A couple weeks ago, our family headed to the Chicago Auto Show. It’s always fun to look at new cars! After blogging about our adventures, readers expressed interest in my own path to purchasing a new car. What’s involved? How do I know I’m getting the best price on a new vehicle?
I’ve often referenced the great financial upbringing that my parents gave me. When it was time to buy a new car, they always went into the car dealer extremely prepared for the task at hand. My dad would carry notes detailing the base cost of the vehicle he wanted to purchase, along with the options they wanted, because he’d done his homework ahead of time.
Before the internet made this research process much easier, Dad would order a report on his vehicle of interest from Kelley Blue Book. The multi-page report would arrive in the mail, and he’d pore over it and figure out exactly what he was willing to pay for his new car or truck.
Incredibly, Kelley Blue Book has been around for over 90 years! The company produced its first Blue Book in 1926, and it’s the information source that both consumers and the auto industry rely on for vehicle valuations.
Of course, the internet changed this process for the better. Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com is available to everyone, whenever you’d like to use it. It’s written in layman’s terms to serve typical, everyday car buyers and give them every bit of information needed to make intelligent car purchase decisions.
Many people know that KBB.com is a great tool for looking up the value of used cars or finding out what your current car is worth. Select your vehicle’s year, make, and model, and KBB.com will give you a list of options on your car or truck to accurately estimate its current value. Of course, while I was writing this post, I had to look up my Chevy and see what its current value is as of 3/7/17:
This is the most I can expect to get if I were to sell my car to a private party. Its trade-in value is lower. (Of course, as I’ve written before, I’m in no hurry to get rid of my vehicle yet. It’s my baby!)
I didn’t realize that in addition to being the source for car valuation info the Kelley Blue Book editorial team drives hundreds of new cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans every year to create their annual list of the Best Family Cars. Surprisingly, 2017 is the first year that no sedans are included on the list! Each of their 2017 picks are SUVs or minivans.
While there are plenty of excellent, family-focused luxury SUVs on the market, KBB.com‘s editorial staff focused on mainstream vehicles and brands for Kelley Blue Book’s 12 Best Family Cars of 2017. The Kelley Blue Book editorial team produced a video featuring this year’s winners (and this Chevrolet fan was happy to see the 2017 Tahoe make the list!)
Each of these family SUVs and vans features two or three-row seating, a feature that we love about our current SUV and would definitely look for in a future vehicle. Realizing that these vehicles are extremely popular with families, Kelley Blue Book also created a car seat guide for 2017 that includes useful tips and specific details about each of this year’s Best Family Cars’ strengths and weaknesses.
More about Kelley Blue Book:
- Kelley Blue Book has named its list of the 12 Best Family Cars of 2017.
- After extensive testing and evaluation, with a focus on safety, value, reputation and fit of various child safety car seats, among other factors, the KBB.com editors recommended their choices for a diverse group of new vehicles that best meet the needs of today’s families.
- KBB.com’s editorial staff includes several parents with children spanning a full range of ages from toddler to beyond college. The editors enlisted the help of their families to put this year’s contenders to the real-world test.
- Starting prices for this year’s winners range from about $20,000 to the low $30,000 range, with only one vehicle exceeding a $40,000 starting price.
- Child car safety seats were very important in the consideration of the list of winners. KBB.com editors have an accompanying car seat guide with useful tips and specific details for readers.
Visit Kelley Blue Book on the web at KBB.com, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter with hashtag #KBBFamilyCars.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Kelley Blue Book. I have been compensated for this post as part of my membership in the Mom It Forward Influencer Network. Read full Disclosure Policy.
Wanda says
This is good info. Sadly, my current car is ten years old and worth $2200! It is worth more than that to me.