Have you ever wondered how Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds determines the resale value of a car?
>According to Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for Edmunds, in Santa Monica, Calif., there are four major factors that determine the value of a trade-in. The first is simple: supply and demand. High-volume production vehicles like the Ford and Chevrolet pickup trucks are so numerous they generally don’t hold high resale value.
>Another important factor, according to Toprak, is brand image. Some brands, like Toyota, Honda, and Porsche, have it, which is why those brands show up at the top of the resale value table year after year. “Deserved or not,” says Toprak, “brand image is still one of the biggest determinants of the resale of a vehicle.”
Of course, this makes even better reading since the MINI scores near the top of all the charts.
>n the Edmunds study of 2004 model year vehicles, which would be ripe for trade-in or lease rollover right about now and are therefore very good indicators, the top passenger car in the study was the $440,000 Porsche Carrera GT supercar, at a used car trade-in value of 71.8 percent, followed by the much more affordable 2004 Mini Cooper at 69 percent. The Toyota Prius hybrid, oddly enough, came in third with 67.7 percent.
While this isn’t really news to any of us, it is still nice to see BMW and MINI getting recognized for the best resale value by brand overall.
[ Edmunds & KBB Car Resale Values ] Autos.aol.com
I absolutely love looking at the little sign MINI of Peabody’s got just as you’re leaving the parking lot:
“This is where all the other cars lose 20% of their value.”
Still holds true, huh?
KBB is bogus It is for dealers to diminish the value of your car and heighten it from their perspective. You should only use NADAguides(online) and Edmunds.
Around here (SW Florida) the dealers have all three “blue books” and will claim that the one showing the lowest value for your trade-in is the only one they use. Of course when you go to buy a used car from them they then only use the book that shows the highest value for their car. Kelley’s does seem to be consistantly lower in this area.
Dealers will typically use auction value for trade ins which is much lower than KBB.
Insurance companies will give you the best return! of course you have to total your MINI to collect.
I’ve known people who totaled their 1-2 year old MINI and insurance cut them a check for MORE than they paid for the car.
For trade in values, actually use Galves values.
What really matters isn’t which one of the various valuation engines YOU use, but which one the dealer you are dealing with is using. None are really “better” than the others, just different. Some give consistently higher trade-in values, some lower. A dealer is only going to offer you what their “engine of choice” tells them to offer you, and you can quote values from the other valuation engines until your blue in the face, but it won’t make a damn bit of difference.
If a particular engine gives dealers a consistently lower “trade in” value on cars, and a consistently higher “resale” value than the other ones, then which one do you think they’ll be buying/using as their engine of choice?
I have never traded a car in when purchasing one. Since I always drive a car until it is paid off, I either sell it after the fact or wait to buy after the old car has sold. This will save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.