What Black Book does

Black Book (legal name: National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation d/b/a Black Book) is a US-headquartered provider of VIN-specific automotive valuation data and analytics, founded in 1955 and operating as a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation. The company sources vehicle data from more industry channels than any competitor, updates it daily, and applies advanced algorithms, machine learning, and predictive analytics to deliver wholesale, retail, trade-in, and auction valuations across used cars, new cars, motorcycles, powersports, recreational vehicles, medium/heavy duty trucks, and collectible vehicles. Its technology stack includes the proprietary Enhanced Vehicle Matching engine (AI/NLP-driven VIN decoding), History Adjusted Valuations (integrating Experian AutoCheck vehicle history data), History Adjusted Residual Values, and an Asset Verification Tool using anomaly detection. The product portfolio spans the Black Book Cherry mobile app, a suite of Price Point web products, a Web API/Developer Portal, ValuEngine (portfolio valuation), Pulse (market intelligence), and Visual Analytics (Tableau-based reporting).

Black Book sells its products on an annual subscription basis (with monthly installment options), with pricing ranging from approximately $362 to $773 per seat per year depending on product, plus per-transaction fees for compliance reports (e.g., $0.49 per Credit Acceptance Vehicle Policy Report). Go-to-market combines direct-to-business e-commerce, product specialist consultations, enterprise data licensing, and an API-first distribution channel. Primary customer segments are auto dealers, auto finance companies/lenders, OEMs, and remarketing/fleet/rental operators, with secondary segments in insurance and marketing/analytics. The company also operates Canadian Black Book and MOTOR Information Systems as wholly-owned subsidiaries under Hearst Transportation.

Name

Black Book

Legal name

National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation d/b/a Black Book

Website

https://blackbook.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1955

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Black Book provides VIN-specific automotive valuation data and analytics — covering wholesale, retail, trade-in, and residual values across multiple vehicle segments — on a subscription and API basis to dealers, lenders, OEMs, and remarketers in the US and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Automotive Data and Vehicle Valuation

NAICS

Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, Book, and Miscellaneous Retailers (459)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Premium / Black Car & Executive Ride-Hailing (TLAFAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Automotive Vehicles & Parts C2C (CRAFAKAE)

Keywords

• Automotive valuation data
• Vehicle pricing analytics
• Wholesale vehicle values
• Residual value forecasting
• Automotive data API

Headquarters

HQ city

Lawrenceville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Annual Subscriptions - Core Data Products: Black Book's primary revenue comes from annual subscription products sold directly to automotive businesses. Products include Black Book Cherry (mobile/desktop app), Used Car Price Point, New Car Price Point, Motorcycle and Powersports Values, Medium & Heavy Duty Truck Values, Cars of Particular Interest (CPI), and Recreational Vehicles Values. Subscriptions are paid upfront annually or in monthly installments.
2. API and Developer Access Licensing: Black Book provides API access to its vehicle data including Used Car, New Car, Retail Market Insights, Custom Trade Value, Truck & Trailer, Recreational Vehicle, Powersports, and Cars of Particular Interest APIs. Developers access these through a Developer Portal for integration into customer products.
3. Professional Services - Residual Studies: Independent residual value studies and recommendations provided by Black Book data scientists and automotive analysts on optimal leasing, fleet, and acquisition strategies. Provided as a professional service to OEMs, lenders, and fleet operators.
4. Compliance Reports - Credit Acceptance: Black Book Cherry offers Credit Acceptance Vehicle Policy Reports for Credit Acceptance dealers, charged at $0.49 per compliance report, generating per-transaction revenue in addition to the base subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Black Book provides precise, VIN-specific automotive vehicle valuation data and analytics to automotive industry businesses. Its core offerings include wholesale, retail, and trade-in vehicle values across multiple segments (used cars, new cars, motorcycles/powersports, RVs, medium/heavy duty trucks, and collectibles), delivered through subscription desktop products, the Black Book Cherry mobile app, and a suite of REST APIs. Supporting products include ValuEngine for portfolio analytics, Pulse for market intelligence, and Visual Analytics for Tableau-based reporting.

Product overview

Black Book is a vehicle data and automotive analytics company offering a comprehensive platform of valuation products and services. The core offering is Black Book Values, which provides wholesale, retail, trade-in, and auction values across multiple vehicle segments. The product portfolio includes specialized Price Point web products for different vehicle categories (Used Car, New Car/Light Truck, Motorcycle/Powersports, RV, Medium/Heavy Duty Trucks), the Black Book Cherry dealer mobile app with VIN scanning and inventory management, and a suite of Web APIs for programmatic access to valuation data. Supporting products include ValuEngine for portfolio analysis, Pulse for market intelligence, and Visual Analytics for Tableau-based reporting. Key technology features include Enhanced Vehicle Matching (AI/ML-powered identification), History Adjusted Valuations (vehicle history-integrated valuations), Asset Verification Tool (anomaly detection), and residual value forecasting. The company serves auto finance companies, dealers, insurance carriers, marketing firms, OEMs, and remarketing companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Black Book Cherry: Flagship mobile app providing inventory discovery, VIN scanning, retail market insights, and vehicle valuations for dealers.
• Black Book API
• Visual Analytics
• Pulse
• ValuEngine
• Residual Sensitivity Analysis

Products and services

• Black Book Values Flagship vehicle valuation platform providing comprehensive market data, wholesale values, retail values, trade-in values, and auction values across multiple vehicle segments. Used by auto dealers, lenders, and OEMs.
• Black Book Cherry Mobile and desktop application for dealers providing inventory management, VIN barcode scanning, price scanning, appraisal tools, AutoCheck vehicle history integration, and Credit Acceptance financing integration.
• Price Point - Used Car Web-based platform providing used car valuations with access to wholesale values, retail values, trade-in values, and auction values across 32,000+ used vehicles.
• Price Point - New Car and Light Truck Web-based platform for new car and light truck valuations including standard and optional equipment configurator, residual values, MSRP and invoice values from model year 2002 to current.
• Price Point - Motorcycle and Powersports Specialized valuation platform for motorcycles, ATVs, and powersports vehicles dating back to 1980, including auction wholesale, average retail, trade values, MSRP, and Finance Advance values.
• Price Point - Recreational Vehicles Specialized valuation platform for RVs, motorhomes, and travel trailers including travel trailers, park models, motor homes, truck campers, and camping trailers from model year 1997 to current.
• Price Point - Medium and Heavy Duty Trucks and Trailers Specialized valuation platform for Class 4 through Class 8 trucks going back 26 years and 11 commercial trailer types, including wholesale and retail values.
• Black Book Web APIs Suite of REST API products providing programmatic access to wholesale values, retail values, trade-in values, custom trade values, CPI data, vehicle specifications, and retail market insights, accessible through a Developer Portal with sandbox testing.
• ValuEngine Real-time collateral valuation tool for portfolio management and loss forecasting, used by automotive lenders and financial institutions to analyze and manage vehicle portfolio values and risk.
• Pulse Visualization tool providing retail market activity insights across various automotive verticals for market intelligence and trend analysis.
• Visual Analytics Market analysis and reporting platform delivered via Tableau, providing visual insights into vehicle market trends and valuations through interactive workbooks.
• Residual Studies Independent residual value studies and recommendations provided by Black Book data scientists and automotive analysts on optimal leasing, fleet, and acquisition strategies for OEMs, lenders, and fleet operators.
• Residual Sensitivity Analysis Custom war-game environment for testing strategies by adjusting MSRP, incentives, and rental penetration factors to evaluate how changes in vehicle factors affect residual values.
• Cars of Particular Interest (CPI) Specialized valuation product providing collectible vehicle values dating from 1946 to current, with three values per vehicle for Excellent, Good, and Fair conditions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3-year residual values for 2023 model year projected at 58.2% in 2026 (up from historical norms)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability8 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Fitch RatingscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBlack Book and Fitch Ratings have an ongoing collaboration producing annual Vehicle Depreciation Reports (2025 report titled 'Shifting Gears: A Comprehensive Overview of Automotive Trends in 2024', 2026 report providing forecasts for 2026). The reports cover car and truck depreciation trends, auto ABS performance, market projections, and segment-specific analysis.
• Experian AutoCheckcoreTechnology or IntegrationBlack Book integrates vehicle history report (VHR) data from Experian AutoCheck into its History Adjusted Valuations. AutoCheck VHR data includes ownership history, accidents, airbag deployment, flood/hail/fire damage, title brands, and other events. All history events from the AutoCheck report are analyzed through Black Book's proprietary model.
• Hearst Business Media CorporationcoreOthersBlack Book is a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation (d/b/a Black Book), operating under the Hearst media conglomerate umbrella. Hearst acquired Black Book in 1980 as part of United Technical Publication.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CARFAX: CARFAX (S&P Global) is a vehicle history and used-car data provider whose VHR data historically anchored valuations in the dealer channel. While adjacent in history reporting, CARFAX competes with Black Book on dealer workflow integrations, value-added appraisals, and now offers its own valuation and listing products overlapping with Black Book Cherry and Price Point.
• NADA Guides: NADA Guides publishes new and used vehicle values, residual data, and lender analytics widely used by credit unions, banks, and dealers. It directly overlaps with Black Book's Price Point trade-in, retail, and wholesale products in lender and dealer segmentation.
• Kelley Blue Book: Kelley Blue Book (owned by Cox Automotive) is the most direct competitor, providing vehicle valuations, pricing, and automotive data to consumers, dealers, lenders, and OEMs. It overlaps with Black Book on wholesale/retail values, residual forecasting, and dealer-facing digital tools, and competes for the same lender and OEM enterprise contracts.
• Edmunds: Edmunds provides vehicle pricing, reviews, and appraisal tools for both consumers and dealers. Its True Market Value (TMV) product competes directly with Black Book's Price Point for dealer-facing valuation use cases and dealer appraisal workflows.
• ChromeData: ChromeData provides vehicle data, specifications, pricing, and configuration data via APIs and feeds to manufacturers, dealers, and third-party platforms. It competes with Black Book's developer/API suite for enterprise data licensing customers in OEM, dealer SaaS, and lender integration use cases.

Others

• AutoCheck (Experian): Experian's AutoCheck is a data partner of Black Book (powering History Adjusted Valuations) but also a vehicle history competitor in the dealer workflow. Their overlapping presence in dealer appraisal and inventory management tools puts them in adjacent competition with Black Book Cherry and Price Point, especially for dealers choosing VHR-integrated valuation.

Broad incumbents

• J.D. Power: J.D. Power provides automotive data, valuations, and analytics including residual value forecasting, market intelligence, and quality studies. It is a broader, established incumbent serving OEMs, lenders, and the broader auto ecosystem, with significant overlap on residual value benchmarking and competitive intelligence used by the same lender and OEM buyers Black Book targets.
• Manheim (Cox Automotive): Manheim is the largest US auto auction platform and a Cox Automotive sibling to Kelley Blue Book. While its core business is physical auctioning, Manheim's MMR (Manheim Market Report) is a competing benchmark for wholesale values, and its remarketer-facing analytics compete with Black Book's retention index data services for dealer groups, fleets, and lenders.

Emerging players

• Cars.com: Cars.com operates a major US vehicle marketplace and provides dealer software, listings, and research tools. Its dealer-facing pricing and market intelligence offerings overlap with Black Book's Retail Listings and Pulse analytics products, especially for dealer group customers.
• CarGurus: CarGurus is an online automotive marketplace that has expanded into dealer SaaS, vehicle listings, and pricing analytics. While primarily consumer-facing, its automotive research and pricing tools increasingly overlap with Black Book's retail/listing intelligence products as it builds out B2B dealer offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BlackBookAuto
• Facebookfacebook.com/BlackBookMedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/black-book

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Black Book