[Closed] Why is it called the "Blue Book"?

Because it was blue in color.

A Fabricated Hoax

This " bible" is used to allow the least amount of money so a reseller can sell for the most amount of money. Its fiction with a lot of manipulated data in favor of auto dealers.

Feeling blue after finding out your cars worth?

Didn't this horror filled hand book have regular updates? Perhaps the first edition had a blue cover

Actually the N.A.D.A. book you picture is NOT the Blue Book. The latter is called the Kelly Blue Book and basically it is of the same general information as the N.A.D.A. book, but their car values aren't always the same. The Kelly Blue book has higher retail values, but lower trade-in values.

What's strange is that most banks and credit unions around the country use and rely on the N.A.D.A book for "Retail value", "Loan value", and "Trade-in value" when looking to lend money on a car to a customer, BUT, and it's a huge but, the majority of automobile dealerships use the Kelly Blue Book to come up with the same values.

So the problem is that, generally when banks are considering lending money on used cars, they have different information than the dealerships. This makes coming to terms on said values often strained in putting a loan together.

I worked in and managed consumer loan departments for 35 years during my banking career, and it was always a constant wonder why dealers insist on using the more inflated values of the Blue Book over N.A.D.A. Though the reason is somewhat obvious in that the Blue Book usually is much more escalated in their values. Thus they will attempt to charge more for a car that it is likely worth. And they will give a customer LESS for their trade-in, thus increasing their margin for resale.

Finally, there are different editions of each book for different sections of the country. One reason is that cars in sunny warm climates are generally worth more than cars that have endured cold and winter. Another factor is driving conditions.

Bottom line is they are two very different books.

Thank was an amazing history lesson George, so much I did not know. Thanks so much!

Thank you George, an informative comparison summary between the two handbooks.

Here in the 21st century, no one uses a book, but an on-line, real-time service such as Manheim Vehicle Value Index which is by subscription only.
This database has every trade-in on-line and a dealer can look at this before giving you a penny. It is updated nightly.

The Kelly Blue Book was always bound in blue...as far back as I can remember

Correct. Before this online resource, delaerships used the "Black Book"

This was a subscription-only book that came out every two weeks and was tied to auction sales in a given region. All trade-ins were evaluated using these resources. I never worked at a dealership that used either NADA or KBB.

Yeah. The Internet ruined everything.

I only know of "Project Blue Book" , but that was something different....

John, I've been retired from banking for 12 years. But during my 35 year career, the banks I worked had lending relationships with hundreds of auto dealerships and every one of those dealerships used the Kelly Blue Book to arrive at their "trade-in values" and "retail values"...while the banks relied on the N.A.D.A book for the same values.

As I stated in my previous comment, the difference between the two books was that the Kelly Blue Book offered HIGHER retail values and LOWER trad-in values. Where as the banks would use the more realistic N.A.D.A. values to assure that they were in a better lending position when giving out loans.