What Is the Black Book for Motorcycles?

The Black Book for motorcycles is a price guide that motorcycle dealers use to determine the resale and trade-in values for a motorcycle. The Black Book is similar to price guides such as the Kelley Blue Book and NADA Guide, but it is less well-known.

The Black Book is not as widely known as the other major automotive industry price guides because it is only available to dealers and automotive finance companies, while both the Kelley Blue Book and NADA Guide are available to consumers as well. The Black Book’s publisher offers dealers a choice of traditional print, online or mobile versions of its price guide.

The primary advantage of the Black Book over the other two guides is that it is publisher updates it with auction and sale information on a weekly basis. Both the NADA Guide and the Kelley Blue Book only receive monthly updates. The Black Book also specializes in providing information for rare and classic motorcycles, not just standard production models.

The Black Book for motorcycles has a narrower date range than the standard Black Book for cars and trucks. While the regular Black Book has information and prices for vehicles dating back as far as 1947, the earliest information in the Black Book for motorcycles is from 1981.

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