KBB or NADA value?

[Anonymous]

Ive seen people recommend both. NADA value is much higher for my vehicle than KBB was.
Also when we are talking about the value of a car (when trying to figure out the equity in the car), are we talking about retail trade in or retail private party value?

[Anonymous]

It's really a regional thing as far as who uses what valuation guide. In my area, NADA is soley used...some banks/lender's use Clean Retail for their guidelines and some use Clean Trade-in. Most CU's will also use NADA, It seem's very few national lender's in my experience use KBB which is why I honestly disregard their figures for the most part. NADA values are based off of auction sales, retail sales, and prices off of classified listings.

Most lender's will finance up to 110% of clean retail..some will even go up to 120%. I have seen national lender's finance as much as 135-140% of clean trade-in.... (never a good idea)

When calculating the equity/inequity I would go off of NADA clean-trade in value, as most dealer's when trading for a car will try to be somewhere under or around that value. Calculating equity off of retail values would only be useful if you are selling your vehicle privately, as a dealer will never give you retail value for a car as they have to leave room to profit off the next customer.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! Clean trade in for my car is 2850, and i owe 5800, and Im looking to finance 18-19k with 3k down

[Anonymous]

You should be fine as your down payment should offset your inequity. Keep in mind that just because Clean trade on your car is $2850 doesn't mean your car is actually worth that. It's simply a number finance institution's use to determine LTV when lending, a dealer may very well think your car is only worth $500 if the conidition isn't great. So do keep that in mind that value's don't necessarily dictate what a vehicle's ACV is (actual cash value)

[Anonymous]

Yeah. Ive been seeing that I'll get around 1700-1800 for my trade.

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymouswrote:
Yeah. Ive been seeing that I'll get around 1700-1800 for my trade.

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Probably better to pay it off and keep it, or sell it private party. 

[Anonymous]

Or maybe pay it down a bit?

[Loquat]

If buying from a dealer then the value of your vehicle will be based on market conditions.  Prior to going to college I worked at a dealer and I can't remember how many times I had to inform someone that just because KBB or NADA said your vehicle was worth a certain amount doesn't mean your going to get it.

Let me explain from a dealers perspective.  I already have 15 used Impala's on my lot that I can't sell.  You come in with your Impala telling me that KBB/Nada said it's worth "x" amount.  While that may be true to an extent, it's worth less to me because I'm already sitting on 15 Impala's that I can't sell...thus making your vehicle worth even less to me.  When I use to appraise vehicles back in the day I would use a collaboration of market conditions, what local dealers were selling similar vehicles for, and what I could get for it a Manheim auto auction in the event I had to take that route to unload it.

These internet sites are more of a guide than gospel.  Take a lot of the values with a grain of salt...

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I know, I'm just using KBB and NADA as guides. I'm not setting any expectations. Lol