Kelley Blue Book Reviews 

A complete waste of time. The "Instant Price" that came up from KBB was OK. When one of the dealers (Auburn Chevrolet) called they said that often the Instant Quote is "low." So I went down to the dealer and guess what, they offered $2,000 less than the Instant Quote. very disappointing that the KBB folks have allowed this to be a part of their website.

Total joke! Got an instant cash offer, after being contacted by every “shady” dealership to bring my car in for the cash offer, turns out they low ball you! Don’t waste your time they will give you a number and as usual the car dealership will go 20-30% under that price to pad their pockets on the sale. Also they will tell you 10-15 minutes and that’s not accurate expect 45-1 hour.

The instant cash service is a total waste of time.
Dealers don't care one bit what the "offer" is. This is just marketing bull crap. Just an opportunity for the dealer to get your email and bombard you with spam. Zero value to the consumer. You might as well just pick a dealer at random, drop by and ask if they want to purchase your vehicle

Car buying service is total bait and switch.I went on the KBB website to see my car's value--something I've done many times with previous vehicles. This time I saw they have an option to offer you money for your car. I figured KBB is reputable and I'd check it out. I completed all the info for my Jeep and was offered $28,800. I was then directed to go to an auto dealer to have the car checked out.(Auto Expo, 46 Northern Blvd, Great Neck,NY) My Jeep has 14,500 miles and is loaded with options. After leaving me waiting for 30 minutes, They finally looked at the car (for 5 min) and offered me $26,500. When I asked why the $2300 drop, the manager said it's due to "National pricing differences." Total BS. I pointed out that actually, the original offer included a HIGHER premium for "regional differences." I'm sure they think if they can lure you in, then you'll turn your car over and let them rip you off. Stay away from Kelley Blue Book's cash offer. BTW, the very next day, I sold my car for $28,900 to Carvana. They even came and picked it up from my house. No hassle, they handed me a check for exactly what was promised.

Kbb is a scam! Value the vehicle very low price for nothing! My 2017 mishibishi lancer has low mileage only 18845 because of little dent and scatches .it only offer me 7000 dollars more.What a joke! Away from this crook dealer!

Avoid any dealership that uses Kelley quick offer. Mandel GMC Buick In DIberville offered me 3500 less that what the trade in value for my loaded up Ford F-150 was actually worth. I understand they’re in business to make money, but don’t try and steal from the costumer. Will never shop at a dealership that us this service

After filling out the KBB "instant cash" offer form, I drove my car to Phil Long Ford in Lakewood, CO a few days ago. After a pleasant experience with my main contact David, his manager Aaron got on kbb.com and downgraded my car's value based on subjective assessments of the front disk rotors and tires. My car had just been serviced and inspected by Mercedes-Benz less than a week prior, where neither of these issues surfaced. As a result of Aaron's actions, the KBB offer was reduce by over $1,000, affecting every other KBB-affiliated dealer I contacted. As a result, I was forced to avoid all contact with KBB-affiliated dealers. Today, I received an offer from another local dealer that is almost $3,000 higher than the one I received from Phil Long Ford. My experience with KBB in this instance convinces me that dealers like Phil Long have an incentive to reduce KBB offers for their own self-interest. I can't say that KBB instant cash is a scam, but the outcome in my case suggests that is the case. My advice is to avoid KBB when selling your vehicle.

Had an awful experience with Jordan Ford with instant cash offer. I was quoted $13,034 for my dad’s truck. When I got there, we had to wait for the person for over 30 minutes. Then, he said the most he could offer was $10,000. Truck is in great condition. Blue book for private party was in the $17,000 range. It is a waste of your time.

I have a 2013 Corvette Coupe 2DR with 16000 miles on her - Cheapest model but has 2lt package, heads up and Nav - Real value of the car about 29K. I would not expect to get that from the instant offer and did not, was offered 27K, sounds about right but when I get to the dealer that drop that down $1000 for a detailing cost (car is cleaner than anything Audi had on their lot). The car has the original Goodyear Eagle run flats on it with 16000 miles on them with over 75% left on tires. Dealer discount the car down another $2400 and say they have to put new tires on it. This instance cash offer service is exactly what you think it would be, bad deal for you and best deal for them. Very last resort if you have no other choice. I drove away from their offers and thought I should have known better than to think this might be legit.

Don't waste your time. Filling out this information does nothing other than put your name on a list to be contacted by dealerships you weren't even considering visiting. You will get no quotes, instant or otherwise, just solicitations. The name of this service is 100% misleading.

First of all, I just wanted to say after reading this website before the transaction I was really hesitant to believe the KBB Instant cash offer on my vehicle. However, I felt it was important to come back on here to talk about my real experience. I also think it is important to understand my situation to understand where there could be gaps in my review. I am in the process of quitting my job of 11 years, selling most of what I own and backpacking across the USA on foot. When I'm done I'm going out of the country for a while to climb some mountains in the Andes.

About what I sold and my experiences through the process. I had a 2011 jeep wrangler, with only 39k miles on it. 2 months back I had used KBB ICO for my jeep and received a quote of $16,000 and used this as the basis for what I was going to accept from dealerships for my vehicle. I listed it privately for a while but it didn't sell, so now with 4 weeks left until I embark on my trip I needed to go the firesale route of selling it to a dealer instead of private sale. I initially didn't go back to KBB ICO because I thought I knew better. I first contacted a dealer that had contacted me after I submitted my KBB ICO. After some negotiations that dealer agreed to give me $15,500 although I was adamant about getting $16000. I agreed to come back in a few days as they said the offer would be on the table for a week. I proceeded to then shop around at about 8 other dealerships for offers on my Jeep. The offers ranged from $13,500 to the last one I got at $16,000. While I was ready to sell it on the spot the finance people werent in and I had to come back the next day. While at home that night I decided just for grins to try KBB ICO again, and to my surprise the offer was $16,833. A whole $833 higher than the offer KBB ICO had offered me 2 months prior. I assume that this has a lot to do with the fact that I requested the inital offer in early march, and now we are a few days from June a time at which Jeep Wranglers will be more of a hot item to sell.

Next I called a few dealerships in the area to set up an appointment and finally got one set for early the next morning at Lexus of Tacoma at Fife. I drove my vehicle down there not expecting much assuming that if it was just crap as I was led to believe by reviews that I'd still have time to go take the $16,000 offer at the other dealership that same morning. The process took about 1 hour and they came back with a revised offer of $16,584 because my windshield was cracked. I was worried about the cracked windshield thing as the KBB ICo website only let me classify repairable stars but not cracks. That seemed like a fair price reduction (251$) to account for the cost of the window. I had priced a window out at 239$ as I had considered replacing it before sale myself. I gladly accepted the offer and went on my merry way. I feel like the process worked exceptionally well for me and would recommend it.

Additional thoughts on the experience and comparison to other dealers as well as how my experiences may differ from the norm.
1. The biggest inconvenience I experienced which I am uncertain if it is a KBB ICO thing or the actual dealer I was selling to. I owe funds on my vehicle to a lending company still, but have a sizeable positive equity stake in it. The KBB ICO dealership will not pay me out on the positive equity in my vehicle until they receive the title from the bank. This is a little annoying with my journey into the wild soon approaching. Out of all the non KBB ICO dealers I talked to some of them had similar process some of them didnt and would pay me right away and some would pay me most right away. This little quirk was the complexity that affected me the most.

2. All dealers including KBB ICO asked me why I'm selling what I'd be driving, but none of them tried to sell me a car because of my circumstances. As a result I can't speak to any pressured sales tactics you may experience on buying a new car as is typical of the industry.

3. All other dealers offered me an uber/Cab/Or other complimentary ride home if I sold my car to them, with KBBICO I had to find my own way home, which really wasn't that big of a deal but more of a Minor nuisance.

Just a gimmick to get your contact info. I spent 20 minutes filling out as much info as possible only to receive a blank offer. It literally said your instant cash offer is.. blank space... Thanks for wasting my time and your welcome for my contact info, which I'm sure you'll sell. Fml.

I tried the Kelly Blue Book Instant Cash offer and it was nothing more than a gimmick to get me to the dealer. Even though the truck was as described, the fact it “needed tires” at 103,000 miles made it ineligible to buy; however, they offered to let me trade it in on a new vehicle. It’s pure gimmick.

recently i checked the value of my car at kbb.com to get an idea how much does it worth. website shows that trade in 19k to 21k and private sale was around 22k. then i saw the option "instant cash offer" i clicked on it and process to the end and got a offer of 19.4k offer which i think was fair for easy and quick service.

emailed to the buying center provided by kbb.com. got a respond next day said they will love to buy my car. me as excited as i am cleaned out my car and drive over 50miles to the buying center to my disappointment. not only the dealership didnt offer any close to 19.4k (instant cash offer amount) but 15k was their best offer! 2 years old car with only 7k miles on it.. no accidents, damages and perfect condition.

just dont understand what was the point of KBB instant cash offer when no buying centers going to honor it but to trick you in to the dealer hoping you was going to trade in for a new car instead!!!