Used car prices: Edmunds vs Kelly

Kelly Blue Book says my 2008 Nissan Versa hatchback is worth $9200; Edmunds says it's worth $6600. I've re-checked and get the same figure so I figure I didn't fat-finger the mileage, options, etc.

Why such a big difference?

Because price guides suck, in general. You are better off trying to see what other private parties are asking for their cars on Auto Trader. Subtract maybe 10% off that, and you'll be in the ballpark of a private party value.

In reply to danl318:

They both suck, you should use NADA for this, and realize that none of the books are worth a damn for a lot, if not most specialty cars.

As the others said, books in general suck. But Kelly in particular sucks hardcore. It's a book written by dealers for dealers. I've got a copy of the fine print wording in KBB at my desk somewhere here, can't find it at this second. It says something to the effect of...the KBB retail value includes the cost of reconditioning, advertising and preparing the vehicle for sale. KBB tends to value really high on retail value, so that dealers can say "See, the car is worth so much more than I'm asking", and it sets trade in really low so the dealers can say "Sorry, the book says your car is only worth this bag of peanut shells".

Use Auto Trader, Cars.com, etc...to find the true cash value. Don't know how many miles are on your Versa, but think of it this way. I could go out and find a new 2012 Versa for somewhere around $12k, so it's very unlikely a 4 year old one with xx,xxx miles is worth $9200.

Kelly is asking price, Edmunds is selling price. Asking price is, of course, not an indicator of value.

David

Edmunds typically seems a little low and KBB seems high. Before listing, I also check for what similar vehicles are listed at just to make sure I'm in the right ballpark. If you want to sell quickly, make your vehicle the one that you'd buy if you were shopping. I typically try to make mine the best value of all those listed. I'm sure I leave some money on the table, but in the end, I usually end up with 90-95% of the potential money with about 10% of the effort. I'd rather spend extra time getting the car ready to sell as opposed to spending time meeting all kinds of people to view the car.

KBB is crap and as noted above is built by dealers to justify the large asking prices. We both know that those big dealerships drop down some and we know the dealerships can do this because they too will profit from financing and potential aftermarket warranties.

I put a lot of faith in Edmunds. I rate everything at "average." When you do that, you will see a dollar amount taken off for this rating. If you add back in that number it will give you the high-end price and in a private sale, that highest number may be what you ask.

All these guides are pretty bad at any car older than say 12 yrs old.

Here's why I'm asking:

Working out our divorce settlement, without consulting me, my soon-to-be-ex took the 1999 Volvo V70 GLT and left me the 2008 Versa hatchback. She appears to have used KBB to establish a dollar value for the cars. In her opinion, the V70 is "worth" $3500 and the Versa is "worth" $9500, so I owe her $3000. I'm trying to establish a reliable value for the cars that, I hope, will be more favorable to me.

danl318 wrote: my soon-to-be-ex took the 1999 Volvo V70 GLT and left me the 2008 Versa hatchback.

Ouch, she screwed you over car wise. Saying that as the owner of a '96 850 GLT wagon.

I'd grab a bunch of cars that are actually for sale and use that as real world evidence of the cars' values. Use the sources outlined earlier in the post.

DWNSHFT wrote: Kelly is asking price, Edmunds is selling price. Asking price is, of course, not an indicator of value. David

This. KBB and NADA are super high on retail and super low on trade-in and basically the dealers' in-house publications. The numbers are for the dealers' benefit far more than the consumer's Stick with Edmunds.

Klayfish wrote: Ouch, she screwed you over car wise.

Not exactly, at least in the short term. In the month since she grabbed the Volvo she's had to pay $2500 in repairs.

IN answer to the question posed in the title; craigslist.

In reply to DrBoost:

Aha, Craigslist - that's the best answer yet, thank you very much. I'm hoping the suggested value of the Versa goes way down and the Volvo goes way up!

Well, she just did $2,500 in repairs, that makes the Volvo worth what, $8,000 more on Craigslist?

As much as I hate to say it, but it might be worth having both cars appraised by a professional. This sounds like a case when you're going to end up with a dollar amount that's far closer together this way. It might be worth the money.

In reply to DrBoost:

I checked Craigslist and found a 2007 Versa with 125k miles for $6500. People (private sales, not dealers) selling '07 through '09 models with 45k to 75k miles are asking $7500 to $9500. Based on that bit of research $9500 for an '08 with 63k miles almost looks reasonable.

The cost of fuel has pushed up the small car used car price recently. They fetch a good amount more than they used to. I'd say $9500 is somewhat high, maybe $7500-$8000 or so is more realistic. Here's a local example I found.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/2947656883.html

I have found Craigslist to be a great indicator of prices, but you have to look at quite a few listings to weed out the far ends of the bell curve. Then sometimes I'll look at eBay (completed listings only) as well. But eBay is only if there are not many cars on CL to judge.

eBay's completed listing section is what I use to determine the real world value of a vehicle. Craigslist can be all over the place for used vehicles as a lot of people ask unrealistic values for their cars.

Blatant KBB product placement in Chasing Classic Cars on Velocity last night. Yeah a professional car collector is going to check the KBB on a 1968 Jeep. Of course the KBB was way below what the car went for at auction - so useless.

IMO the easiest solution is to take both cars to carmax and have them both appraised. That will leave you will both with a real amount that someone (carmax) would pay, a piece of paper that a court of law will most likely accept.

My experience is that "book" values rarely mirror actual values. When I'm shopping or selling, I take a look at autotrader, cars.com, craigslist, and f-book marketplace. I get a rough estimate of condition vs. price and use that as a starting place. 

John1986 said:

As far as I understand, prices tend to differ for trade-ins when comparing car price site. So, which one is better? What to use? Any tips?

Yeah.  Don't Spam.  Especially in zombie threads.  We don't like it

Can't you get a brand new versa for damn near 11k these days?