Is there a difference between anchoring bias and availability bias?

The difference between anchoring bias and availability bias is that the former is a response to external or internal anchors that work as a starting point for estimates we form, whereas the latter favors the most recently available data.

Availability bias describes when a recent event (e.g., a plane crash) affects our assessment of how safe air travel is, because it is recent and well-publicized.

Anchoring bias can be seen in situations like purchasing a car. When we are offered, for example, a car for $20,000 that we can’t afford, that figure becomes an anchor, and a subsequent car priced at $15,000 seems cheap (even if it is objectively overpriced).