Black Book

I got a letter from a dealer offering me the "Black Book’ value for my car on a trade in.

I never heard of of the Black book.



Any comments

You don't care about black books, green books or whatever the dealer pulls out of his bag of tricks.  All he is trying to do is to add to the confusion of buying a car.   

Remember what your goal is and stick to that.  You want to buy the car you want and pay the least possible for it.  Tell the dealer what you want and what if anything you have for trade. Tell him you want his best price and you don't car what other dealers may or may not change.   Go to the dealer with a friend in his own car.  

 Ask for his best price.  If he wants to play the  [b] Give me the keys[/b] game, give him the keys and tell him you are leaving with your friend and you will be back in 15 minutes.  Tell him you expect to see your car along with his final offer when you get back.    Come back in 16 minutes and if he does not have your car there with an offer, pull out your cell phone and tell him you are going to dial 911 in 60 seconds if you don't have your car.

 The trick is to turn around the old game of control.  He needs your business, you can go elsewhere.  Keep reminding yourself that. 

  Hint.  If they all look dumb when you take control, just remind them 911.   

  Professionally I had to address like situations.  The old I don't have the authority and Mr X can't be found, ask who they would contact if the building was on fire and someone had already call the fire station. Funny how they suddenly remember how to contact the boss.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, …

There is a Black Book, but they’re using it’s name as a way to get you in the door.

Take your car to that dealer and ask them what they will give you for the car in a straight sale. It should make o difference whether they buy it from you or take it as a trade-in. The price should be the same. If you like the price, then go talk to the sales staff about a new car.

Trade in value for your car is low. You can almost always find a buyer for your car in the private market that will far exceed the trade in.
But there’s all that extra work.
There is a Black Book. Bing or Google the site.

Ask him what the “black book” value is. Like Joseph said, yuo don’t care what color the book is, just what the dollar figure is.

By the way, never ever let them take your key to take your car for an appraisal drive. Keep the key and insist on going with the guy doing the assessment. Tell them “when he’s ready I’ll go with him”. I once had to call 911 to get a dealer to give me my key back…and it was a spare key. Some dealers will try to hold your key hostage while they pressure you. One “assessor” even said my car had been in a major accident and refuse dto come back out and show me why he’d written that. I was the original owner aned the car had never been in even a minor accident. It was pure BS. I walked away.

I contacted the dealer about this,and this is what they sent me.

2007 Honda Accord trade value between $11919-$13125 depending on condition. 2010 Accord for $12888. I found the “black Book” manual on the web,but they won’t let you read it unless you subscribe to it.

Unless things have changed in the last few years there are, or were, 2 black books. The general public may see one of them but the other is a subscription book that is for car dealers only.

When placed side by side both books look identical except for 2 things. One is the disclaimer on the inside stating it’s for licensed dealers/insurance adjusters only and the other is the figures quoted for car values.
In other words, flashing a black book value out of the one used by dealers will provide a value lower than the one flashed when trying to sell you a car.

There’s also yellow and blue books which kind of makes it even more disjointed.

Isn’t that why some recommend just giving them the spare key, then if you don’t like it, take your normal key, grab your car and drive off.

Dealers buy at the black book and sell at the Blue book for the most part. The banks recognize Blue book when arranging the financial details and would throw the money at you if the black book was used for evaluation. Quite simply the black book value is extremely lower than blue book values. Mainly because the black book evalutions are based on cars at auction. Now regular Joe comsumer can’t go to the auction and buy cars, but dealers can. So they buy cheap and sell big. The same game is played for trade in. Everyone in the car selling business knows that the ultimate job is on the used car lot. You start your apprenticeship in “New” cars and strive for that “Used” car job. New cars have lower commissions for a sales rep because of competition and factory incentives. You don’t have all this in used cars… just a make money incentive!! Most of the time consumers can’t afford those “New” car high prices or turned away in financial. The “Used” car lot becomes thier only alternative at that point and they are waiting with a catcher’s mit for you. Real money is made there for a sales guy.

It is, but I was determined to leave with both keys. Now I no longer hand them a key at all. I simply tell them that when the appraiser is ready I’ll go with him. I keep possession of both keys. If they give me a hard time, I leave.

In my part of the country, black book = wholesale which is the value for which any dealer will try to buy your car. Kelly Blue Book (KBB) seems to be high on their retail pricing and low on their wholesale pricing. Look at this way. If the salesperson shows the customer KBB retail is $10000 and they are willing to sell the car for $9800, then the customer thinks they are getting a great deal. Same with wholesale. The salesperson shows the customer the KBB wholesale is $4000, but they are willing to give $4400 in trade, the customer thinks they got a premium price for their trade in. The saleperson knows that they can wholesale the car at an auction for $4600 and make money on both ends of the deal.

I find NADA pricing (the yellow book, or NADA.COM) to be closer to correct on both counts.

Sending a letter offering you “black book” for your car is NO BIG DEAL. They do that all day every day.

If you are thinking of trading in or selling yourself your Honda will likely never be worth more than now. The supply is low of inexpensive cars is due to economy and little bit of cash for clunkers.

The truth is the value of your vehicle is between edmunds true market value and kelly blue book. I think an average of all the guides or in the range is fair.