NADA value? The book moved. Your car didn't.
NADA's consumer values live at J.D. Power now — nada.org itself just links out. What never moved: the number is only half the price. Decode the VIN free, then let the history do the adjusting.
Value any VIN — with the history that moves the number
17 characters in — exact build, value benchmarks, and a free preview of the records that adjust them.
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Quick Answer
- Where did NADA values go?
- To J.D. Power.The dealer association's guide business was acquired by J.D. Power in 2015, and today nada.org's own “Get a Value” button sends consumers to J.D. Power with a disclaimer that the site isn't affiliated with NADA. The name survived; the book itself lives under new ownership.
- Why do NADA values run higher than KBB?
- Different questions get different answers. NADA's methodology leans on wholesale transactions and assumes the car is in good condition; Kelley Blue Book asks about condition, mileage and your local market before it answers. Assume-good-condition pricing runs higher by design — which is one reason lenders like it and buyers should double-check it.
- How do I get a NADA-style value for my exact car?
- Value the VIN, not the model. A 17-character VIN decodes to the exact trim, engine and options, then the history decides the rest — a salvage brand alone cuts value by 20–40%. The free lookup shows the build and value benchmarks; the $14.99 report adds the records the guides assume away.
Where NADA values actually live now
The name outlived the address. If you're hunting a “NADA value” in 2026, here's the map:
| What you're after | Where it is | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| The classic NADA book value | jdpower.com — J.D. Power bought the guide business in 2015 | Values carry the NADA name inside J.D. Power's car pages |
| nada.org itself | The dealer association — not a valuation site | Its “Get a Value” button forwards you to J.D. Power with a not-affiliated disclaimer |
| The “NADA value” your lender quotes | Credit unions and banks still price loan collateral off the same guide | That's why the name survives on loan paperwork long after the site moved |
| A value for your exact car | A VIN-based lookup — build decoded, history factored | Guides price the model; the VIN prices the car |
None of this makes the NADA number wrong — it makes it generic. The guide can't know whether the specific car you're pricing spent a year as a salvage rebuild. The records do.
How a NADA value is built — and why it runs high
The NADA guide answers a different question than KBB does, and the difference shows up in the number:
Wholesale first
NADA's methodology leans on wholesale and dealer-sale transactions — the trade's own prices. That's exactly why lending desks trust it for collateral, and why it tracks what dealers pay more closely than what your neighbor will.
Good condition, presumed
NADA values assume the car is in good condition rather than asking. Presumed-good pricing runs higher by design — flattering if you're selling, expensive if you're buying without checking what the car has actually been through.
KBB asks, NADA assumes
Kelley Blue Book walks you through condition, mileage and local market before answering, so its range starts lower and moves more. Neither guide reads the car's records — that part is on you, whichever book you open.
The number is only half the price
Two identical listings can deserve wildly different money. The build sets the baseline — the history does the adjusting:
Brands: the 20–40% haircut
A salvage brand cuts a car's value by 20–40% — and it doesn't grow back with new paint. Any guide number quoted for a branded car without that discount is fiction, whoever's logo is on the guide.
The odometer under the mileage
Every guide adjusts for mileage — using the number you type in. Recorded readings in sequence are what make that adjustment honest. A rollback doesn't just change the value; it invalidates the whole appraisal.
The records the guide can't see
Accident records, total-loss declarations, auction sales with photos, owner count and usage type. None of it lives in a value guide, all of it lives in the VIN's paper trail, and every line moves the real-world price.
Price the car, not the model
Free preview first: build, brands and odometer flags for any 17-character VIN — the $14.99 full report adds every record and the market view.
Get a defensible value in three steps
Free first — most of the pricing work costs nothing.
Decode the exact build
Run the 17-character VIN. Trim, engine, drivetrain and factory options come back in seconds — the difference between pricing a base model and the loaded version of the same car, which no year-make-model dropdown can see.
Open the history
Titles and brands from every state, recorded odometer readings, accident and total-loss records, auction sales with photos — delivered in under 60 seconds. This is the half of the price the guides assume away.
Price with three benchmarks
Read trade-in, private-party and dealer-retail as a range, then place the car inside it using what the records showed. A clean history argues for the top of the range; a branded one repriced the car before you arrived.
Who still says “NADA value” — and what they mean
The phrase survives in three places, and it means something slightly different in each:
Lenders and credit unions
Loan desks price collateral off the guide — credit unions still host NADA value calculators for exactly that. When a lender says “NADA value,” they mean the number that caps what they'll finance, not what the car is worth to you.
Dealers at the trade-in desk
The wholesale lens makes the guide the trade's shared reference. When a dealer quotes “NADA” on your trade-in, ask which column — trade-in, not retail — and what condition grade they assumed while quoting it.
Habit — and old bookmarks
For decades the orange guide was simply what a car was “worth.” The habit outlived the address: the values now answer at J.D. Power, and nada.org itself will tell you so on the way through.
Related value tools and comparisons
The rest of the what's-it-worth homework, in the same plain terms.
Always check the VIN before you buy
The free preview shows title brands, theft status and open recalls in seconds, and flags whether accident and odometer records exist. The full history is $14.99 — one-time, no subscription.
NADA values — the questions people ask
Straight answers, including where the old book still beats us.
Is NADA still a thing for car values?+
The name is; the site isn't the destination anymore. J.D. Power acquired NADA's guide business in 2015, and nada.org's own consumer-values page now forwards visitors to J.D. Power with a disclaimer that it's a third-party site. Lenders, dealers and loan paperwork still say “NADA value” out of habit — the number they mean comes from J.D. Power.
NADA vs KBB — which is more accurate?+
Neither is wrong; they answer differently. NADA leans on wholesale transactions and assumes good condition, so it generally runs higher and tracks what the trade pays. KBB asks about condition, mileage and local market, so it starts lower and moves more. For a specific car, both are a starting range — the VIN's actual history decides where in the range it belongs.
Why do lenders use NADA values?+
Because collateral pricing wants a standardized, wholesale-anchored number, and the NADA guide was built from exactly those transactions. Credit unions still host NADA value calculators for auto loans. Remember what that number is for: it caps the loan, it doesn't certify the car — a lender's NADA value says nothing about brands or rollbacks.
How do I look up a NADA value by VIN?+
The guide side works by year, make, model and trim — which the 17-character VIN identifies precisely, so decode it first rather than guessing trim from a listing. Our free lookup does that decode and previews the records; the $14.99 report adds every state title, odometer timeline, accident and auction records plus the market view for that exact car.
Why is my car worth less than its NADA value?+
Usually because the guide assumed a condition and a history your car doesn't have. A salvage or rebuilt brand alone cuts value 20–40%; accident records, a busy owner history or commercial usage all push below book. Sometimes it's the opposite — low miles and a clean, documented history argue above the assumed number. The records are the argument either way.
Is there a free NADA value lookup?+
The J.D. Power consumer pages answer by year, make, model and trim without charging, and our VIN decode with value benchmarks is free too. What's worth paying for isn't the number — it's the verification: the $14.99 NMVTIS-backed history that tells you whether the car in front of you deserves the number, delivered in under 60 seconds.
Do NADA values cover RVs, motorcycles and boats?+
The NADA name has long been attached to guides for those verticals, and searches for them are common. This page covers automobiles — for a bike or truck, the same logic holds: decode the VIN, verify the history, then let a guide number be the starting range rather than the verdict.
The guide prices the model. The VIN prices the car.
Exact build free, full history and market view for $14.99 — the number and the story behind it, in under a minute.
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