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How
to Buy a Used Car and
Not Get Taken
3. More on Price
Now to Determine the Wholesale Price
Whether you buy from a private owner or a dealer, one of the
most important pieces of information you can have is the current
wholesale price of the car in your area of the country. One
source of auto-price information is the car loan department
of your bank. They usually have all the latest price books
and possibly even auction reports that show what various makes
are bringing on the auction market.
Book Prices
The industry uses any of several books as price guides: NADA
Official Used Car Guide, National Auto Research Black Book,
Kelley Blue Book Auto Market Report, and Galves Auto Price
List. These books purport to reflect the average wholesale
prices that various cars are bringing across the country.
The only problem is that they don't agree. Compare the suggested
wholesale prices for a Chevrolet four-door Lumina from the
same month:
Kelley
Blue Book: $7,500 (tends to reflect West Coast prices)
NADA: $6,750 (combination of auction and dealer reports)
Black Book: $5,650 to $8,850 (reports from dealer auction
sales)
Comsumer Price Books
Frequently you will find used-car price books on your newsstand.
The figures in these books provide a general range, but because
they cannot account for the myriad factors that impact the
costs that a dealer has in a car, they may not present a true
picture of any given car's "real" price.
Getting the Price That Matters
If you're buying a used car from a dealer, the key to a good
deal lies in discovering how much money he has invested in
the car. In other words:
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