Book Value Calculator

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GardenGnome

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Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know where one can find an online version of the official book value estimator. I know the dealers have an actual physical booklet and there used to be a site linked to Transunion that one could use in the past to get accurate estimates.

This can greatly assist a buyer in knowing if they are getting a good deal or not. I see there is another website that comes up when I google this, but I am not sure if this is in anyway linked to the "offcial" bookvalue database.

Is this database maintained by the credit bureau?
 
That booklet is indeed published on behalf of TransUnion. Every now and again sites pop up which give supposed book values, but they tend to be questionable at best. You should also keep in mind that a straight-up book value is meaningless without also knowing how close the trade is likely to adhere to it; in other words, a mint recent VW Polo will trade quite close to book but, say, a Peugeot 407 won't - regardless its condition.

You can, via TransUnion's site, get individual reports for a fee, but if you're negotiating with a dealer most will quite happily show you the relevant info in the booklet.
 
Every time I have found one on line, it's been wildy out of whack with actual book value, so relatively useless, apart from giving you an inflated idea of what you will get for your car.

Very few cars trade even close to book value - one of them is a Polo, however, and if you have a nice clean one, you know that it will probably be sitting just about on "book". Depending on what car you are looking at, you can take the book price and drop anywhere between 40k and up to 100 k behind that price.

If you are looking to sell your car, look on Autotrader and then remember that the sellers dream up prices and don't necessarily get what they are dreaming of! :p
 
Fazda said:
Every time I have found one on line, it's been wildy out of whack with actual book value, so relatively useless, apart from giving you an inflated idea of what you will get for your car.

Very few cars trade even close to book value - one of them is a Polo, however, and if you have a nice clean one, you know that it will probably be sitting just about on "book". Depending on what car you are looking at, you can take the book price and drop anywhere between 40k and up to 100 k behind that price.

If you are looking to sell your car, look on Autotrader and then remember that the sellers dream up prices and don't necessarily get what they are dreaming of! :p
Click to expand...

Thats the problem I have with sites like Autotrader is that sellers can come up with their own price.

I am looking at buying a car that will hold its value so that I can sell it after 4 years and not worry about owing more than its worth. The car market is so tightly packed that it seems like the price point differences are so small between variations in ages and models cars that you have to be very careful. Also when shopping at dealers its stranger how the prices can sway around.

I am in the market for a new or second hand vehicle and I am looking for something that will hold its value the best amongst all the contendors in the market place.

So far it looks like Polos and Toyotas might be the way to go?
 
Certain Toyotas - not all! A current shape Corolla is a total no/no on the second hand market at the moment - they are around 50 behind book and even then the traders don't want them.

Just about the only way to not lose too much is to buy an oldish car that has devalued already, and then you should be OK...there's a 1991 Monza 1.6 available in Cape Town, I believe...;)
 
Fazda said:
Certain Toyotas - not all! A current shape Corolla is a total no/no on the second hand market at the moment - they are around 50 behind book and even then the traders don't want them.

Just about the only way to not lose too much is to buy an oldish car that has devalued already, and then you should be OK...there's a 1991 Monza 1.6 available in Cape Town, I believe...;)
Click to expand...

A person cant win. The Monza sounds tempting, maybe I can drop the suspension and put a sub in as well and spend a 100K on pimping it up:D
 
GardenGnome said:
Hi Everyone,

Does anyone know where one can find an online version of the official book value estimator. I know the dealers have an actual physical booklet and there used to be a site linked to Transunion that one could use in the past to get accurate estimates.

This can greatly assist a buyer in knowing if they are getting a good deal or not. I see there is another website that comes up when I google this, but I am not sure if this is in anyway linked to the "offcial" bookvalue database.

Is this database maintained by the credit bureau?
Click to expand...

Get Trade & Retail values with Wheel Index. Just select the car or enter the VIN number.

https://www.wheelindex.co.za/car-valuation-tool
 
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