Best Online Car-Buying Sites and Apps
Many car-buying websites scream “pick me,” and finding the right one among them can be a matter of trial and error. To save you the effort of getting 10 layers deep into a car-shopping site only to find that it doesn’t offer what you’re looking for, we sifted through dozens of them, picked out nine of the best and organized them so you could go straight to the one that best suits your stage of the car-buying journey.
- Kelley Blue Book: Best car review site
- Autotempest: Best car search engine
- CarsDirect: Best for new cars
- CarGurus: Best used car website
- Shift: Best place to buy from a private seller
- Carvana: Best for doing everything online
- Used Car Search Pro: Best car-buying app
- National Automotive Brokerage Service: Best if you’ve had a bankruptcy
- Autotrader: Best car-selling site
- Methodology
Kelley Blue Book: Best car review site
KBB is our top pick for when you’re first starting your car-buying journey. It offers industry pricing and reviews from current owners and experts who have driven the cars you’re researching, plus video reviews and competitor model comparisons that might show you a vehicle that better fits your lifestyle.
KBB first became famous as an industry standard for determining vehicle value, back when it was an actual set of blue books available at your local library. Today, other sites offer greater inventory selection from which to buy, but because KBB shows inventory, prices and extensive reviews all in one place, it’s a great car website at which to start.
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Autotempest: Best car search engine
Autotempest is a one-stop search engine that pulls in new and used cars from dealership websites and used cars from private sellers advertising on other sites including eBay, Oodle, Craigslist and more. You can search in your local area or across the country.
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CarsDirect: Best for new cars
Like other best car-buying websites on this list, CarsDirect allows you to shop for new and used cars, but this site stands out by keeping up to date on major manufacturer rebates. In other words, if you’re in the searching for, say, a sedan, but aren’t particular about the make, you could look here to find which automaker is offering the best car deals at the time you’re ready to buy. CarsDirect tracks the nitty-gritty on cash rebates, including which ones are good for how long on exactly which vehicles.
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CarGurus: Best used car website
CarGurus includes certified pre-owned cars in addition to new and used vehicles, allowing users to filter cars in specific ways we haven’t seen on other sites, including by appearance package or whether they’ve been in an accident or had more than one owner. Its mobile app has been downloaded one million times on Google Play. The research section of its website has user and professional car reviews and test drive reports.
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*Dealers add these badges, so it’s always a good idea to do your own research with industry guides like KBB or NADAguides.
Want more? Here is a list of other used car websites, some of which may also offer new cars. We’ll talk more about a couple of these, below.
Shift: Best place to buy from a private seller
Shift aims to take the risk out of independent buying and selling. Yes, there are still the trusty methods of calling the number on a for-sale sign in your neighborhood or answering an ad on Autotrader, Craigslist or Facebook, but there is always some uncertainty when buying from a private seller. Shift hopes to be the safety net between you and that private party. Like Carvana, you could pick, finance and set up delivery of a used car, all online. The difference is that Shift relies on an inventory that comes from private sales, not auctions. This means that Shift’s inventory is much smaller, plus cars are only available in California and Oregon. You could still buy from a distance but you wouldn’t be able to set up a test drive.
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Carvana: Best for doing everything online
Choose your car on the Carvana website, get it financed and have it delivered to your doorstep, all without seeing another human. For those with car-buying anxiety, it may not actually be nirvana, but it may come close. Every Carvana vehicle has a seven-day return policy and a 100-day or 4,189-mile dealer warranty. The site also breaks down the available factory warranties on the car: the types it came with and what’s left on them.
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Used Car Search Pro: Best car-buying app
There are other good car-buying apps, including accompanying apps for the sites we’ve mentioned here, but few are so focused on helping buyers with their minds made up find exactly what they’re shopping for with the help of 59 filters. Rated 4.7 on the App Store and 4.2 on Google Play with over 100,000 downloads, Used Car Search Pro is the free app for the company iSeeCars. The search results page includes a price analysis for each car, which tells you upfront whether it’s a good deal with a green icon, and gives a dealership rating.
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National Automotive Brokerage Service: Best if you’ve had a bankruptcy
Other sites help you find a car loan if you’ve been through a bankruptcy, but NABS helps you find both a loan and a specific car that you can afford. It also helps people who are still in the bankruptcy process. Those seeking low-credit or no-credit financing often turn to “buy-here-pay-here” car lots, which may use predatory lending practices. NABS has no complaints filed against it with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau site, and as of the publication date, it has only a single complaint through the Better Business Bureau, although NABS is not accredited by the BBB.
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Autotrader: Best car-selling site
When looking for a new car, there’s a good chance you need to do something with the old one. It’s sometimes easier to trade it in, but you might be able to pocket a little more change by selling it yourself. Established in 1997, Autrotrader is perhaps the grandad of listing sites. By posting on Autotrader, you’re posting your vehicle for sale on Kelley Blue Book, too. You could choose to sell to a dealer, a private person for a fee from $25 to $90 or get an “instant cash offer” for free from KBB.
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| Autotrader 30-day listing options and costs | |||
| $25 Basic | $50 Featured | $90 Premium | |
| Photos | 3 | 20 | 30 |
| 10 additional photos | $20 | $20 | $20 |
| See how many people saw your posting | Included | Included | Included |
| Get ad exposure on Kelley Blue Book | Included | Included | Included |
| Provide a vehicle history report | $15 | $15 | Included |
| Supercharger: Get a more prominent listing | $10 | $10 | Included |
| Spotlight: Get your posting at the top of the page | $15 | $15 | Included |
More places to sell your car
Note that many of the selling sites that charge for a regular posting do not charge you to advertise it to dealers. If you need cash quickly or just want to get your vehicle off your hands, posting it to dealers could be a great solution; having multiple dealers give you offers lets you maximize your price. However, be aware that you have much more potential to make more money from your car by posting it for sale yourself. You have to decide whether the work of selling it is worth the money.
| Peer-to-peer car-selling sites | |
| Cost to list | Websites |
| Free | Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace |
| $15-$30 | CarSoup |
| $30 | CarGurus |
| $25 – $95* | eBay |
*eBay charges an additional fee when you successfully sell your car — $60 for vehicles priced $2,000 and under; $125 for vehicles priced over $2,000.
Methodology
In order to be chosen as a best online website or app, sites generally had to be easy to navigate as well as informative, but each company also had to meet the following qualifications:
- It could not have its own brand of physical dealerships where consumers can visit and test drive vehicles.
- Operations could not be limited to one state.
- Its main value proposition revolves around vehicles.
- Transparency — websites could not require personal information in exchange for basic vehicle details such as price.
- It has to sell regular consumer vehicles, not only company fleet vehicles or classic cars.
- No car-buying services such as TrueCar and Checkbook’s CarBargains.
