Hey folks,
I'm looking for a used SL to have as a weekend cruiser...and I've done a little research but not super amounts...my question is why is the www.kbb.com and the www.nada.org prices so drastically different?
For example, there is an '85 380SL for sale that the asking price is 9k and change... if I make it perfect on Kelly's Blue Book in every way except the 112k miles on it, I get a value around 5,800. But on NADA web site I get a value range of 9k to 12k. What am I to assume to be a better price guide???

 

Thinks about this for 1 second, NADA (National Auto Dealers Association) That is like sending the fox to guard the hen house. All dealers participate in the presentation and prices of vehicles. Of course they are going to inflate the "True Market Value" its just a larger profit margin for the dealers. Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds are an independants and generally within a few dollars of each other for the true market value. PS a large
number of lending institutions no longer accept the NADA
Hope this helps

 

Well i guess it will end up comming down to what I'm willing to pay anyways

 

Everyone's entitled to their opinion and I agree with Rich WNY in general principle.

Most used car dealers I've checked in the last five years or so use KBB to generate window stickers. I lived in the DC Metro area and most used dealers up there were using KBB window stickers when I moved away. Dealers also use a different book of values than the ones mentioned. They're all just guides and are used loosely.

I think you stumbled onto something that I also noticed. I believe the 2004 KBB database is messed up on SLs. Last fall when I bought mine the numbers were in line with the other estimators and just barely above the street prices. When I checked early this year the value dropped almost $10,000 USD while the other estimators had not dropped significantly. I believe the price held up on those from fall to spring because the car is a convertible. Also, because the car is nearly fully depreciated at 9-years-old.

Anyway, those estimators are used primarily by banks to limit car loans and by car guys who bench race. Who uses which is their business. You need to check the street prices as close as possible to where you're buying the car. If no '85 380SLs are for sale near you, then start spreading out of your immediate area and check other cars as near as possible to the one you're looking at for asking prices so you can estimate the value of the car you're looking at. As a last but actually the best resort, hire a professional automobile appraiser. There's always been one in the Yellow Pages when I've looked.

Ya know, I consider my Chevelle to be my most valuable car. All the indicators tell me that. However, I can never say that's true unless I sell all of my cars and get the most for the Chevelle. And if I never sell the Chevelle, it isn't "worth" any dollar amount. No matter what any book says, it's worth what I can get for it. So you're right. The car you're looking at will be worth exactly what you pay for it at the time you buy it.