OT: blue book value vs. reality for car

[jruhlen1980]

tl;dr version: how accurate are book values for used cars?

Full version:

Just for kicks I was looking at some used cars online and playing around with car payment calculators; I plugged in details on my wife's car to come up with a reasonable figure for what we could sell it for.

The Kelley Blue Book suggested individual re-sale value was about $3000, which seems reasonable. But when I compared it to actual prices available for that same model online, either from individuals or dealers, the asking price was consistently higher -- and frequently those cars had much higher mileage.

Some were in the ballpark, but they were still several hundred dollars higher, which I guess allowing room for haggling, makes sense. But some were several thousand dollars more expensive.

Granted, I understand that "what people are asking" is different than "what people actually pay" but it just has me curious -- how accurate are the suggested book values on vehicles?

My own personal experience, whether we're talking about cars or literally any other item that a person buys with money, is that I always pay too much and sell for too little. I don't think I have ever, one single time, been able to sell something for what I reasonably believe it is worth.

Anyone with more experience care to chime in?