(ARA) - 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.
Click
here to get a free
auto insurance quote.
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.
New Car Blue Book Values can be found on Kelley
Blue Book new car pricing reports at: www.kbb.com.
Courtesy of ARA Content
