Oppo hive mind:What Car Search Site Do You Use Besides E-Bay/Craigslist?

"revarthurbelling" (revarthurbelling) 07/16/2015 at 19:52 • Filed to: None

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Another update about my search for a small pickup truck.

I’ve been approved for a loan (up to ~$3500) for a small pickup truck from my CU. I’m now on the real search! I’ve been sending e-mails to about five dealerships, only 3 have responded! Answer your e-mails, dealers! Part of the deal is that I can’t buy anything off eBay or Craigslist (unless I deal with the seller directly for CL).

Anyway, I’ve been using CarGurus.com to search. It seems pretty ok. I’m curious, though and would like to tap the Oppo hive mind for suggestions.

Outside of the big 2 (eBay and CL), what other car search engines do you use? My local dealers sites suck, and their selection is a bit too upscale for what I’m looking for as well.

Edit: I should add that being pre-approved has made this a much nicer experience because if they don’t want to budge on the price, or it’s an automatic (they don’t say so in the ads sometimes), I have the most serene “I don’t give a fuck, this is my offer” attitude.

(pictured above, a 2000 S-10 manual short bed (I think?) priced at $3900 (not negotiable!) with 158,612 miles.)

jkm7680 > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 19:55

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Cargurus, Cars.com, Autotrader.

revarthurbelling > jkm7680 07/16/2015 at 19:56

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Thanks, I’ll check the other two out.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 19:56

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Autotempest is the best. They’re like google, but for used cars.

revarthurbelling > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 07/16/2015 at 19:58

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Cool, I’ve never heard of them. Will check out.

BReLp7dzHM3ytYsE > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 20:01

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I'm pretty sure Andrew Maness of The Road Less Driven either started it or works for them now. It's an aggregate. Really neat

Brian, The Life of > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 20:03

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Hemmings when I want to fantasize.

revarthurbelling > Brian, The Life of 07/16/2015 at 20:10

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LOL, I don’t want to be more depressed by my personal finances.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 20:32

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Carsforsale.com is awesome!

Under_Score > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 20:46

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I’ve seen a few cars.com mentions, so I’ll add on and say that they’re a good site to use. The app is a million times better than the desktop version; it tells where the cars are located and how far away they are before you even click on them, which the desktop version fails to do. Also, it’s easy to find the specifications that you want.

Rico > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 21:00

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Autotempest for cars. Searchtempest for everything else.

traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn > revarthurbelling 07/16/2015 at 21:13

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I love CarGurus, it’s simple to use and shows if the vehicle is above or below retail value, and by how much.

revarthurbelling > Under_Score 07/16/2015 at 22:17

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Thanks for the rec.

revarthurbelling > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 07/16/2015 at 22:18

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Thanks! Will check out.

boxrocket > revarthurbelling 07/17/2015 at 00:29

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I drove a 1994-ish Toyota pickup today that was like a red version of the Pizza Planet truck in Toy Story (and other Pixar films), complete with stick shift and white camper shell. I briefly considered buying it, and having it modified to look like the Pizza Planet truck, but the absence of power steering and unknown provenance stayed my hand. That, and my wife would make me return anything older than a 2005 unless it’s a 1967 GT500. In retrospect, I should have remembered to see if you were interested, as it starts and runs OK and it’s a decent honest truck, and under 200K miles. No idea what the price would have been but I can’t imagine it being more than $1K.