Buying a used car can be a challenging task, especially when you start looking at online listings. There are a seemingly endless number of websites that you can buy a car on, with a constant stream of ads and new information coming at you. And it can be especially difficult if you're looking at a particularly enthusiast-oriented or classic car, which sometimes are not found on the typical car-sale sites. We know this first hand, because we Car and Driver staffers are constantly on the lookout for the next set of cool pre-owned wheels to put in our own garages. To make your own hunting a little easier, we've rounded up our four favorite websites on which to search for—and purchase—a used car.
Hemmings
Since 1954, Hemmings has published a monthly magazine on antique and exotic cars with a well-respected classified section, and now it's joining the online world with a dedicated auction site. Registration is free for both buyers and sellers, although would-be listers must submit an application, respond to a lengthy questionnaire on the vehicle's history and specifications, and pay a flat rate of $99.95 to list any car. Hemmings separates its list of vehicles for sale by type, with categories such as Exotics, Classics, Muscle Cars, and Restomods and Customs. So far, there are only a few dozen listings, but the numbers are likely to grow as the site becomes established.
A listing's first week is a preview, letting potential bidders do their research and ask questions before the virtual gavel swings. Bidding goes live in the second week. There's a 5 percent fee on all successful sales. Hemmings is going for the personalized approach, assigning each entry a dedicated listing specialist to respond to inquiries and make sure listings are accurate and up to date. Bonus: If a vehicle doesn't sell on the auction site, Hemmings will transfer the listing over to its classified marketplace.
Craigslist
To find cars for sale in your area, Craigslist might be your best bet. Anyone is able to list cars or parts on the site—including dealerships—and there are different regional Craigslist sections for cities and counties throughout the country. It's up to the seller to decide how many images and how much information they want to provide, though, so sometimes listings can be lacking. Recently, Craigslist implemented a change where sellers now have to pay $5 before listing a car, likely to combat scammers.
Craigslist can be frustratingly hard to search, though, especially if you're looking in multiple locations and for a particular kind of vehicle. In that case, we recommend the smartphone app BRZO. Currently only available for Apple products, BRZO allows for detailed, customizable Craigslist searches that can span the entirety of the site or specific regions. It lets you filter by keywords, model years, transmission type, and much more, and brings up organizable results that can be saved and updated. Once you've used BRZO, you won't want to browse Craigslist the regular way ever again—and we'd know, because we've found and purchased some of our own cars using the app.
eBay
At this point, online auction site eBay is a household name, and the eBay Motors section is dedicated to sales of cars and car parts. You can sort by year, make, model, location, and more, making it easy to look for specific cars. You can also add listings to your watch list, which will give you notifications when new bids are placed. Like Craigslist, the amount of photos and information put in each listing is up to the seller, so sometimes the listings can be a bit sparse.
If bidding isn't for you, don't fret. eBay has the option of having a "buy it now" price on its listings instead of doing a regular auction, letting you instantly buy a car with just one click. But auctions can have buy it now prices in addition to the standard bidding setup, too, with the buy it now price usually needing to be 30% higher than the auction price. There's also the option for a "best offer," letting potential buyers make an offer and negotiate with the seller. The seller is given 48 hours to approve, reject, or provide an alternative price; after that, it acts like any other eBay sale.
Bring a Trailer
For a more curated auction experience than eBay, Bring a Trailer (BaT) is the way to go. Cars have to be approved by BaT before an auction can go live—sellers send in an application form with relevant information about the car or part. If approved, the seller then has to pay a $99 fee and provide high-quality photos and a lot of info, and BaT's staff then writes up the post. (Buyers pay a percentage fee to BaT when a sale is final.) Thanks to the way the site curates listings, at any time there is a wide range of interesting vehicles, from classic 911s to modern supercars to obscure Citroëns and everything in between.
Each auction lasts seven days, with a live timer and list of bids constantly going. In the last few minutes of an auction, if people are still bidding, the timer is suspended, which can lead to some pretty exciting bidding wars. Sellers are able to respond to questions in the comments section, a level of public interaction you don't get with many other car-sales platforms. The site is searchable, letting you look through past listings of similar cars—and sometimes finding the same car that has been sold on BaT before.
Model-Specific Forums
If you're looking for a specific car model, especially one that is appealing to enthusiasts, online forums can be an excellent way to buy and sell both cars and parts. Most forums have specific sub-sections for user-generated classified ads, with many sections further split up by model, trim level, year, and location. Some forums will also have "want-to-buy" sections, where users can post about cars or parts that they are looking for.
Some good examples of larger forums with active for-sale sections include VWVortex, Bimmerpost, and Corvette Forum, but even smaller forums will have marketplace pages. Forum classifieds aren't limited to cheaper or more common stuff, either. Looking for something fast and Italian? Check out FerrariChat. Want a Jensen Interceptor? Go to the Jensen Owners' Club forum. Is a race car or heavily modified car what you're looking for? We recommend the Grassroots Motorsports forum. If a car exists, a forum for it likely exists as well, just one Google search away.
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Daniel Golson
Staff Editor
Daniel Golson has been an avid car enthusiast since he was a toddler, and after spending a few years studying automotive design in college, he made the jump to Car and Driver in 2016. When not evangelizing about four-door coupes, he can be found watching The Real Housewives with his two cats.
Austin Irwin
Technical Editor
Austin Irwin has worked for Car and Driver for over 10 years in various roles. He's steadily worked his way from an entry-level data entry position into driving vehicles for photography and video, and is now reviewing and testing cars. What will he do next? Who knows, but he better be fast.
