The Black Book family of vehicle appraisal guides, widely known in the automotive industry for providing timely, independent and accurate vehicle pricing data, is published by National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Business Media. New and used car dealers, lenders, manufacturers, fleet remarketers, and government agencies have relied on Black Book since 1955.
Black Book provides values for both new and used vehicles, including cars, light trucks, and collectible vehicles produced since 1946, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, personal watercraft, and heavy duty commercial trucks and trailers. Other products include VIN decoding software, projected residual values, inventory management tools, and lead generation applications.
Black Book data is published daily in multiple electronic formats including data feeds, Internet-based applications, handheld PDAs, Web-enabled cell phones, Pocket PCs, BlackBerry and Palm devices, smart phones, Micro Browsers, online trade appraisal services, and in a variety of other custom products. Printed versions are also available.
Video Black Book (National Auto Research)
Black Book Function in the Auto Industry
Today, Black Book is a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation. The magazine is circulation controlled, restricted to dealers and financing sources. Black Book is issued weekly, reflecting the latest prices direct from actual or online automobile dealers. National Auto Research Inc, provides vehicle pricing. In select formats, Black Book vehicle appraisal guides are published daily, weekly, and monthly in various electronic formats, including data feeds, internet based applications, hand held PDAs, smart phones and online appraisal services.
Maps Black Book (National Auto Research)
Black Book Methodology
Black Book visits 60 auctions nationwide every week to gather the most up to date information on used car values. It collects data from wholesale auctions it attends in person or online, applies adjustments and compares them against dealer advertised prices. Access is restricted because it requires subscriptions, but public access to its price search features are accessible through third party sites such as Newcars.com. Finding out car value is dependent on several factors including make, model, year, condition, accessories and mileage of the vehicle. Currently Black Book is the official valuation service for Cars.com, a third-party internet shopping site based on their accurate vehicle values which help serve as an important guide for consumers navigating the vehicle selling and trade-in process.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia