The Kelley Blue Book® Used Car Guide for Consumers
Jul 04, 2011
Kelley Blue Book® has a history dating back to the early 20th Century. In the 1920s the Kelley Kar Company founder Les Kelley founded his now famous Blue Book. Kelley had originally produced lists of the prices he was prepared to buy at. From this, the rest as they say is history. Kelley had the world’s largest car dealership in the 1950s as well as being the largest Ford Dealer, having started his Kar Company with just 3 Model T Fords ironically. He sold the dealership to devote more time to his famous guide. The Kelley family continued in the business until around 2000. However, the company continued to innovate and a CD-Rom and a website followed later on.
The Modern Kelley Blue Book® Used Car Guide
The consumers guide was introduced in 1993 and instantly became a best seller. It had previously been used as a business to business guide for the industry. However, the internet was in the ascendancy around this time and Kelley’s launched their first website kbb.com offering online values. The current website, when we used it, gave three valuations based on the condition – excellent, good and fair.
Webuyanycar.com gives one price based on the consumer’s assessment of the vehicle. However, the major difference between the two is that while the Blue Book is a reference price used to help and assist consumers, webuyanycar.com will also buy the vehicle at one of their branches, paying with a corporate check.
Kelley Blue Book® Stickers – What Are They?
These have almost become very popular in the used car dealership in the USA. Before then, used car dealers had far more opportunities and leeway to price vehicles fro sale as they saw fit. However, millions of vehicles are now sold using the Blue Book sticker, giving consumers reassurance and confidence in the accuracy of pricing.
