Car Gurus Questions

[Bogdon]

Some ignorant questions. How does Car Gurus work in terms of:

- making any profit for itself
- being more advantageous to buyer and/or seller?

Via Car Gurus, can a car be driven/sent to your home for a free test drive? If so, on that same test drive day, can you arrange to have your mechanic inspect the vehicle? Are payments (whether lump sum or otherwise) done strictly thru Car Gurus?

Is there any fee to Car Gurus that a car buyer is required to give, in addition to the stated/negotiated cost of the car?

 

[JustN89]

Dealers probably have bulk rates figured out, but the listed price for listing a Cargurus is $99 after the car sells. Like I said, dealers probably have something worked out, but that's the main source of revenue for sites like this. When I sold cars, we used to have a cars.com rep come to our office every month and bring us donuts. We posted our inventory on their website, and as such, we had a rep assigned to us. He'd help with our listings, review our metrics with us, etc.

It's both advantageous for the buyer and the seller- the seller gets their cars in front of more eyes and the buyer gets things like Cargurus Instant Market Value tool and prices that are really as low as dealers can go because they are openly competing on the same platform. If you go into a dealership on a car you found on Cargurus with a "Great Deal" tag with the intent to negotiate even further, you may be in for a rough go of it. That said, you don't have to negotiate much anymore, so car buying can be a much more quick and painless experience.

 

[Dave9]

^ Except that it has always been the case that you didn't have to negotiate with a dealer if you were willing to pay too much.

 

[sloinker]

No test drives, no mechanic checks. These are dealers or private sellers that pay for the service. You get to price compare and either show up in person or negotiate with the seller.