The term “Blue Book Value” refers to the value of a vehicle by a guide known as the Kelley Blue Book. The guide not only lists the value of new vehicles, but it also lists used car values. Since the 1920s, the Kelley Blue Book has served as a standard within the auto industry in the United States.

Kelley Blue Book (KBB) values can be a helpful starting point for estimating the value of a car, but it's important to keep in mind that they are just estimates and may not always be 100% accurate.

Cox AutomotiveKelley Blue Book / Parent organization Kelley Blue Book is a Cox Automotive brand.

Black Book Value As a valuation source, Cars.com uses Black Book, a longstanding competitor to Kelley Blue Book, which dealers often use to set the used car price an owner might expect to receive for their car as a trade-in.

Fair Purchase Price reflects the price consumers are typically paying for this vehicle. The Fair Purchase Price is regionalized based on actual new-vehicle transactions collected from across the country and adjusted regularly as market conditions change.

NADA stands for the National Automobile Dealers Association, which is a trade organization that represents all franchised new-car dealers. NADA publishes the Official Used Car Guide, which provides used car values for dealers across the United States.

Dealers want trades, but they also need to be able to sell the vehicles. The information on KBB is skewed because of update lag time, consumers putting in wrong condition, or double booking equipment (adding value for features that already come standard). If you're looking to trade a vehicle, please get other offers.

What Does The Black Book Value Mean? You can think of the Black Book values as an estimated wholesale value of a vehicle that dealers use to ensure profits when buying or selling used cars.

Today, no other pricing guide is as accepted and trusted by both consumers and the automotive industry for evaluating prices and determining values for new cars and used cars. Kelley Blue Book began its valuation service to fulfill a need for used car pricing information by the banking and insurance industries.

KBB factors in the condition of the vehicle, local market conditions, and popularity of the vehicle, so their prices tend to be a lower than NADA. NADA values tend to lean higher because they assume cars are in good conditions. Insights can be gained from both values, but KBB looks at more factors.

And simply put, no one has more experience with vehicle values and pricing than Kelley Blue Book. We've been the go-to source for both consumers and the automotive industry since 1926. We leverage massive amounts of data, including actual transactions - then adjust for local market conditions and seasonal trends.

The Blue Book® is where drivers look to know what amount they can expect to purchase a vehicle or sell a vehicle for. The Black Book, however, deals more with up-to-date car sales and wholesale pricing values, so the information is more useful for car dealers.