Black Book Values

[eighteight325is]

Does anyone know anything about the "black book" values used by used car dealers at auto auctions? I have heard this information can be useful in negotiating a sale with a used car dealer.

[Julien]

meh, i don't really agree.. dealer will have a bottom line price and that will be it, no matter what the black book says. They usually buy at rough at sell at excellent.

[JoeyJoeJ0]

isnt it blue book? black book is where you keep the bitches numbers dood.

[ddavidv]

Black book is the 'auction' book, which shows what dealers are paying for cars at auction.
Blue, red, NADA, etc are all retail based.
On cars as old as ours, it's not really that useful, because car conditions vary so much. Unless you've seen the cars they are using to collect their data, the data is suspect.

[eighteight325is]

Yeah, I should have mentioned I'm not interested in this for reasons of acquiring another E30. I need a cheap truck for hauling and yard work so the wife will let me keep the E30 :)

I was just wondering if anyone knew of a website where the black book information could be accessed because I found a couple of trucks for sale that were at used car lots and I want to get them down on the price without seeming totally unreasonable.

[ddavidv]

http://www.kbb.com

Make sure you use the right category when seeking a price.
Retail = what dealers ask.
Private party = for sale in someone's front yard
Wholesale = what dealers generally pay at auction

[Jscotty]

The only way that it helps is that it gives you an idea of what you should be asking/offering but its not something that you can take to the negotiating table and say, "Well the book promised me $1400 and you want to charge me $1800. NO FAIR!"

[LivingLegend06]

Blue book means absolutly nothing to me, there are many factors that are not taken into the consideration of the blue book values, they barely even change the price of a used car with mileage. Just try looking at what it says an e30 with 10,000 origional miles is worth, it would be something ridiculous like $2800.

[mrsleeve]

the books mean nothing, I have been trying to get rid of my truck an all the books say mid 14's for clean trade in an manhime (sp) is 13900 but I haven had an offer for more than 12 it sucks.

[ping65810]

Book values suck....Book on my 2001 325Ci is like $18,500. Its worth about $13,500 realisticaly. Market value of a car and book are two different things. I never ever go by book. EVER. Some cars go for more, some less, and season and area plays a big role. BMWs are soft as shit in this area, since there are soo many of them. Same with Volvo and Mercedes. Honda and Toyota are very strong, though.

[eighteight325is]

The only way that it helps is that it gives you an idea of what you should be asking/offering but its not something that you can take to the negotiating table and say, "Well the book promised me $1400 and you want to charge me $1800. NO FAIR!"

Exactly...which is what I want to know when dealing with a small-time used car dealer. If the margins are small than obviously there is not a lot of wiggle room for negotiation because the used car dealer has to make his money somewhere. However, it would be nice to know if the vehicle in question is being sold for $5000 but goes for an average selling price at private auction for under $2000. An extremly unrealistic example I know, but you get the idea. I just want enough information to make a reasonable first offer, flash some green and hopefully keep negotiations short you know?

[killa325i]

Yeah, I should have mentioned I'm not interested in this for reasons of acquiring another E30. I need a cheap truck for hauling and yard work so the wife will let me keep the E30 :)

I was just wondering if anyone knew of a website where the black book information could be accessed because I found a couple of trucks for sale that were at used car lots and I want to get them down on the price without seeming totally unreasonable.

find your truck at w/e dealer. DO NOT BUY IT. get all the stats (year, make, model, miles, equipment). pm me with the details, and i'll tell you what you should pay. btw, i am a dealer. this goes for everyone, if you're looking at a rig at a dealership and want to make sure you're getting the best price, pm me and i'll give you all the ammo you need to negotiate a great deal. if you're local to me (PNW), let me know what you want and i can get it for you (great deal goes w/o saying).