Edmunds and Kelley Blue Book (KBB) provide information on the value of vehicles, but which one is more accurate? We are going to break down everything you need to know to help you get the right information to buy, trade, or sell your vehicle.
However, if you are in a rush and just need to get the value of your car or research a new or used car, you can do both quickly on KBB.com.
About Edmunds
Edmunds was founded in 1966 and, like Kelley Blue Book, started with printed materials to publish vehicle values and to assist consumers in making educated choices about buying a car. They branched out into CD-ROMs in the ‘80s before launching their consumer-facing website Edmunds.com in 1995.
Today, Edmunds maintains an excellent reputation as an independent source of car information, vehicle reviews, and vehicle pricing. They offer many resources for helping consumers buy a car, including their well-known “Secrets of a Used Car Salesman” articles.
Edmunds Car Values
When it comes to getting a value for a car, Edmunds calls their tool a “Car Value Appraisal Tool.” It can help tell you what your used car or truck is worth and can be used as a comparison to other valuation sources like the Kelley Blue Book® Trade-In Value. When assessing vehicle condition, Edmunds asks owners to rate their car as one of five categories:
- Outstanding
- Clean
- Average
- Rough
- Damaged
Edmunds has a proprietary valuation process, and, as such, they are understandably careful about revealing what calculations or data sources they use to create their Car Value Appraisals and Edmunds Suggested Price (this used to be called TMV® prices). According to their website, they developed their pricing model over ten years ago, and their team includes over 20 statisticians, data scientists, PhDs, and other valuation experts.
Edmunds partners with CarMax to provide cash offers for a used car that someone might own, similar to the Kelley Blue Book® Instant Cash Offer.
Edmunds currently only offers values and pricing for cars and trucks. Edmunds is a privately held company, with CarMax holding a minority stake.
Edmunds has proprietary trademarks over Edmunds Suggested Price. Edmunds is not affiliated with Kelley Blue Book or Cox Automotive.
Valuation Comparisons
- NADAGuides vs. Kelley Blue Book
- Cars.com & Black Book vs. Kelley Blue Book
- TrueCar Values vs. Kelley Blue Book
- CarFax Values vs. Kelley Blue Book
- CarGurus Values vs. Kelley Blue Book
About Kelley Blue Book Values
People go to KBB.com to determine Blue Book® Value, the gold standard and highly trusted vehicle value and pricing data report to help consumers buy, trade, and sell vehicles. Website users can learn what a car is worth or what a buyer should expect to pay for their next car.
Les Kelley started Kelley Blue Book almost a century ago, in 1926. He published a list of the used cars he wanted to buy and how much he was willing to pay for them, and that is how the company got started. We have been a trusted resource since then and are proud to improve year after year.
KBB.com doesn’t just offer car values. It also provides a fantastic and easy-to-use classifieds section where you can find a new or used car or sell your car. You can also research auto repair pricing and find car service centers in your area. And for the safety of our consumers, we provide a car recall resource so, you can make sure your car has all the necessary repairs.
How We Get Kelley Blue Book Car Value Data
Obviously, we are not going to tell everything about how we get our information, but we can say that KBB.com has a proprietary valuation process that uses data intelligence to determine the most objective information consumers can find.
Kelley Blue Book is data-driven. We use:
- Predictive analytics.
- 250+ data sources with 3.0 trillion data points.
- Industry insights.
- Field analysis.
- Regionalized values and pricing for over 100 different areas of the U.S.
- The current automotive market.
- Seasonal changes in prices.
- Vehicle details: condition, age, mileage, trim features, etc.
All of this information is combined to create the data-driven value estimates that both consumers and dealers need. We are proud to say that KBB.com generates 40 million unique pricing reports every month, and we feel this is a huge sign of trust and confidence in our data.
Let’s look at the KBB reports you can get for new and used cars.
Used Car Values and Prices:
- Trade-In Value: The amount you can expect to receive when trading a car in at a dealership.
- Private Party Value: The amount you can expect to receive when selling your car to another consumer. This value is typically higher than the trade-in value because, unlike dealerships, you don’t have costs like rent or salespeople to worry about.
- Used Car Fair Purchase Price (retail value): This is the amount that a consumer would reasonably expect to pay to buy this used car at a dealership.
- Certified Pre-Owned Price (CPO): For some newer used cars, the dealership may offer a factory-backed certification process. The price is usually about 10% higher than a conventional used car, but many people like the confidence of buying a certified car.
New Car Prices:
- New Car Fair Purchase Price (once called the New Car Blue Book Value): This is the amount that a consumer would reasonably expect to pay to buy this new car at a dealership.
- Where to see these prices: These values are displayed, both on KBB.com and on dealers’ websites nationwide. Look for the Kelley Blue Book® Price Advisor. It has white, green, and red zones. If you see the price in the Green Zone of the Price Advisor, you can be confident that it is a fair price for both buyer and seller alike.
We also offer value reports for motorcycles.
KBB is part of Cox Automotive, which gives us more data and resources to drive results for both consumers and clients.
FAQ
What is Edmunds TMV?
TMV stands for True Market Value, and Edmunds offers an appraisal tool to get your TMV or true car value. Edmunds has stopped using TMV and now uses “Edmunds Suggested Price.”
Where does Edmunds get their data?
Edmunds claims their data is downloaded weekly from a dealer management system of 5,000 dealerships and dealer groups across the country.
What is Edmunds Suggested Price?
The Edmunds Suggested Price is the price recommendation they make, which does not include taxes, incentives, or dealer, DMV, or doc fees. Edmunds says this price is based on their analysis of millions of data points, including supply, demand, incentives, options, and recent nearby transactions.
Are Kelley Blue Book price values free to use?
Yes. On KBB.com, you can get the following for free:
- Kelley Blue Book Car Values
- Trade-in Value – Based on the car’s condition and features.
- Private Party Value – Based on the car’s condition and features.
- Kelley Blue Book® Instant Cash Offer – An official offer to buy your car. (Based on specific questions about your car.) Offer redeemable at participating dealers to get cash or trade-in credit. Offer valid for 7 days.