9 Best Websites to Check Used Car Value of 2026

Kelley Blue Book ranks first because it answers both halves of the question: what the car is worth and what a dealer will actually pay. Its value definitions separate the Trade-In Value, which it describes as what a consumer can expect to receive from a dealer assuming an accurate appraisal of condition, from the Private Party Value for one-on-one sales, and most results appear as a Fair Market Range rather than a single number. Cox Automotive says the team behind Blue Book values uses 250+ data sources and 3 trillion data points and adjusts for region, season and supply and demand. Sellers can then request an Instant Cash Offer, a fixed figure valid for 7 days from the date you receive it. The limits are clear in Kelley Blue Book's own terms: it does not redeem offers or buy cars, Participating Dealers inspect the car and pay a fee to take part, and the offer may come in below the Trade-In Value. Use the range as your anchor and the offer as a floor.

Edmunds is the best second opinion next to Kelley Blue Book. Its help center says you can use the appraisal tool at no charge, and the tool returns three True Market Value figures: Trade-In, Private Party and Dealer Retail. Seeing the dealer retail number next to the trade-in number shows the margin a dealer works with, which is useful when you negotiate. During the appraisal you may receive an offer from one of Edmunds' partners, and if you would rather sell yourself, a private party listing costs $19.99 for a 90-day period. Listings go through moderation within 2 business days, and buyer offers and payments run through Caramel. Edmunds ranks second because it does not attach its own fixed cash offer the way Kelley Blue Book, CarMax and Carvana do, and its private marketplace is still small. Edmunds is a wholly owned subsidiary of CarMax.

CarGurus is the strongest value check for buyers. Its investor site describes it as the No. 1 visited automotive shopping site in the US, with 46 million average monthly unique visitors in the third quarter of 2026 and 34,701 paying dealers worldwide. That traffic feeds its Instant Market Value estimate, which sits behind the Deal Ratings shown on eligible used listings, from Great Deal to Overpriced. The site also offers a car values tool, price trends and a Sell my car path for owners. For a buyer, this means you can check a specific listing against the local market without leaving the search page. It ranks third for this question because sellers get less from it than from Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds: there is no separate private party figure we could confirm, and the terms of its car purchase offers did not load from our location. A rating also says nothing about accidents or condition.

CarMax is the best place to turn a value estimate into a firm number. Its selling pages say online offers are firm and valid for 7 days, that it uses the same appraisal criteria online and in store, and that it will buy your car even if you do not buy one of its cars. When you redeem the offer, CarMax verifies the condition in person and only adjusts the figure if the condition, use or history differ from what you reported. With more than 255 store locations and 1.3 million combined units sold in fiscal 2026, most US sellers have a store within reach. The tradeoff is price: a retailer's offer has to leave room for reconditioning and resale, so it will usually sit below a private party value from Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds. Get the CarMax offer, then decide whether the convenience is worth the gap.

Carvana is the online alternative to CarMax for sellers. Its trade-in page says an offer from Carvana is valid for 7 days, and that if the information you provide accurately reflects your vehicle details and condition, the offer will not change. You can take the offer as a straight sale or apply it to a car you buy from Carvana. That makes it useful as a second firm number to set against a CarMax offer or a Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer within the same week. It ranks below CarMax because we could not load Carvana's pickup and fee terms from our location, and because, like any retailer, its offer has to leave room for resale, so it will usually come in under a private party value. Describe the car's condition honestly, since that is the condition the offer depends on.

TrueCar is a fast, free way to get a dealer's cash number. Enter a license plate or VIN and TrueCar pulls the year, make, model and trim, then asks about mileage, color, options, history and condition, which it says takes about five minutes. You confirm your phone with a code and receive a TRUECash Offer from one of its thousands of Certified Dealers, then choose a local drop-off location and get paid. TrueCar's FAQ says it does not charge consumers any fees and is paid by its Certified Dealers. The offer is good for three days, which is shorter than the 7 days CarMax and Carvana give, so request it last when you are comparing. Like the retailer offers, a TRUECash Offer is a dealer buying price and will sit below what a private buyer might pay.

iSeeCars is the best tool for setting a private asking price. Its Price My Car tool takes a VIN, or make, model, year, trim, mileage and ZIP code, and calculates a market price by analyzing the prices of similar vehicles that were recently for sale. It then suggests other prices depending on whether you are in a rush to sell or want to make more money, and plots your car against similar local and national listings. That speed-versus-price view is something the valuation guides above do not show. The tool and the VIN check are free, and iVIN Lite reports, which add history checks, market value and depreciation, cost $9.99 a month for 50 reports. The catch is the data: estimates come from asking prices rather than completed sales, and iSeeCars notes it cannot price some cars. It also makes no offer, so it suits sellers who plan to list the car themselves.

Hagerty Valuation Tools is the specialist for cars the mainstream guides handle poorly. Hagerty says most collector car sales do not happen at auction, so it tracks private sales, dealer transactions and auction results, and its market data covers nearly a million transactions with sales histories and comparables. The Hagerty Price Guide shows values by condition with high and low figures and quarterly, annual and three-year changes; a 1967 Maserati Mexico in #3 Good condition, for example, showed a Price Guide Value of $93,000 in October 2026. You can search by vehicle or VIN and set a watchlist for value changes. Hagerty Drivers Club members, at $70 billed annually, also get forecasts of values over the next year. It ranks eighth only because it does not cover ordinary used cars and makes no offer; for a classic, it is the first place to look.

Wheelzy fills a gap the other sites leave: a car that does not run or would fail a dealer inspection. It buys cars in all 50 states in any condition, including wrecked, damaged and non-running vehicles, and gives an instant, no-obligation offer online or over the phone. Wheelzy says it never charges fees, covers all pickup and towing, handles the paperwork at no charge, and pays at the time of pickup, with same-day pickup possible in many cases. It says more than 300,000 sellers have used it. The sample sales on its homepage show what to expect: mostly older or non-running cars bought for a few hundred to about two thousand dollars. That is why it ranks last for a general value check. If your car runs and passes inspection, get offers from Kelley Blue Book, CarMax or Carvana first, and use Wheelzy when those decline the car.