Kelley Blue Book Reviews 

I used their so-called instant cash offer when selling my vehicle. This is where they give you a supposed set amount the dealers will pay you. The amount was low but I understood. It's the wholesale amount, not retail. I wanted to sell fast so I accepted it. Even though my car was in as good condition as I described on KBB's form, when it came time to make the sell, those dealers couldn't have cared less about KBB's offer. They all proceeded to offer me an even lower purchase amount. What's the point of having a set amount if nobody is going to honor it??

It seems all KBB is doing is providing potential opportunities to dealerships without holding them to their side of the agreement. I'm sure the dealerships pay KBB a referral fee for this service. So in the end, KBB gets paid, the dealerships can lowball the seller all they want without repercussion, and the seller winds up with the short end of the stick. No thanks!

INSTANT CASH OFFER IS A WASTE OF TIME

My experience with Kelley Blue Book’s Instant Cash Offer was an absolute joke.

I went through Kelley Blue Book, provided the information about my vehicle along with pictures, and received an Instant Cash Offer of **over $2,200**. Kelley Blue Book then connected me with participating dealerships to complete the process.

After going through all of that, the dealerships I was connected with either offered me **$300 or were completely uninterested in purchasing the vehicle at all**.

Meanwhile, the car **runs and drives with no problems**.

So what exactly is the point of Kelley Blue Book giving me an **Instant Cash Offer of $2,200+** if the dealerships they connect me with are either going to offer $300—which is less than **14% of the KBB offer**—or tell me they aren't interested?

I understand that an Instant Cash Offer can change after an inspection if there is undisclosed damage or the vehicle was misrepresented. That's reasonable. But going from **$2,200+ to $300 or no offer whatsoever** isn't a reasonable adjustment. It makes the original Instant Cash Offer feel completely meaningless.

Kelley Blue Book is the one setting up these offers and connecting customers with participating dealerships. If those dealerships aren't actually interested in honoring anything remotely close to the offer KBB generated, then customers are just wasting their time and gas driving around to dealerships.

If my vehicle isn't something your participating dealerships actually want, then DON'T GIVE ME A $2,200+ INSTANT CASH OFFER IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Give people a realistic number before sending them somewhere.

After this experience, I wouldn't recommend Kelley Blue Book's Instant Cash Offer to anyone.

**KBB Instant Cash Offer: $2,200+
Actual dealer offers: $300 or completely uninterested.**

That's not an Instant Cash Offer. That's a waste of time.

Scammed me. Got an offer for my car, then when it's time for them to get it they stop responding. I keep emailing back, finally someone else responds and they want to pay $1000 less. I accept, again silence for weeks and then suddenly now it's $1000 less, but they keep responding getting additional photos that they had weeks ago e.t.c. Now with the same photos as before they say $200 less due to condition and they will take it. So it took almost 3 months and $2200 less while they waited to scam me, all I got was a verbal apology and no compensation.

I had a Subaru with a dying transmission. I went to KBB to get a value and see about selling the car. They gave me an offer that was as much as 72% better than other online offers I received. Yes, I had to take the car to a dealer to handle the transaction, but that was easy. The dealer was fully aware of their program, handled the deal and I walked away with much more money than other companies would have given me for coming out to pick up my car. I'd use them again!

I don't even want to give them 1 start to be honest.

Custmers tend to buy used cars, neglect them or they had been neglected and leave bad reviews.

I left a reciew on a 07 tahoe ltz that kbb tried to get me a offer of $750 for that had no accidents. Clean title and been properly maintained hence the 260k miles. I have 2 other vehicles 08 silverado 198k miles and a 08 tahoe 230k miles a dodge ram 3500 v10 370k miles. I have not had to do nothing but change fluids maybe a sebsor for oil pressure on a few but they are all running good.

Kbb values those vehicles at scrap prices or wont value them at all like the 98 ram 3500 v10 wont show up.

They need to be shut down because after I left my review they removed my 5 star review of the 07 Tahoe. Why? Market manipulation. They are a fraud company looking to rip you off with one of their partners to give you a low offer for your car.

Dont use websites to sell cars at 200 to 400 bucks. Call your local scrap yard and some pick it up for you and take 0.50 per pound off for the tow fee unless within a certain range.

I don't do dirty sales if you can't be 100% honest with your customers you should not have customers.

Their fine print says: "the Offer amount may be decreased. Kelley Blue Book and its affiliates are not responsible for Offer adjustments or if a Participating Dealer won't accept your vehicle. Dealers pay a fee to participate in the Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer program." Fact: when I arrived at the dealer, without even seeing the car, the first thing he said was that his actual price would be substantially lower! And he was right! It was about 25% lower than the KBB promise! Honestly never gonna interact

Absolutely bottom of the barrel offer. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE! The price is about 20% under what their own kbb values show. Waste of time and effort.

This was by far the worst positive experience I have had in selling a car. Instant offer put me on a bad track to a low sale price.

Best of all you get bothered by tons of dealerships offering you 50% lower than the quoted sales price listed on KDB. 😃

I thoroughly enjoyed driving across the state to a one of these dealerships just so they could look at my car for 5 minutes and and offer me practically nothing for it. 😁

It was super relaxing getting 2-3 calls per day by said dealership saying they changed their mind and that they have a great deal for me afterall. 😊

As soon as I put in my information to be able to get an offer I indicated I was not interested in selling. They immediately sent my info to car dealers. Literally started getting spam calls within minutes. DO NOT USE THEM AT ALL. Carvana gave me a better estimate and did not sell my info before the keyboard even cooled off.

When selling a car through Kelley Blue Book's Instant Cash Offer (ICO), I was told by the dealership and multiple KBB customer service representatives that the offer I received a week prior from the dealership, based on the KBB valuation and their own inspection, had actually expired the day before I brought the car in to sell. The dealership and the KBB representatives said that since the offer expired, the dealership had to do another inspection, resulting in a significantly lower offer.

When reaching out to customer support after selling the car to get clarity and attempt to recover the difference between the original offer and the accepted offer of the sale, KBB consistently denied that the offer expiration was the issue and emphasized that any offers are made at the dealership's discretion (and that re-evaluating the car is included in that). This denial contradicts the verbal confirmation I received from KBB customer support on the day of the sale that the reason for the dealership needing to re-evaluate the car was due to the offer expiring. Since then, their email responses have continued to be not only slow, but also to stick solely to their argument that any decisions are made by the dealership alone and they solely serve to connect sellers and dealerships.

If you’re selling your car through KBB’s ICO program, keep in mind the dealership will still probably lowball you, based on KBB’s valuation online, and getting any genuine help from KBB's customer support is nearly impossible.

This was a complete waste of time. We drove 2 hours round trip to the dealership and received an offer 2K below the KBB offer. The dealer indicated that there was no discrepancy between our description on KBB and their assessment. They offered an incomprehensible explanation. Go somewhere else so as not to be disappointed. A smarmy industry from one end to the other.

Negative five stars / bait-and-switch

I needed to sell my car and got an 「 instant offer 」 from KBB on it ( $17k which I think was a low-ball but it was at least something and I urgently needed money )

Went into Honda of North Hollywood and they 「 made some adjustments 」 and ultimately gave me $14k

I took it because I needed to but definitely walked away feeling robbed.

Kelley Blue Book (KBB) reviews are written by experts who have extensive experience in the industry. These writers test drive the vehicles themselves and evaluate them based on a variety of factors such as performance, comfort, safety, technology, and overall value. Their reviews are detailed and based on real-world experiences, offering readers a reliable and trustworthy source of information when considering a new or used car.

The style of Kelley Blue Book’s reviews is informative yet approachable. The editors aim to explain complex automotive features in simple language, making the reviews accessible even to people who may not be very familiar with cars. These reviews often include insights into how a vehicle compares with others in its class, helping consumers make informed choices based on their preferences and budget.

In addition to expert opinions, KBB also features reviews from everyday users. These customer-submitted reviews offer a more personal perspective on long-term ownership, including details about maintenance, reliability, and comfort over time. Together, the expert and user reviews create a comprehensive picture of a vehicle's strengths and weaknesses.

Kelley Blue Book is widely respected in the automotive world for its commitment to accuracy, transparency, and honesty. Whether you're buying a car for the first time or looking to trade in an older model, their human-written reviews provide valuable guidance to support your decision.

Instant cash offer is just from them. They send your information to untold number of 3rd parties. That will call text and email you.it basically puts on on robo dialers. KBB is trash for doing this. I didn’t mind having a few local dealers call, but places are spiffing local numbers and calling.

Zero stars. The KBB site gave me a value for my car that seemed realistic, but then when I tried to use the Instant Cash offer program, the price it spit out was $3-5k below the range of what their own website says my car is worth, then spammed it to a bunch of dealers who all low balled me with that price and one even acted like they were doing me a favor by increasing the offer above that price by $200. KBB is clearly in bed with dealers to deliver them maximum profits from desperate or stupid people who fall for this. Do NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM. Find another way to sell your car.

Avoid this site. It will offer half the price of the actual value of the car. And all the dealer vultures around you will spam you. Pure waste of time for everyone.

I should have read reviews before I wasted my time with their instant cash offer. What a joke. Took to their dealer who offered me 20% less than what I was quoted online. Hour of my life I won't get back.

Love kbb for value comparisons but will NEVER do an instant cash offer sign up again. I couldn’t care less about the lowball offers, what really sucks is getting bombarded with AT LEAST 10 spam and robocalls a day that started within minutes of submitting my info. I hope I don’t have to get a new number because of this scam. I block them all but it’s clear my number got sold and I’ve submitted it nowhere else.

DO NOT do an instant cash offer on KBB, they give you the lowest ball crap offer and send that dollar number to every dealership in the area and you will be bombarded with calls, texts, and emails. I have blocked numbers and still gotten calls. There’s no way I can sell my car for that price and be able to purchase a functioning car afterwards. There seems to be a big disconnect between the cash offer and reality.

I have a regretting experience with KBB. KBB should have done a better job for the customers. Alternatively, KBB could admit prioritizing dealers, which is fine but its reputation should drop accordingly. If I google "KBB review" now, I can still see many positive words like "KBB is a trusted resource that provides consumers, manufacturers, and automotive dealers with reliable and transparent insights".

Not till very recently does I learn KBB valuation has multipe types, such as instant cash offer, trade-in value, and private buyer, and they are in increasing order. And popular Google queries, such as "sell my car", always go to the lowest valuation ("instant cash offer").

Albeit all requires same/similar input, unfornuately, KBB does NOT display the valuation of different types in a single query. This is indeed a very useful "transparent insight" KBB should have provided to customers so customers are more educated on the price spectrum when dealing with potential buyers, dealer or private. This can be more useful to less educated sellers (like first-time ones), who do not even know the existence of these types, and what it takes to sell higher.

By withholding these already available information, KBB is creating less educated customers and happier dealer: it helps dealer to buy cars at lower prices from less educated sellers. This practice doesn't match its reputation IMO.