• CarGurus

CarGurus

Write a Review

Overview

CarGurus has a rating of 2.3 stars from 365 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about CarGurus most frequently mention customer service, good deal, and phone number problems. CarGurus ranks 634th among Car Buying sites.

  • Service
    74
  • Value
    69
  • Shipping
    29
  • Returns
    32
  • Quality
    60
Positive reviews (last 12 months): 33.3%
Positive
4
Neutral
1
Negative
7
88
See all photos
How would you rate CarGurus?
Top Positive Review

“Karplus Auto 🚗 Customer Service is amazing 🤩”

kerri c.
4/6/24

I would like 👍 to thank Kobe and Luis and their team of Car sales professionals for going above and beyond to provide a contract to meet our family needs. I will recommend Karplus Auto in San Fernando Valley to anyone interested in purchasing a vehicle 🚗.

Top Critical Review

“Private Sellers Beware”

Jeff T.
2/22/24

I listed with CarGurus as a private seller not once, but twice on the same car. First time I listed the car at my own price, and they gave me a good price rating two days later after my payment had cleared to them. It was dropped to a fair price. So I canceled the ad until I could afford to lower the price a month later I relisted the vehicle at their suggested price which they gave me a good price rating again, but when my payment cleared, the rating was dropped to a fair deal rating again. When I called, they said it had nothing to do with anything but the fair market value. It's awful funny how the fair market value could change after two days not once but twice! Sellers Beware this site is a scam!

Reviews (365)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

car gurus (52) car guru (24) customer service (38)
Thumbnail of user robertb2904
5 reviews
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 24th, 2020

This app used to work very well for me and give consistent good data on purchasing cars, but recently it hasn't been as reliable. Now it fails to ever open the app without several tries. Also the user interface and ease of use could be improved

Thumbnail of user marcd225
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 22nd, 2021

So my first complaint as a seller is the supposed ranking of listings determined by an arbitrary value. Moving your listing to the bottom because your price doesn't fit their algorithm is poor! If you have a more specialized vehicle, collectors vehicle, extra low mileage, etc., you will be discriminated against. I have a plethora of examples from other sites where my car has sold for more than my listing, but you have no recourse. It seems they are more about forcing you into their price lines, forcing you to purchase "premium listings", or other methods of gouging.
My recommendation, go somewhere else, especially if your vehicle doesn't fit their neat and tidy little parameters!

Products used:
Listing services

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user davidm2492
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 3rd, 2019

Forces body type, set max price no option to keep unlisted prices from showing up. Also many deals are scams. Looks like no one really selling the car, by appointment only no one answers. They should kick them off the site.

Thumbnail of user chrisb868
1 review
12 helpful votes
  • Send Message
September 7th, 2018

In all fairness, these thoughts are mine and mine alone. I have purchased a car from a dealer off cars guru and was pleased. Great search tool. However, as a private party seller, I found the website to be very un-intuitive, quite difficult to navigate, and just unfriendly to an "occasional" user such as myself. There seemed to be a delay in response time and out of 5 questions asked of me, mostly "is this car still available", after responding yes it is, not once did I get any response leading me to think, Are the messages getting delivered? I do recognize that a great many folks are shopping a great many vehicles and most may not respond, but none? Anyway, I will probably use carsguru for buying from dealers but will not consider this site a tool for selling. Again, just my personal experience in selling has been a zero.

Thumbnail of user williame169
2 reviews
5 helpful votes
  • Send Message
September 19th, 2018

I have dealt with numerous dealers on this site trying to buy a vehicle at the advertised price. When I contact the dealer they have sold out of that vehicle, or you don't qualify for those rebates. Price is not the same. When you write a negative review they kick it back from Cargurus saying it's not done correctly. Try Auto Trader instead.

Thumbnail of user sals28
1 review
5 helpful votes
  • Send Message
April 23rd, 2018

They do one thing, drive traffic. But how long can that last? Their business model is based solely on Google ad word search and that gets expensive. So, how they overcome that is by raising dealer prices every single year. They also bait an switch, they will offer you things like month to month service or a 30 day cancellation but when they email you the contract they remove those things and hold you to what you sign.

Thumbnail of user chrisw2496
1 review
5 helpful votes
  • Send Message
March 9th, 2023

In the year we have been having our car from car gurus, we spent well over 20,000$. New transmission was 10,000$…… 1,000$ just for the labor to replace/ add door jambs. That's not counting the door jamb parts. There's so many things we had to fix / replace I can't even remember them all right now to list. Right now it needs an extra 2600$ for struts, alignment and control arm. There's so many things we had to fix on this car it's ridiculous, will never ever buy from them again.

Thumbnail of user seths300
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
December 18th, 2022

My family have been using DARE for 35 years. They are the best! They have the ability to make sure that the customers needs always come first.

They (Jonathon JT, Laura and their great team) are extremely diversified as they do auto mechanical work, body work and have an outstanding component called Jonathan's Auto Outlet. The outlet simply is stocked very well with cars. I have purchased, sold to Dare and sold on consignment with the auto outlet several times. Each time has been a pleasure. Again, DARE is an outstanding option that I use and highly recommend to anyone if they have car problems or are in need to sell or buy a used car.

Tip for consumers:
This is a family owned place who have been serving the community with excellence for many years!

Products used:
All aspects of the services offered.

Thumbnail of user luizadam
1 review
1 helpful vote
  • Send Message
December 19th, 2021

Hi!
I still having problems with car gurus site.
Before i did not see my ad, not find my account.
Now i can't answer who likes the car and message me.
It looks like it happens, to make things difficult to private seller.

Thumbnail of user johns2546
1 review
6 helpful votes
  • Send Message
December 15th, 2017

The moment you put an ad on their site you have no control. People just send an email, you respond and - nothing. In addition their response window is broken - for weeks.

Rather spend some $$$ on other websites but forget cargurus! If i could i would give no star!

Thumbnail of user jaye56
1 review
15 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 17th, 2019
• Updated review

Alex the dealership manager demanded for me to take down my 1 star review, as he said I bought this vehicle as-is, but I never signed any such agreement. I would of never bought a vehicle that would need over $2,000 of parts and labor to pass a government vehicle inspection to be able to get licensed to drive on the road. These guys are crooks and I am proceeding with a law suit against them...

CarGurus - The Showroom Corp. - Crooks
January 3rd, 2019
• Previous review

CarGurus Showroom Corp. sold me a 2013 Ford F150 that would not even pass a vehicle inspection to get license tags. They said they would pay for the parts verbally but they would never put this agreement in writing. They even said I had to pay for the installation of these parts. Do NOT buy a vehicle form these crooks. They are a dishonest company...

Thumbnail of user patrickm646
1 review
12 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 6th, 2020

These people dont have a human to talk to. When you do wait on hold for 25 minutes they automatically send you to voice mail, which nobody returns. You can send them an email with a specific question, and you will get a generic response the next day... If you are trying to sell, this is an absolute NIGHTMARE as you, and your buyer wait in limbo for days at a time. Get it together guys.

Thumbnail of user michaels11350
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
July 21st, 2023

Very shady business at least in San Diego. Tried to change agreed upon price for my car at last minute. Gave reasons that were untrue and fabricated. Wasted my time and I passed on two other offers based on price they gave me. Dishonest.

Thumbnail of user edwards356
5 reviews
8 helpful votes
  • Send Message
July 8th, 2022

I have had 5 different inquiries…alleged interested parties since my vehicle has been listed. All bogus! All employ the same canned." is your vehicle still available " I reply in the affirmative…would you like to see. Drive? No reply. Totally fake. Totally fabricated. Zero rating is what they deserve. Ed S. Vehicle is currently listed.

Tip for consumers:
Car Gurus is a fake site. Use Craigslist or iseecars

Thumbnail of user troyd74
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
November 7th, 2019

Dealerships use this site to post unavailable vehicles for sale. I tried actively to find a vehicle only to find that even though they have been listed for weeks and months the vehicle was sold that morning. So frustrating to deal with bait and switch. I'm sure there are "some" reputable dealers using the site, but not worth the time and frustration.

Thumbnail of user marthap187
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 13th, 2019

We had an excellent experience with Donald at The Auto Factory in Peabody. Our daughter was able to buy her first car with no hassle. Donald was so nice to work with. She got 4 new tires and, a replacement part in the trunk, and it was sparking clean. Definitely will go back again when our son is ready to buy!

Thumbnail of user calunterleiter57
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
September 18th, 2023

I looked at some of their vehicles when I was in the market, liked the pics of blemishes, but when I tried to contact them regarding a vehicle, they would not respond. Now I see the ads on tv with this person sliding down the hood of a vehicle he does not own, I find that totally disrespectful and ignorant! I hope you lose sales because of your ignorance regarding this imbecile's actions on tv!

Thumbnail of user pennyj96
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 10th, 2022

I found a car on CarGurus. Great price. But did not know that price is up to the dealer. I found out the hard way I paided $900 more. That unfortunately I didn't catch. I was so focused on my payments and terms. Why is CarGurus listing the purchase price when it isn't true. And why have it not noticeable. You literally have to search for additional information. And the way it's worded is confusing. If you use CarGurus don't miss the small writing. I'm disabled and elderly and my trust in people and dealers got me to pay $25 a month more

Value
Thumbnail of user omniahg
1 review
8 helpful votes
  • Send Message
May 4th, 2019

We were in a one year contract with CarGurus with about 40 avg vehicle inventory we were paying around 2,000/month then after one year they force us to re-contract with them but only if we pay close to 5,000/month. Their reasoning is that as one of their top performing dealer and we should pay more than our neighboring dealer.

We work hard to hand select each of our inventory and check the market before each purchase and we have strong merchandising and reviews, I'm not sure why we have to get punished for this.

Thumbnail of user pjmarshall5965
1 review
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 8th, 2024

Found many sneaky dealers that had hidden undisclosed fees such as: add $2k for no trade, add fees for Lemon Law protection, add fees for touch screen protection, multiple fees for document prep adding up to $1k, listed price was changed by photographer to $3k lower. One dealer called me 15 times to get me to come up $242. That is harassment! You guys need to have a complaint department to kick these "bait and switch dealers" off your network. I found these same dealer listing on others sites. I suggest you all get together and flag these "snake oil dealers".

Tip for consumers:
My review is for the NIGHTMARE experience I had with multiple "sneaky dealers" with hidden fees, bait and switch tactics" listing errors with fine print disclaimers. The industry needs to kick these dealers off their sites. Please come up with a method to remove the snake oil salesmen/women.

Products used:
I am on my 4th "offer". Deal not closed yet as they are not open on Sunday.

Quality
Thumbnail of user wilburw11
1 review
3 helpful votes
  • Send Message
February 14th, 2019

Every possible contact with CarGurus requires a code they didn't send. No customer support contact is possible, cannot even post a question without the code. System says "check your email" & I have several messages without any code. Checked junk mail folder. No phone contact possible. System will not reply to the text messages they sent me. Very bad system design. The entire experience feels like a scam in progress.

Thumbnail of user kjr2
1 review
4 helpful votes
  • Send Message
July 10th, 2017

Thanks for sending an email telling me you removed my review. Here you go CarGurus thanks for wasting my time and effort to find what I was looking for. I had much better luck on craigslist sadly to say. Keep every last bit of your website.

Thumbnail of user randallr152
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
  • Send Message
January 8th, 2020

Finding the car is the easy part... after that things go down hill. With all communication between buyer and seller through Car Guru as a middleman... it's impossible to have a real time discussion with seller... granted a slow responding seller is not Car Gurus fault but in today's instant world... really

Thumbnail of user jv53
1 review
0 helpful votes
  • Send Message
April 11th, 2018

Great experience. I have now bought two cars through Scottsdale Auto Group! Best Dealership I have ever dealt with. They are honest and very straightforward. They are here to make you happy! The General Manager Adam has a very ethical drive to find what you need and want. They are not pushy and wont sell you something you don't want. I will continue to buy ALL my cars through SAG!

Thanks Car Gurus

Thumbnail of user briand1603
2 reviews
9 helpful votes
  • Send Message
August 30th, 2023

Call it bad business practice, predatory, what ever you like. Ive used this site in the past. NEVER again! Trying to sell my car, they force you into there "great" instant offer routine. So you are forced to enter all this info before you can list your car. The offer they give is no different than I could have received at trade in. Basically 30% under its value. Pathetic offer, why do you think Im selling it on my own.

Now today I receive an email thanking me for accepting their predatory offer. Scumbags contacted my bank and tried to buy it out from under me. Absolute mafia tactics. Scumbag dishonest, predatory company. Hope your site goes down in flames!

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality

Sitejabber for Business

Gain trust and grow your business with customer reviews.

From the business

Unbiased car reviews and over a million opinions and photos from real people. Use CarGurus to find the best used car deals.

Company Representative

Thumbnail of user carlylem4
Carlyle M.

How do I know I can trust these reviews about CarGurus?

  • Sitejabber’s mission is to increase online transparency for buyers and businesses
  • Sitejabber has helped over 200M buyers make better purchasing decisions online
  • Suspicious reviews are flagged by our algorithms, moderators, and community members
Have a question about CarGurus?