[War_Wagon]

The older, and rarer, model you are looking for, the less the book price counts. 2010 Ford Taurus? Sure, the book number matters because if one advertised is too expensive, you can find 10 more just like it that are more in line with book prices. A 12 year old car that was a specialty item to start with? It's worth what someone will pay for it. And the older the vehicle, the more mileage they have in general, so the average value gets lower and lower, as most of them have say 200k miles, so if you see one with 150k, the book won't account for that. And depending on where the KBB gets their info, it can be skewed to start with. Generally value guides get their information from either auction results, or from the tax/registration departments. So if someone reports that they only paid $3000 for a car when they in fact paid $5000, in order to save on taxes, then that reduces the accuracy as well if enough people do it.

Some guy really wanted my Tracker, it's a 1998 so it's the last of the more popular body, has all the stuff you'd want, best colour combo, and is really clean, with 175k KMs (110k miles). You couldn't find this combo in this condition with the miles it has on it again if you wanted to. The guy pulled out a print off of one of the local value guides, and showed me that according to "the book", I was $500 overpriced. "So buy one from the book then." He didn't like that lol, but it's true. The book doesn't sell cars, so you have to remember it's only a guide and nothing set in stone.