ATV Industry Facts: Did You Know?

The Trusted Resource’s humble beginnings.

These days anyone can check the value of an ATV/ UTV using Kelley’s Blue Book but did you know the brand started not as a publication but a used car lot selling Ford Model Ts in LA?

Les Kelley and his brother Buster, in the early 1920s, began printing up lists of used cars that they were looking to purchase along with how much they’d be willing to pay for them.

They sent these lists out to other dealers in case they happened upon the cars they wanted. Before long, the Kelley’s lists were on the desk of every sales manager in Southern California and individuals (both in sales and consumers themselves) came to rely upon them for appraisal of an old car’s value.

In 1926 Kelley published the company’s first Blue Book and by the 1960s – the family abandoned the car dealership game to focus strictly on publishing auto price guides.

Bonus Fact: The year was 1995 when Kelley Blue Book created its first website, which is still going strong today.