What are the best places to buy used cars online?
Whether you are a first-time car buyer or simply a car enthusiast, The is some good news for you here. Read along as we bring to you the top best places to buy used cars online. Just to let you know, they also provide a perfect market for people looking to sell their used cars. Read on to uncover the list here.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Autotrader
Autotrader tops our list of best places to buy used cars online. Its huge volume of listings and advanced search tool make it the go-to place to buy and sell a car. There are over 10 million transactions on Autotrader every single year. They have the largest car collection online.
Founded in 1997, AutoTrader was the first nationwide, online marketplace for new and used cars and is our choice for the best site overall due to its reputation, reach, and abundant research guides. The site hosts three million vehicle listings and offers detailed car reviews, buying tips, finance calculators, and more. Although AutoTrader is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it does have an A+ rating from the organization.1
One of AutoTrader’s best features is its advanced search function which makes sorting through its millions of listings much less daunting. Beyond simple make, model, and year, the site offers detailed filters that let users select nearly any search criteria, including gas mileage, exterior and interior colors, transmission type, technology, and more.
AutoTrader also publishes a number of resources for car buyers and sellers. These include comprehensive how-to guides, current car reviews, research and news articles, car payment and financing calculators, and even the ability to apply for a loan and shop for car insurance.
Those who want to sell on AutoTrader, however, will have to pay. The site charges between $25 and $90 which includes three to 30 photos, reports showing how many people have viewed the ad, and simultaneous listings on Kelley Blue Book. Extra features cost $15 to $20 more and include a vehicle history report, premium ad placement, and additional photos. After the initial payment, ads can be renewed for free every 30 days.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Carsdirect
CarsDirect is an American online automotive research portal and car buying service based in El Segundo, California that allows consumers to research, price, purchase, insure and finance a vehicle online. The company also provides lead generation and referral services to auto dealers.
CarsDirect does more than simply show listings from local dealers, however. It also showcases the best deals in a buyer’s area as well as upcoming seasonal deals and pricing on upcoming models to help car shoppers focus their search.
Although CarsDirect’s search filters aren’t as detailed as AutoTrader’s, the site’s clean results page shows everything a buyer needs to know, including the CARFAX report and a “Check Availability” button that takes shoppers directly to the listing on the dealer’s website. Unlike AutoTrader, however, shoppers can also search for cars by financing deals.
Each listing on CarsDirect features a link to a simple four-step loan application that takes just 60 seconds to complete. CarsDirect then sends the applications to its network of lenders and returns a list of financing options with estimated monthly payments. Shoppers can also click straight through to the dealer’s website and explore financing options with them directly.
CarsDirect also offers a number of resources for car buyers, including reviews, car news, videos, reports, and a trade-in valuation tool powered by BlackBook. Users can even save their favorite searches and create email alerts based on the exact type of vehicle or deal they’re looking for.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Hemmings
Hemmings Motor News (HMN) is a monthly magazine catering to traders and collectors of antique, classic, and exotic sports cars.
Hemmings Motor News was founded by Ernest Hemmings in Quincy, Illinois, in 1954. The first issue consisted of four pages, and 500 copies were sold at 50 cents per copy. Today, Hemmings has more than 219,000 subscribers, paying $31.95 per one-year, 12-issue subscription. An additional 30,000 copies are sold each month at newsstands and bookstores throughout the United States for $5.99 per copy.
Other unique Hemmings products include eight annual calendars. First published in 1991, the Abandoned Autos calendar is a one-of-a-kind, featuring abandoned collector cars throughout the country, all artfully photographed in scenic surroundings. The other calendars are Cars of the ’50s, Vintage Pickup Trucks, Muscle Cars, Model A Fords, Classic Cars and Cars of the 60’s. Each full-color calendar is jam-packed with significant automotive history dates and over 125 listings of car shows, swap meets and auctions.
Although Hemmings’ main rival, ClassicCars.com, has close to 40,000 listings, Hemmings boasts a searchable database of classic car parts for sale as well as its own selection of classic car die-cast models, apparel, books, wall calendars, and more.
Hemmings offers a number of advertising packages depending on the needs of each seller. Users can post a two-week-long auction listing for $99.95 which includes a professionally written ad, unlimited photos and videos, a dedicated listing concierge, and six months of premium classified advertising.
For those selling outright, Hemmings offers two pricing packages: Silver for $129.95 which includes a small 35-word ad with up to 35 photos, and Gold for $189.95 which includes a large 75-word ad with up to 50 photos. All ads run for one month in the Hemmings Motor News magazine and for six months online.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Autolist
Founded in 2014, Autolist features over 1.3 million unique site visitors and 400,000 unique monthly users of its shopper-friendly mobile app, making it our choice as the best for mobile. The company is not accredited with the BBB but does have an A+ rating from the organization.
Autolist makes it easy for shoppers to browse millions of used car listings compiled from car shopping apps and dealer websites. Both its website and user-friendly app display valuable information on each vehicle, days on the market, changes in price, and the CARFAX report.
Autolist features a Listimate which compares the price of a specific car to similar listings to make sure shoppers are getting the best deal. Signing up for a free account also lets users set up email alerts for vehicles based on specific search criteria. Autolist also compares quotes from local new car dealers to help shoppers save money when buying a new car.
In 2020, CarGurus purchased Autolist which also allowed owners to sell their cars online with an intelligent tool that calculates a fair asking price for their car based on other vehicles in their area.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Cargurus
CarGurus is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based automotive research and shopping website that assists users in comparing local listings for used and new cars and contacting sellers. CarGurus is pronounced as a single word, rhyming with ‘kangaroos’.
CarGurus was founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert, a co-founder of TripAdvisor. Langley Steinert was the company’s CEO until January 2021 when CFO Jason Trevisan was named as the company’s CEO.
The company started off as an automotive community blog where consumers could post reviews and questions about local dealers, shops, and types of cars. Dealers expressed interest in advertising on the site, and the company changed its business strategy to connect dealers and consumers by putting inventory on the site.
From 2009 to 2011, the company’s visitor traffic increased from 9 million per month to 21 million per month.
CarGurus is an automotive research and shopping website that assists users in comparing local listings for used and new cars and contacting sellers. CarGurus uses algorithms to analyze and compare prices and features on cars for sale.
Users can search for specific cars in their local area and compare listings by price, features, and dealership reputation.
The company also offers a discussion platform for car enthusiasts and automotive experts, who submit questions, offer insight, gather and share information, and provide reviews. The company operates websites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and German.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Autotempest
CarGurus was created in 2006 by TripAdvisor co-founder Langley Steinert to help consumers post questions and reviews of cars and local dealers. The company later added a marketplace to its site with a car evaluation tool that makes it our choice as the best site for cheap cars. CarGurus is accredited with the BBB and has an A+ rating with the organization.7
What sets CarGuru apart from most other online auto markets is that it gives each car a “deal rating” and sorts the results from the best deal to the most overpriced. Since no one can pay to boost their listings, only dealers that consistently offer the best deals will get the best scores.
CarGurus also uses advanced algorithms that compare every detail of a car to similar cars on the marketplace to assess the market value of any vehicle. Combined with information on how long a car has been listed as well as whether its price has risen or dropped over time, this helps shoppers know if they’re looking at a good deal or if they have room to negotiate.
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CarGurus still offers a trove of car reviews and other research tools to help educate and inform car shoppers about the quality of new and used cars. CarGurus also lets owners list their car through its marketplace for free and charges a $99 fee when their car sells. A quick comparison tool helps sellers set a realistic price, and the site’s pre-created fields ensure that the most useful information is included in every listing.
Best Places to Buy Used Cars Online
Cars and bids
Cars & Bids was created in 2020 by the automotive reviewer and YouTube celebrity Doug DeMuro to help modern car enthusiasts buy and sell cars quickly and safely. The site is our choice for the best auction site because of its ease of use and focuses on protecting both buyers and sellers.
Unlike other auction sites which can take weeks to get a seller’s auction live, Cars & Bids gets cars listed as quickly as possible and works with sellers to figure out the best schedule. The site also offers a simple submission process that lets sellers know quickly whether or not their car will be accepted.
In an effort to protect car buyers, Cars & Bids provides a vehicle history report for every vehicle it auctions free of charge instead of asking the seller to pay for one. As a fun bonus, Doug DeMuro will occasionally choose a listing to review bringing extra eyes and buyers to specific auctions.
Cars & Bids offers lower fees than other auction sites, charging between $49 to $89 per listing and taking a 4.5% buyer’s fee with a minimum of $225 and a maximum of $4,500. The site also offers a detailed description of its buying and selling process as well as FAQs that walk buyers and sellers through every step of the auction process.