TrueCar and Kelley Blue Book (KBB) both provide information on the value of vehicles, but what is the difference between them? We are going to break down what you need to know to help you get the right information to buy, sell, or trade your vehicle.
However, if you are in a rush and just need to get the value of your car or research a new or used car, you can do both quickly on KBB.com.
About TrueCar
Founded in 2005, TrueCar describes itself as an information and technology platform built to deliver a great car buying experience. Their mission is simple but attractive – making the car buying process simple, fair, and fun. And like a lot of sites out there, they feel this superior car-buying process rests upon providing accurate and timely information to consumers. They are well-known for this message of simplicity and transparency in their media campaigns.
Today, TrueCar focuses almost exclusively on the needs of car buyers and connecting those car-buyers with TrueCar’s nationwide network of Certified Dealers. Rather than being a traditional listings site, TrueCar is almost more of a referral service.
In fact, many of their listings don’t even show the name of the dealer until the consumer takes actions to show they are interested. TrueCar prides itself on creating price transparency between the buyer and the dealer. They were among the first to start displaying “price flags” like “Great Price” and “Good Price” on their classified listings to indicate whether how the dealer’s asking price compares to the fair market price of the car.
True Car also has many tools to help consumers find a car that fits their needs, like product information pages, photos, reviews, comparisons, and calculators for loans and leasing.
At one time, TrueCar provided extensive information on recent transactions, market averages, bell curves, charts, and graphs with pricing information. Now it looks like TrueCar has simplified its presentation to provide a little less of a direct look at their statistical analysis.
TrueCar Data Sources
TrueCar uses a variety of data sources, including data aggregators, customer and dealer incentives, loan information, vehicle registrations, and insurance data, along with transaction data. They update target prices weekly and check their incentives data daily to help keep their information fresh.
True Cash Offer™
More recently, TrueCar has leveraged their pricing information and expanded into the other half of the automotive transaction: helping the consumer trade in their car or sell it for cash to a Certified Dealer. So, to answer the question “What’s my car worth?”, CarGurus created the True Cash Offer™, a product similar to the Kelley Blue Book® Instant Cash Offer.
To receive a True Cash Offer, a car owner puts in their car’s year, make, model, style, and sees an immediate estimate of their car’s value. Then, after answering additional questions about the vehicle’s mileage, equipment, and specific condition (plus where the car is located), TrueCar fine-tunes that initial estimate. If the consumer takes the next step and provides their contact information, they receive the True Cash Offer, good at a TrueCar Certified Dealer for three days.
In the last several years, TrueCar has purchased an industry authority on automotive residual values (ALG) and forged car-buying relationships with some of the top brands in the country, including USAA, Sam’s Club, and Consumer Reports.
TrueCar specializes in information about cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans, and, as such, doesn’t provide pricing information or market analysis for motorcycles, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, or other vehicles.
- TrueCar is currently a publicly traded company (Nasdaq: TRUE).
- TrueCar is not affiliated with Kelley Blue Book or Cox Automotive.
Valuation Comparisons
- NADAGuides vs. Kelley Blue Book
- Cars.com & Black Book vs. Kelley Blue Book
- Edmunds Values vs. Kelley Blue Book
- CarFax Values vs. Kelley Blue Book
- CarGurus Values vs. Kelley Blue Book
About Kelley Blue Book
Kelley Blue Book (KBB) has been providing used car values for nearly a century. It all began in 1926 when Les Kelley began publishing a list of the used cars he wanted and how much he would pay for them. Since then, KBB has grown and become a trusted resources for car buyers and sellers, car dealers, and those looking to trade their vehicles.
KBB.com offers classified listings to help consumers find a new or used car and car owners can list their car to sell. Car owners can use our site to look at current car recalls, research and compare auto repair pricing, and find car service centers in their area.
KBB is proud to provide a wide range of auto resources for our customers.
Kelley Blue Book Values
“What’s the Blue Book® Value?” – this is the #1 question for many sellers and buyers because it helps them determine a good selling, buying, or trade-in price. The Kelley Blue Book values and pricing are considered the trusted source for determining what a car is worth and what a buyer should expect to pay for their next car.
Kelley Blue Book Value: Data and Information
We have a proprietary valuation process, and we don’t share everything. Still, we can say that we use predictive analytics that encompasses industry data analysis and field analysis to review auto trends.
The information we collect is then integrated with more than 250 data sources that provide 3.0 trillion data points that create the most objective, current, market-reflective, and data-driven information you can find. Due to the trust nationwide for our car values, KBB.com creates 40 million unique value and pricing reports every month.
On top of the data points, we also evaluate:
- Vehicle details: condition, age, mileage, trim features, etc.
- Regionalized values and pricing for over 100 different areas of the U.S.
- The current automotive market.
- Seasonal changes in prices.
Let’s look at the available Kelley Blue Book reports.
Used Car Values and Prices:
- Trade-In Value: The amount you can expect to receive when trading a car in at a dealership.
- Private Party Value: The amount you can expect to receive when selling your car to another consumer. This value is typically higher than the trade-in value because, unlike dealerships, you don’t have costs like rent or salespeople to worry about.
- Used Car Fair Purchase Price (retail value): This is the amount that a consumer would reasonably expect to pay to buy this used car at a dealership.
- Certified Pre-Owned Price (CPO): For some newer used cars, the dealership may offer a factory-backed certification process. The price is usually about 10% higher than a conventional used car, but many people like the confidence of buying a certified car.
New Car Prices:
- New Car Fair Purchase Price (once called the New Car Blue Book Value): This is the amount that a consumer would reasonably expect to pay to buy this new car at a dealership.
- Where to see these prices: These values are displayed, both on KBB.com and on dealers’ websites nationwide. Look for the Kelley Blue Book® Price Advisor. It has white, green, and red zones. If you see the price in the Green Zone of the Price Advisor, you can be confident that it is a fair price for both buyer and seller alike.
KBB.com also offers value reports for motorcycles.
KBB.com is part of Cox Automotive, which gives us more data and resources to drive results for consumers, dealers, and clients.
FAQ
Where does TrueCar get their data?
TrueCar uses well-known data aggregators within the automotive space. They also obtain vehicle configuration data, customer and dealer incentives data, financing and loan data, vehicle registration and insurance data, and more information they don’t provide. TrueCar claims their information is updated weekly, and incentives are checked daily and updated.
Does TrueCar factor in dealer incentives?
TrueCar does factor in incentives. After a zip code is entered, their system identifies incentives applicable in your area.
What is a TrueCar Price Report?
The TrueCar Price Report tells you what you can expect to pay on average for new cars in your area. The price provided is based on what other people actually paid for their cars.
What is KBB fair market value?
KBB has “Fair Purchase Price” and “Fair Market Range”
Fair Purchase Price reflects the price consumers are typically paying for a particular vehicle. The Fair Purchase Price is regionalized based on actual U.S. new-vehicle transactions and it is adjusted regularly as market conditions change. Instead of the drop-dead lowest prices that similar tools might try to show, the Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price gives you a realistic view of what a new car is actually selling for.
The Fair Market Range reflects the range of prices that Kelley Blue Book estimates most people will pay for a specific vehicle this week based on its year, make, model and style.