You’ve just returned from the dealership where the salesman said he’d be willing to take $250 above invoice on the new Toyota Camry SE you are interested in. You are scratching your head and wondering … is this a good deal? Looking at the vehicle’s manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) or invoice price used to be the best way to figure out what you should pay for a new car, but that is no longer enough.
According to a 2002 J.D. Power and Associates New AutoShopper.com Study, a transaction or typical sale price for a new vehicle is one of the most sought after pieces of information by automotive Internet shoppers researching new cars, but one of the hardest items to find.
While most folks think of Kelley Blue Book for used car values, a new, free, online service from the company, New Car Blue Book Value, enables car-buyers to know how much a specific make and model is actually selling for during that week.
New Car Blue Book Value has three unique features:
1. Single Price: This is the typical price a consumer has paid for that car.
While you can look to this number as a guide, not every car will sell for the exact same price. This is the typical price consumers are paying for a given car.
2. Range: Showing the high and low ends of what people have paid for the same car.
The range offers a little perspective on the market for a vehicle. Since every car does not sell for the exact same price, Kelley Blue Book offers a range, which in many cases is just a few hundred dollars. As we all know, you could go to the same dealer in the morning and in the evening and pay two different prices for the same car! If the dealer offers a price within the range, you’ll know exactly how that matches up to what others have paid based on where that price falls within the range and whether or not you are paying what others are paying.
3. Market Conditions: An explanation for why that vehicle is selling at the price reported.
Some manufacturers limit the production of a vehicle, in which case consumers are willing to pay well above MSRP for that vehicle, like the early days of the MINI Cooper. Other vehicles are being replaced by all new remodeled versions making last year’s body style a great buy, at or below invoice (like the Lexus RX 300 being replaced by the RX 330 or the newly remodeled Jaguar). These are conditions that affect the selling price of the car. Kelley has included these conditions to educate you as to why a car is selling at the price it is before heading down to the dealership. Having this information should take much of the confusion out of the buying process.
Kelley Blue Book obtains tens of thousands of actual transactions from dealers nationwide each week to provide the New Car Blue Book service.
According to the company’s executive editor, Charlie Vogelheim, the New Car Blue Book Value, which is updated weekly, is not a number influenced by dealers or manufacturers -- it is reported based on real transaction data showing what people actually pay for specific makes and models. Vogelheim says Kelley Blue Book is committed to ‘reporting’ vehicle values in the marketplace, not ‘setting’ them.
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