Kelley Blue Book (KBB) is America's largest appraiser of automobiles. Corporate headquarters are in Irvine, California, USA. The company has become so identified with its services that the trademarked terms blue book and blue book value has become synonymous with a car's market value.

History

Kelley Blue Book Co., Inc., began as the Kelley Kar Company, a Los Angeles based car dealership, in 1918. The dealership was founded by Les Kelley, an Arkansas born businessman who started the dealership with three used Model T Fords and one employee, his 13 year old brother Buster.

In order to obtain inventory, he began circulating lists of cars he wanted to acquire along with the price he was willing to pay for them. The price lists quickly became a trusted standard among Los Angeles area banks and car dealers.

In 1926, he published his first Kelley Blue Book, a guide to used car values. The service was primarily regional until the 1940s. In the years immediately following World War II, a large number of returning serviceman and the pent up demand caused by four years of wartime rationing caused a huge spike in the demand for cars. Since most car companies had yet to retool from wartime production, the price of used cars skyrocketed. During this time, Kelley Blue Book expanded to become a nationwide automobile appraisal guide.

Kelley Blue Book steadily expanded its scope in over the years. New car appraisals were added in 1966. In the years following, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and mobile home appraisal guides were added to company's list of services.

Kelley Blue Book guides were primarily trade publications until 1993 when a consumer edition of Kelley Blue Book was launched. The company began its website service in 1995 and has become one of the most visited automobile related sites in the internet.

Services

The company quotes market value prices for new and used automobiles of all types, as well as RVs, mobile homes, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and personal watercrafts. For new automobiles, KBB provides information about a make's MSRP, dealer invoice price, and expected retail price. For used cars KBB provides retail value, trade-in value, and private party price.

Trademark issues

While published price guidebooks or "blue books," as the term is generically used, exist for everything from coins to guitars, the success of the Kelley Blue Book brand of automobile values has led to the term blue book and blue book value in the automotive context evolving from a generic term to a term associated specifically with the Kelley Blue Book company's products. The trademark "Blue Book" has now become a registered trademark of the Kelley Blue Book company in the United States and Canada. Automobile values are published and available free of charge to the public on Kelley Blue Book's leading automotive information Web site, www.kbb.com.

The company does not condone generic uses of its trademarks and regularly takes steps to enforce its trademark rights so that the company does not lose its trademark rights by having the terms become a genericized trademark or fall into the public domain. Source: Legal Department, Kelley Blue Book Co., Inc.

External links

• Kelley Blue Book home page