How Accurate Are Car Price Guides?

A car like any other commodity, is only worth what somebody is prepared to pay for it. So whatever the book value is, which is used by dealerships to value the car for tradeins, and by insurance companies for pay outs, is the value. Anything over and above this figure, which can be due to the good condition of the car,  low milage, or a scarcity of that particular model, is a bonus as far as value is concerned, and  can be rather subjective. That is why it is worth what someone is prepared to pay.
Certain models and makes are popular and retain much of their value at resale, and of course these are the cars we want to buy, because we know they retain value. This market value is very often driven by market forces beyond our control, like the publics perception of the vehicle. So they performance may come second in this if it is good looking or trendy or rare.
The book value is said to be the actual value of a second hand car.

It is very difficult to say how accurate the car price guides are. This depends very much on whether we are talking about new cars or pre-owned cars. New car prices are pretty much fixed, although they can vary based on location i.e., different states of India may have different varied prices.

There are many sites which give you values for cars in different parts of the country. For example, a Toyota Innova may have a INR 50,000 price difference between different parts of India. Moreover, the price may further differ from the listed price as different dealers have pricing that may differ a bit from each other.

However, the prices in the price definitely act as a reference as one can have a rough idea at what price one is looking for and then one can decide on which model and car to go for. Moreover, price guides also help you make a comparison on the features in different models of a car, or different cars and see up to five vehicles or more in tabular form which can make the decision making process simpler.

Similarly, for used cars, these guides furnish the ball park pricing while the actual price will depend on other factors such as actual condition of the car which a mechanic will be able to define.