How many sites do you use when searching for a used car?

[bahnburner]

I am conducting a little research for a project I am working on. I am trying to understand how car enthusiasts go about looking for a new toy. I know that personally I check 4+ different search sites most days for the latest postings and ads, especially if I am looking for an older car. Sometimes I will set up an alert, if given the option, but don't usually.

Let's say you are looking for a good deal on a 901, or a 964, or a 993 (and who am I kidding, aren't we all?), how many different search sites do you regularly visit?

My go-to sites are Pelican, Rennlist, Craigslist, Bring A Trailer, Autotrader for newer cars... What about you?

[Tervuren]

On a regular basis I would search two when looking for a supercharged Jaguar.

On a non regular basis I would sweep more than two if I had the time, but on a daily basis two.(my answer).

[RSBob]

Besides checking the sales sites I always check out the NHTSA crash ratings and Consumer Reports vehicle score. Never bought a lemon or car I regretted after due diligence.

Land Rover, Fiat, Dodge and Jeep get the worst scores on owner satisfaction and reliability.

[bahnburner]

@Tervuren and @RSBob, thanks for the input!

Mainly interested in which, and how many different search sites are used, but good to know people do like to know safety and consumer reports info.

[ckelly78z]

I just bought a 6.0L diesel Excursion Limited and had to look in several different places. I daily searched CL in different cities, and tried Cars.com, and AutoTrader.com.

My wife and I get a little particular about which vehicles we want to buy. I wanted a low mile, rust free, loaded, diesel Excursion for hauling family/camper, and looked at several that had extremely high miles, large rust holes, or questionable maintenace history.

My wife wanted a 6 speed manual Jeep Liberty, and finally found one 250 miles away. I drove to Buffalo N.Y. for my Porsche, and to Lexington Ky for my wife's previous car, a white VW Cabrio. Searching is something I don't mind doing, and I have not bought a local car from a dealership in a long time.

[cabmandone]

For newer cars I use three. autotrader, cars.com, carsforsale.com

[onewhippedpuppy]

I use a bunch! Autotrader, cars.com, Ebay, BaT, regional and sometimes nationwide Craigslist, and forums. My wife's recently purchased Ford Flex came from FL, my 911 from AZ, my RX7 from MD, and my S8 from IL. I'm typically looking for oddball stuff so it's often required, and I'm pretty picky with cars.

[drkshdw]

I browse craigslist and local facebook groups daily. Don't use autorader because it's flooded with overpriced dealer crap. Don't use ebay because everything seems to be on the coasts. Same with forums.

That said, my last 2 cars came from craigslist while the previous 6 came from driving around on the weekends and seeing what's on local mom and pop car lots and in storage yards. I still find most everything interesting to be on the back lot in some small town covered in dust and hidden from the main drag.

[ckelly78z]

I do enjoy puttering down back alleys looking at "projects" in people's back yards, but don't usually have large amounts of cash (suckers walk, money talks) with me.

[Seahawk]

Hemmings,

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/?makeFacet=Porsche&modelFacet=&adtypeFacet=carsforsale&year_min=&year_max=

...and The Samba:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php?submit=yes&keywords=&type=text&stype=all&username=&yearfrom=&yearto=&pricefrom=&priceto=&model%5B%5D=&section%5B%5D=73&wanted=show&zip=&zipdist=0&state%5B%5D=&usaregion=&country=&sort=date&sort_order=DESC&submitButton=Search

[aschen]

there are aggregators for searching the main sites, such as autotempest, I am not sure how well they work

[GothingNC]

I sometimes use cargurus for my search, it sometimes provides info on how long the vehicle has been on the market.

[bahnburner]

Thanks for all the feedback, its really helpful.

Originally Posted by aschen

there are aggregators for searching the main sites, such as autotempest, I am not sure how well they work

There are a couple sites that do this, but not super well. That is one thing I am looking to do, a deeper, more focused search for people that know what they want.

[Tervuren]

Bahnburner.

For me, that would be looking at very specific options. I'm not the guy looking for the best deal but instead a specific car I want.

For Jaguar, that would be a caramel interior, all others do not matter.

I gravitate to the sites that give me the closest filter to this result when looking for an XKR.

Carguru's is interesting in that I can see how long a vehicle has been listed, good pricing control, very deal-finder oriented.

Auto Trader tends to have more accurate filters, I can narrow down to what I want better.

Other sites just don't have the listing of Jaguar XKR's to sort through. Popping through craigslist might not yield any for sale in a metropolis.

It is very different when looking for something low production with color requirements, and the best deal.

It can get confusing when there are aftermarket, etc...

In an ideal world we'd be able to put in color codes, option codes, and sort by what comes up with those.

Unfortunately, adding another thing can be like this.