Have you ever noticed that some brand names will stick with a product and that is what they become called generally? Items like Kleenex and Band Aids are referred to by these names rather than tissue or bandage. This is because these where the first brands to come out with the product and to people referred to the product by the brand name.
This same scenario applies to the pricing of used cars. My husband and his friend have bee involved in restoring classic cars for many years. They work on the cars in the evenings and on weekends. They each have kept a classic car that they have restored and are now working on one that they hope to sell for a profit. They were discussing how much they were hoping to get out of the car and they said they would compare the blue book value to similar vehicles being sold at auctions and come up with a median price. I have heard them talk about the blue book value of a car in the past, but I have never paid that much attention to where they were looking. My husband asked me if I could grab the blue book off of his desk. I went into the den and started looking for the book. There were some papers on the desk, but it was generally clean. I could not see a blue book anywhere. My husband came into the den to see what was taking me so long. He walked up to a small tan book and said that this is what he wanted. I started laughing and said that I was feeling quite foolish. I was looking for a book that was the color blue. I did not look at the title of the tan book.
When the price of used cars were first published in an effort to establish uniformity in cost one company published the pricing. They were published in a blue colored book and were referred to as the blue book value. Other pricing books came out that were not as extensive and accurate so the blue book value became the measure that car salesmen used to determine pricing. Today there are several reputable publications of car pricing, but they are all referred to as the blue book value of the vehicle. The blue book value takes into consideration not only the year of the vehicle, but the number of miles it has on it, the accessories that are on the model as well as the general upkeep of the vehicle. There is still some leeway in determining a price, but the parameters are set.
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