Black Book vs. Blue Book Trade-In Valuation

A vehicle’s trade-in value—meaning the cash amount that a dealership will pay you to buy your old car—can be calculated in a couple of different ways. At our dealership, we use what’s known as a black book calculator to provide our customers with up-to-date values and competitive offers. However, you may notice that other dealerships use blue book values. Explore the differences between black book vs. blue book values in detail right here with Rallye Acura.

What is Blue Book Value?

Knowing your car’s trade-in value is important for your budget because you will be able to put this amount toward the purchase of your next vehicle. In other words—we’ll buy your old car and add it to our pre-owned inventory, and you can enjoy a great price on a brand-new model!

A car’s “blue book value” is a trade-in value provided by Kelley Blue Book. Many Manhasset and Garden City-area dealerships use KBB values because they’re free, and each vehicle is sorted into one of four categories: excellent, good, fair, and poor. One thing to keep in mind is that blue book values do tend to be on the higher end, so you may not actually receive an offer that’s as high when you have your car appraised at a dealership.

What is Black Book Value?

Other dealerships choose to use black book value, instead. This is because black book values are updated more often with new info about vehicle transactions than Kelley Blue Book, which means you can get a more accurate idea of how much you’ll really be getting for your car. Black Book updates the MSRP and dealer invoice each week.

Black Book vs. Blue Book Trade-In Value Meaning

We suggest using as many resources as possible when trying to determine trade-in value, meaning that no one source should be assumed to be completely accurate. You can’t know how much your car is really worth until you get it appraised at a dealership near you in Glen Cove—special features or upgrades could add value, while hidden mechanical issues could reduce it. 

Next, we’ll go over the differences between black book vs. blue book values for your convenience:

• Black Book: Used more often by dealerships. Especially when it comes to new car pricing, provides more accurate up-to-date information thanks to weekly invoice and MSRP updates.
• Blue Book: Used more by consumers because it can be accessed without a fee. Provides a grading scale for a vehicle’s condition from poor to excellent. The convenience of KBB Instant Cash Offer trade-in value calculator is also a plus—or you could try ours!

Value Your Trade-In Online with Rallye Acura

We’d love to buy your current car and add it to our inventory! Visit our finance center in Roslyn or contact our team if you have any further questions about the trade-in value meaning, getting approved for financing, the difference between black book vs. blue book values, and more.