Car Auctions - Understanding Blue Book Values

Understanding the blue book value is very important to your success when buying a used car at a car auction. But what does blue book value mean and how do I use it?

Blue book value is just a comparison of what other cars of the same type, color, mileage, and condition are selling for in your city. Basically the blue book gives you an accurate appraisal of what you should buy or sell a car for.

There are three different blue book values I use. Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds and NADA all of the books are very good sources and you should use all three to determine the true value of a car. By using all three you will ensure your appraisal is more accurate. You can find all the blue book values online and the service is free.

Understanding blue book values. You will find three different values in a blue book. Trade in, private party, and dealer. Trade in value is what a car dealer pays for a car, private party is what a private party would sell a car for and the dealer value is what you would expect to pay for a car on a dealer’s lot.

Using blue book values to your advantage. When buying a car at an auction I always use trade in values because they are the lowest price of the three values, basically it's the wholesale price. And I usually use the Edmunds guide due to the fact the market values are a little lower than the other two price guides.

So what’s the next step? Go to all three web sites Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds and NADA. Appraise your own car and get familiar with everything, then go to a car auction and try to determine what the value of the cars are and see how accurate you become at appraising car values. When you have a good feel for the value of cars start bidding on your next car.

When you master appraising the value of a car you can even start making some extra money at car auctions. Buy a car at or below trade in values and then sell them at private party prices. One a week could put $500.00 or more in your pocket every week.

One last tip. I usually use Edmunds when buying a car, the values are lower in that book and when selling I use Kelly Blue Book values are higher. These are the same tricks car dealers use every day. Now take this information and go save thousands on your next car purchase.