The Difference in NADA Vs. Blue Book

Whether you are buying or selling your vehicle, there are always online tools that help you calculate its overall worth. The source you use online can affect the price quote you receive, as well as the information you can use when you go to purchase a vehicle at the dealership.

Use

The NADA, or National Automobile Dealers Association, was created to quote vehicle worth strictly for dealerships. Kelley Blue Book obtains its information from local sales and auctions and is used by dealerships and private sellers.

How They Obtain Data

The NADA accesses its rates and pricing based on data exclusively from dealer databases. When a vehicle is sold at a dealership, that information is logged by NADA for future reference when a similar vehicle goes on sale. Kelley Blue Book, on the other hand, gathers its information by sending representatives to local auctions around the country. By doing so, Kelley Blue Book gets average values on vehicles that are being sold at lower dollar amounts.

Accuracy and Pricing

NADA has been shown to have higher values for vehicles throughout the country -- primarily because all vehicles that are entered into NADA are priced under the assumption they are in excellent condition. Therefore, if you are using NADA to price your own vehicle, you may want to lower the suggested price. Kelley Blue Book allows a user to enter the condition of her vehicle prior to receiving a value estimate -- Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor. After the user has selected what condition her vehicle is in, Kelley Blue Book automatically adjusts the pricing based on that information to give a more accurate quote.

Origins

NADA was created in 1971 as a way to cut taxes on automobile sales. NADA can be found online, but it has only been there since 2000. NADA is more frequently used by dealerships than private sellers, and primarily focuses on newer vehicles, rather than used vehicles.

Kelley Blue Book was first published by Les Kelley in 1918. Originally, the Kelley Blue Book was meant for dealerships only, but today the Kelley Blue Book online is used by private sellers looking to buy, trade-in or sell their own vehicles. Kelley Blue Book has been online since 1995 and is free to use.