What do car dealer ships go by to determine used car values so they know how much to give you for a trade in?

go to kellybluebook.com or edmunds.com will give you base trade in value, other factors what it will cost them to refurbish for resale|||Either Kelly Blue Book or the NADA guide. They ALWAYS use the low value too.|||You can go to: http://www.kbb.com or http://www.edmunds.com to price your own car. It is free, so you know what to expect. Of course, dealer will try hard to lower that dealer trade-in value; at the least you know what it is worth. If you sell it yourself, you should able to fetch a little more than trade-in. Good luck!|||A little black book.|||Dealership DO NOT use kelley or edmunds, those are consumer sites intended to give consumers an "idea" of current market conditions. Dealers use galves which is a book or website that determines wholesale values, and also they use live statistics from current and past auctions. Don't expect to get the price on edmunds, kelley or Nada for your trade.|||New Car dealerships don't use books. They don't need a book. They buy and sell cars every day. They are in constant contact with wholesalers and auctions and other people who buy and sell cars every day. All they have to do is make a few phone calls and find a buyer for your car. Whatever that buyer is willing to pay them for your car, that's the trade in value. Of course they toss in a little profit for themselves too.





So you take your car to the new car dealer to trade it in on a new car. The dealer will look over the car. The Used Car manager calls around looking for a buyer. A wholesaler says he'll give them $1400 for your car. They come back and tell you the trade value is $1100 so they can pad their pockets on the sale of your trade by $300. If they can't find a buyer they really lowball you because the car will end up at the auction and only bring in about $900. That's when they tell you your trade is worth $500.





Only in rare cases when your trade is less than 3 years old, less than 60K miles and in very good condition will they "go to the books" and offer you a decent price. Why? Because only the best cars stay on their lot. Everything else gets sold out of the back parking lot at a below wholesale price.





Books are for you and me, not for the professionals.|||TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST THEY DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF BOOKS, THEY JUST PULL A FIGURE FOR THE SKY AND HOPE THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER.





IN SHORT THEY LOW-BALL YOU AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.