IRVINE, CA - Kelley Blue Book, www.kbb.com, a provider of used car values and residual analysis, announced a new relationship with RVI Group www.rivgroup.com, the a residual value insurance company, in which RVI now recognizes Kelley Blue Book as its approved Residual Value Guide and will henceforth insure vehicle residual values based upon the company's residual value forecasts.

The past twelve months have seen levels of volatility that have surpassed anything previously seen in the industry, and the recent financial crisis has demonstrated the need to incorporate additional macroeconomic factors into the forecast methodology. In this new relationship, Kelley Blue Book will fulfill RVI's exacting forecasting requirement for insuring residual values.

"After performing our due diligence for more than a year, we are confident that Kelley Blue Book's approach delivers extremely reliable vehicle residual values," said Rene Abdalah, vice president of RVI Analytical Services. "We chose Kelley Blue Book due to our common approach and the company's methodological transparency. We respect the clarity of Kelley Blue Book's forecast model assumptions and their in-depth product knowledge of the vehicles we insure."

Kelley Blue Book uses a time-tested methodology of collecting millions of vehicle transactions and reporting projections based on current vehicle data, sales data, market conditions for each vehicle, competition within vehicle segments, expectations of the future economy and the combined experience of Kelley Blue Book's team of market and pricing analysts. Kelley Blue Book's Residual Values are used by banks, financial institutions, governmental agencies and the automotive leasing industry.

"Our goal has always been to support manufacturers, banks and other financial institution partners in mitigating risk, sustaining profitability and having the broadest understanding of the vehicle marketplace as possible," said Eric Ibara, director of residual value consulting at Kelley Blue Book. "Our advanced modeling capabilities allow us to develop a forecast that incorporates the quantifiable elements and minimizes the subjectivity of the model, providing a broad view incorporating the effects of industry volatility as well as economic forces."

The Kelley Blue Book Residual Value Guide is published bi-monthly in hard copy form and now in electronic format. Subscribers of the electronic version will benefit from the latest forecast a full 45-days earlier than book subscribers.