The CarGurus Blog

Daily coverage of the world of cars.

Steve Halloran

CarGurus Launches Free Car Listing Tool with “Instant Market Value” Guidance


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Instant Market Value

Helps sellers answer the question “What’s my car worth?”
Pricing guidance based on live data from 2+ million active listings

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., November 29, 2010 — CarGurus® (http://www.cargurus.com/), a leading online automotive community, announced today the launch of a free car listing tool that includes “Instant Market Value” pricing guidance. Based on the analysis of 2+ million active car listings, “Instant Market Value” price guidance takes into account numerous factors including maker, model, year, trim, mileage, options and location to deliver an accurate, up-to-date valuation for consumers looking to sell a car online.

Transparent Information
Unlike other opaque pricing tools, CarGurus’ “Instant Market Value” provides complete transparency as to the value of the seller’s car. Sellers are shown the four most relevant comparable listings that justify the suggested pricing as well as a graph that plots all the price points analyzed to derive the suggested pricing.

Consumers also get additional feedback on the relative merits of their chosen price. As the seller enters different price points for their car, they’ll receive instant feedback on whether their chosen price is a “good deal” or “bad deal” for buyers and where their listing will rank vs. other listings in their area.

Integrated with Free Listings
While the web offers numerous free auto listings services, CarGurus’ is the first to integrate free pricing tools in the listings process to help sellers properly value their cars. Sellers not only get a free car listing on a dedicated automotive site with 3+ million unique visitors a month but also free advice on pricing.

To get started, sellers simply click on: http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/sell-car/, plug in their zip code and then fill in information about their car. As they input this information, sellers immediately get pricing guidance.

“While free listing sites like Craigslist exist, they are not automotive-focused and don’t provide consumers with any pricing guidance,” remarked Langley Steinert, CEO/Founder of CarGurus. “Pricing a car properly will maximize anyone’s chances of selling the car as well as the seller’s eventual realized profits. With CarGurus’ free listings service, we are bringing full transparency to the process of listing and pricing a car.”

About CarGurus LLC and DealFinder
Located in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., CarGurus LLC is a leading online automotive community founded by Langley Steinert, formerly chairman/co-founder of TripAdvisor LLC, the 2nd largest online travel site in the world.

CarGurus’ DealFinder is an online car shopping service that helps consumers find the best deals on new and used cars in their local area. Indexing over 2 million listings a day, CarGurus’ DealFinder analyzes each car listing and compares the listed price against historic pricing models to gauge whether the listing is a good deal or bad deal. CarGurus’ DealFinder helps consumers save time and money when shopping for a new or used car. For more information about CarGurus, visit us at www.cargurus.com.

Contact: Kerry Metzdorf, Plum Advisors
978-463-2575
kerry@plumadvisors.com

CarGurus’ DealFinder Helps Automotive Consumers Find the Best Local Deals


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DealFinder image

Indexing 2+ Million “live” listings a day, CarGurus helps consumers figure out if a car listing is “under” or “over” its real regional market value.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 27, 2010 — CarGurus® (http://www.cargurus.com/), a leading online automotive community, announced today that its DealFinder service has just added Regional Pricing to its offering.

Based on a daily analysis of 2+ Million “live” car listings as well as historic pricing models, DealFinder calculates what a car listing is really worth. This analysis includes factors for mileage, car model, car trim and options and then compares that “instant market value” to the seller’s listed asking price for the car. Consumers can then see first-hand if the car in question is above or below its real “instant market value.” Based on a consumer’s search criteria, the resulting car listings are ranked based on which cars offer the best savings (below the real “instant market value”). Consumers can quickly see which listings are “good” or “bad” deals.

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Hybrid Cars: Not a Good Investment


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CarGurus finds hybrid vehicles cost more to own than comparable gas-powered vehicles.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., September 10, 2010 — CarGurus® (http://www.cargurus.com/), a leading online automotive community, has determined that the majority of hybrid vehicles cost more to own and drive than comparable gas-powered vehicles. Based on the analysis of 45 hybrid cars which have similar non-hybrid, gas powered models, on average the Hybrid models cost 25% or over $2,200 more to own and operate than their non-hybrid counterparts.

Buying a new Hybrid carries with it a substantial cost premium over comparable gas-powered vehicles. Often time this cost premium can be quite substantial. In the 45 models studied, the average MSRP of hybrids was almost $6,400 more than that of their gas-powered counterparts. But the popular idea that hybrids actually cost less to own and drive via higher resale values and reduced gas expenses proved false in 76% of the cases examined. In the large majority of cases, the gas savings from hybrids did not overcome the substantial price premium paid at the time of purchase.

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Michael Jackson’s Curious Car Collection


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As those of you who’ve seen “The best car songs… ever!” know, we at CarGurus are music fans as well as car fans. And while Michael Jackson got awfully strange and maybe a little criminal toward the end of his life, I love some of his music, and I think it’s a shame he so clearly never learned how to truly grow up despite – or perhaps because of – his absolutely massive success.

Maybe Jackson’s desire to live his whole life as a child explains why his car collection consisted mostly of vehicles that allowed him to bask in over-the-top luxury in the rear while someone else drove. Auto Trader UK assembled a slide show featuring some of Jackson’s cars in an article on a planned-but-canceled auction of Jackson items in February, including a 1999 Rolls Royce Silver Seraph limousine for which Jackson designed the interior himself, using lots of 24-karat gold.

Sadly, that limousine and a 1997 Neoplan Touring Coach (which doesn’t appear until near the end of the slide show) are the only really interesting vehicles in the bunch, and they are interesting mostly because they’re so over-the-top gaudy and gold (including the fixtures on the bidet in the tour-bus’s bathroom). No Ferraris or rare muscle cars, no hot rods, not even a well-preserved classic from the year of his birth – Jackson had the money, at least in the ’80s, to assemble a fleet of cool cars that would rival Jay Leno’s. But no, he built a 2,700-acre amusement park instead.

Based on the segment from Jackson’s film “Moonwalker” called “Smooth Criminal,” though, he did at least appreciate the futuristic looks of the Lancia Stratos – he morphs into a 1970 prototype version to escape Mr. Big and his cronies in the video. Of course, Michael probably didn’t handle the driving for that scene, and maybe one of his collaborators selected that car to feature. According to Wikipedia, that car now sits in a private showroom for Bertone, who did the exterior styling, in Italy. But surely Michael could have found – and afforded – one of the other 500 or so versions of the Stratus. Why didn’t he?

I guess the King of Pop and I don’t have too much in common. I wear two gloves at a time, I’ve never had and don’t want a pet monkey, I wouldn’t hang my child out a hotel window, and I don’t moonwalk at all well. But if I had enough money to start assembling a collection of cars, you can bet I’d have some beautiful Italian cars, some American muscle, and I’d drive those babies myself.

Thanks for sharing your enormous talent with the world, Michael, and may you find more peace in the afterlife than you did in this world.

If you had enough money to buy any single car on the planet to begin your car collection – we’re not looking for daily drivers here – which car would you select, and why?

-hollerin