use the wholesale value in their book in order to find out how much you car is worth. Never expect to get retail price for your trade-in car. Once these trade-in cars are purchased by the dealership, they will have to inspect, repair and invest what is called reconditioning costs. These costs are not included in the book, but are taken into consideration in the dealership version of the book and this is where the difference in price occurs.

This book is a great tool to find out a retail value for your car if you plan on selling it on your own. The consumer wholesale blackbook car values should be used only as a guideline. If you plan on visiting a used car lot or a dealership that uses this book, you should ask to see the page they are getting their information from and do a comparison with what you have in your book.

If you don’t know what to get, here is a comparison between the black book and the Kelley Blue Book:

The latter offers retail, trade-in and private party values for new and used cars while the black book offers new and used retail and trade-in values along with info regarding which models are most popular in certain regions chevy accessories.

The blue book collects information from nationwide auctions as well as from both new and used car dealers while the black book collects data from more than 50 auctions per week. The blue book asks the user to rate the state of his car: poor, fair, good, excellent – based on a questionnaire located on their website –carpart4u. The black book offers info on three used car conditions – rough, average and clean – based upon the info obtained from their automotive experts.