- Dealer Marketing Magazine

Lawrenceville, GA — January 9, 2018 — Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides industry-leading used vehicle valuation and residual value forecast solutions, announced today its most precise valuation yet, VIN-specific History-Adjusted Valuations, an analytics-driven process for determining the impact a vehicle’s history has on its value.

Today, when valuing a vehicle, automotive industry professionals check the vehicle’s history report and make an unscientific, educated guess as to its impact on the vehicle’s value. This is subjective and problematic, as it often leads to mistakes in valuation. Making an inaccurate estimation on appraisal values can decrease margins for a dealer, as well as increase losses for auto lenders.

Black Book has leveraged its advanced analytics capabilities and deep editorial expertise to bring insight into precisely how a vehicle’s historical events impact its value. This is critical since a recent survey of automotive professionals indicated that 96% of respondents feel a vehicle’s history has a moderate to significant impact on value of a used vehicle.

Black Book’s creation of History-Adjusted Valuations analyzes multiple factors and events in a vehicle’s history such as number of owners, vehicle usage, accident and accident severity, title issues, flood/hail/fire damage, CPO history, and other variables that are not obvious when physically inspecting a vehicle. Black Book’s customer promise is to deliver ever more precise valuations. On average, History-Adjusted Values are 31% more precise when compared to the auction transaction price than valuations without a history adjustment included.

“We are providing our customers a competitive advantage by precisely valuing a vehicle based on its VIN-specific history, said Jared Kalfus, Executive Vice President, Revenue at Black Book. “Whether appraising a trade-in, bidding at auction or valuing a vehicle portfolio, precision drives profit, growth and customer satisfaction.”

“The evolution of data and analytics continues to have a profound impact on the overall auto industry, from dealers and remarketers, to manufacturers and lenders,” said Anil Goyal, Executive Vice President, Operations at Black Book.

“Our analytics play a significant role in recognizing the patterns in a vehicle’s history and determining their impact on each vehicle’s value, enabling our customers to make better decisions.” To learn more about Black Book’s new History-Adjusted Valuations please call 800.554.1026.

About Black Book

Black Book® is best known in the automotive industry for providing timely, independent and accurate vehicle pricing information, and is available to industry-qualified users through online subscription products, mobile applications and licensing agreements. Since 1955 Black Book has continuously evolved to ensure that it achieves its goal of delivering mission-critical information to its customers, along with the insight necessary to successfully buy, sell, and lend. Black Book data is published daily by National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Business media, and the company maintains offices in Georgia, Florida, and Maryland as well as the Canadian Black Book in Toronto. For more information, please visit BlackBook.com or call 800.554.1026.