Autotrader.com Reviews

Please people do not waste your time with Autotrader's instant cash offer process (or AIC as I will call it). Total scam to get you into a dealership. I have a 2010 Chevy, 90k miles with minor dings and a star on the window. I am realistic with the condition of my vehicle and submitted as much detail as possible. I'm not opposed to the dealer finding a discrepancy and offering a lower price than the offer. But it is not a no haggle process and should not be sold to you as such. The KBB value of my vehicle in fair condition is 8-9k, the average going rate in my area for the same vehicle/same miles is 10-15k in my area. So the AIC over of 8900 for my vehicle seemed on target.

I listed a vehicle online with this company. I got one phone call in the first week and one email about the vehicle. After a month they called and insisted I upgrade my account to get more coverage which I did and paid the appropriate fees. The response for this upgrade was no better in that I have had no responses for the vehicle in 5 months, even though their feedback report shows all this response to the ad. I would not recommend this service to anyone, especially the VIP service. Don't forget if you utilize their service it is totally on you to review and keep up with the time frame for getting any monies returned because if you're one day late you get nothing back.

Many years ago, I used Auto Trader (the magazine) to sell several cars. It worked GREAT. I always got responses and eventually had a good experience selling the car. The website, on the other hand, has not been good for me. The last two cars I sold I used Auto Trader. One was about 5 years ago. I did not sell it using Auto Trader. Definitely a waste of money. This time was even worse. The ad was up for 2 weeks and I did not get ONE response. Not ONE. And I was sure to price the car under almost all other ones listed on the site. I'd never use it again. Instead, I used the free service of Cars.com and Craigslist. I eventually sold it on Craigslist.

I placed my ad on www.autotrader.com. I put my price for my car at $19,995. I also put it in Craigslist. After a couple of weeks, I had many calls from CL, but no calls from auto trader.com. Then a salesman called and talked me into their VIP advertising. More pics, higher position in ad, stays til it sells and at an additional cost. He also recommended that I raise the price of the vehicle. After 5 weeks, I have had NO - Zip - ZERO calls on my truck from auto trader. I am out over $200 and nothing to show for it. If you can, do your own due diligence with price and stick to it. Don't believe these guys. I should have left my original price stand, as I looked it up and it was good there. At their recommended price, it was a stretch.

While browsing through vehicles I noticed I could get an idea of what my trade in value would be for my current vehicle. I decided to see how much I would get. During the process it asked "how may we contact you?" I made sure that only e-mail was checked. I submitted and got my value then... My phone started blowing up with all the car dealers within 50 miles calling and texting me. Exactly what I didn't want to happen. I for one will not be using auto trader to find my next vehicle, they cannot be trusted!

I used Kelley Blue Book to get a general idea of my 2014 Ford Super Cab F250 pickup with 15,234 miles. The is a Lariat, loaded. I received the cash offer of $41,630. I call one of the three dealers listed for a cash sell and I was told that the cash offer was meaningless and if I drove to the dealership they would give me an appraisal and pay their appraisal price. I can take my pickup to any car or truck dealer in the United States and they will give me an offer for my truck. Why is AutoTrader involved? POOR SERVICE!! DON'T CONSIDER AUTOTRADER!

Sold great car in 3 days using Craigslist. Got 4 hits right away. Never received even one hit on AutoTrader. Also, when I listed the car, the style/Trim dropdown had only one choice "unavailable". When the ad posted, right beside make and model it said "unavail". I had to call to get that removed. When I tried to log in to remove the ad I could not. Had to call again to get into site. Will never use AutoTrader.com again.

They stopped publishing their magazine but still charge the same price. Didn't get a single call. It said it would be published - never mentioned that June was the last month. WASTED MONEY. Terrible, terrible. What a rip off and they used to be good.

STOP USING AutoTrader.com! I paid $70 for an ad to sell my car. Excellent market price compared to all other similar cars. In two months, I didn't get a single inquiry. Not one! They used to be the best place to sell a car but now it seems no one is looking there anymore. They're still getting $70 per ad but no one uses it. Save your money and stick with Craiglist or ANY OTHER place people actually look for cars.

I wanted to cancel my ad the very next day that I pay for it. I only received prank calls trying to buy my car, from "people" that wanted to buy the car without seen it and sending postal order as payment. I sent all the info the autotrader and told them that no serious buyers were calling me and that I wanted to take the guarantee. They told me is too early to make a complaint. After 10 days I went and sold the car by myself to a trader. I asked for my refund and they never gave the money back!

This company did not honor money back guarantee and we were counting on it. I ended up selling my car myself 7 months after it sat in AutoTrader doing nothing. No one helped sell it after creating ad. They said I had to fill out a form within a certain time to get money back. Never was told this openly at the beginning.

The mobile and online sites are plagued with issues. They keep showing the premiere ads over and over again and not bringing up the regular ads. I received NO inquiries to this ad. I posted the exact same information at the exact same price on Craigslist and and had 12 calls and sold it for full asking price in 30 minutes. Biggest waste of $75.00 ever!!!

Our Q5 recently encountered a problem, with the front driver side/passenger side headlights cracking, which resulted in condensation build up in the housing. The warranty for our car states that it covers 80,000 KM, or 4 yrs which until August 2015, whichever comes first. Our car only has a mileage of 46,000 so we were covered under the warranty period. Brought the car into the dealership, in which we were told that even though we were under the warranty timeframe, they could not fix this major problem due to "outside influences".

I placed an ad to sell my 2014 Audi A6 that has only 12,000. (I am buying a 2016). They told me to list the car for $45,000 and I listed it for $44,000 to try to sell in within an eight week window. They said at that price it would sell in "no time." Well, eight weeks later, NOT A SINGLE email or call. I did run a test of the email link, and it worked, and I did receive two scam calls within the first 15 min of placing the ad. What a total waste of money. Of course, they call you up to try to "upgrade" (up-charge as well) my listing for about double the original cost. I tried to log in to my account so that I could request a refund, and the site will not allow me in. So much for filing for a refund based on no sale.

Was trying to sell a 1990 Nissan 300ZX TT through AutoTrader VIP. I purchased the top level package and put my ad together with several pictures. After two months, I had maybe 1 legitimate inquiry. The rest were just looking to see how low I would go on price. So I decided to quit checking the site since my package included weekly updates to my email and a rep calling me if anyone had called about the car. Fast forward 4 months, ad now up for 6 months time. Total of maybe 5 legitimate inquiries. Irritated, I remember the guaranteed sale or refund. Inquire about it to find out that you have to request it between 120-141 days after your car has been up for sale. Miss that window and tough luck.

Not unlike another reviewer, I was incredulous that AutoTrader mandates a written letter, conforming to their specific requirements and timeline, in order to theoretically receive a refund for a non-selling vehicle ad. The requirements are fine, since they can mandate whatever they choose; however, it is ludicrous to require a written letter via USPS, when email/pdf and faxes are clearly the norm and acceptable in virtually all business communications. I sent multiple emails requesting clarification of the requirement, but never received a response. Ultimately, the timeline for me to submit my refund request expired - which exactly as the intent of AutoTrader in refusing to respond.

Got a 3800 trade in value on my 08 Nissan Versa... dealer offered 2k. Insulting. No deal.. Got a direct buy offer. Went to dealer.. offered 750.00. Or 2k trade in. It seems like it was a big waste of time designed to get you to the dealer with your title in hand. If you have a high mileage vehicle, my experience tells me not to waste my time again. Hope this saves someone else from a wasted trip to the dealer.

As others have mentioned, this company is merely another arm of large car dealerships and do not do anything to help the average private consumer. I have a single-owner low mileage (27,000) 2011 Ford Escape Limited, with some relatively minor dents in the front fender. I was also rear-ended a couple of years ago, so it has a "dirty Carfax" reporting one minor accident with minor damage. Anyway, I didn't know that accident was even reported to Carfax because the damage was so minimal I never even got it fixed... just a couple of scratches on the bumper. When I entered the car's information to get an Autotrader sales quote, I accurately identified all of the relevant damage (even overstating it), but didn't know about the Carfax. I received a quote of about $15,000, which was about a thousand below Kelley Blue Book, but I was willing to sell it slightly cheaper to get rid of the thing.

I'm looking for a truck so I went to autotrader - typed in truck, no specific year, make, model or price. It comes back with no results, so I tried it again with different other cars, jeeps, etc. No matter what I typed in it came back with no results. Website is worthless. Don't waste your time or money!!!!

I made a mistake of purchasing a $289 VIP ad in the hopes of selling my 2010 Nissan Altima quickly. I thought it was initially a good investment, but was soon proved wrong. Although the reps on the phone were all very friendly, I wound up having my car over-priced and the ad had several mistakes. After several efforts on my part, I lowered the price and fixed the ad, uploading 24 pictures. I was led to believe from their advertising that Autotrader would come and take pictures, but I was clearly wrong. I can't figure out what I got from my investment except a lot of frustration, which I expressed several times over the phone. But they kept telling me the average time to sell a car was 8-12 weeks, which I thought was ridiculously long.

My ad would not appear in search results. When contacting the company, I was always told ad was working properly.

First, reading the prior reviews tells me this is a major problem with this company. The State's Corporation Commission wherever they are registered should really look into and audit this company. My issue probably will seem redundant, but will just re-affirm the other tales of woe here. I purchased a 60 day contract with AutoTrader with a few extra services. The core plan was $50 and said it came with a Money Back Guarantee of satisfaction. At the end of its run, they sent me a solicitation to renew. Based on the diagnostics readily available to my personal ad within its content management, there were roughly 1,000 queries about my particular vehicle, but only 2 views of my particular ad in the 60 days. That's exceptionally poor ratios. At the same time I posted my ad on several other FREE car ad sites and had twice as many hits and even live inquiries. My vehicle was in pristine shape and even $3-4,000 below market value.

I purchase an agreement with auto trader in which they promised at a period ending if the car did not sell they would return or refund the monies. This is absolutely an absurdity. I did exactly what they told me to do. I even contacted to make sure the date of purchase of this agreement, which they stated to me, was August 1. I filled out all forms correctly. I asked if I could email him or fax the form for the refund. They stated they could not do that, that I must mail it to a certain address.

I placed an ad in Autotrader and normally I loved their services. When my vehicle didn't sell they called me and offered me the VIP program with a money back guarantee. I accepted and my vehicle still didn't sell. I called and asked for my VIP money back. They told me I had to do it within a certain time frame and to follow the instructions and mail in a letter, which I thought was very strange. After a month I called them up and asked them when the money would be refunded and they said they hadn't received the letter. What a convenient rip off, do everything over the phone, then send a letter and then Autotrader says they never received it. DO NOT do the ripoff VIP program.

I purchased the basic car selling service from AutoTrader and then was contacted a couple weeks later by them when car did not sell promoting their VIP service. It still did not sell and they mentioned a guarantee or money back. I eventually sold thru Craigslist. I requested from AutoTrader to at least give my money back for the VIP portion and they will not give it back. Definitely think the VIP service is a rip-off.

Absolutely terrible. I remember selling a used car back when they were buysell.com. It was a pleasant experience then but has gone way downhill. I tried to list an ad and was disapproved as they considered it a dealer ad. I called their 1-800 number and spoke to a rep named Wendy. She was excellent, approved the ad and then sent over an email to their other department for further clarification. Wendy phoned me back the next day and told me that I was not considered a dealer and can post as a private person.

My mom put up an AD for a car - it said 4 times "Money Back Guarantee!" When It wasn't selling, she finally had time to call and found out that she called too late! The lady told her that she should have mailed a FORM by regular mail (I guess some people still like to waste TREES for no reason).... within 21 DAYS or else there is NO money back guaranteed! Say goodbye to your money! She didn't even care that it was just over 21 days, that my mom didn't know. One of the reps showed a small little line on the website somewhere under some little link somewhere, hidden from view that it says you have to mail "within 3 weeks of your eligibility date to receive credit." That's not very clear at all also, eligibility date?

The company was more concerned with selling extras that they say would help me sell my car faster. It took two months to sell my car. Only one mentioned Auto Trader. They gave no direct advice on how to sell my car faster except to buy premium membership. When I did sell my car (not thru Auto Trader) I asked for a credit for unused time left on my account. Their reply is sorry but we got your money to screw you. This company should be listed by every consumer bureau as unreliable and untrustworthy.

Years ago when Auto Trader was a magazine publication I used it with some good results so I decided to try it for online sale of my Toyota. I posted the ad and have been billed $30 which is the minimum package. The ad ran for 5 weeks and I received NO legitimate calls from potential buyers. What I got instead were numerous FRAUDULENT INQUIRIES from a number of scammers. One claimed to be on a ship and buying the vehicle for his brother. The other was an employee of H.P. and out of town on business but wanted the car for his son. I traced both phone numbers to overseas, one coming from Russia (known for international fraud/scams). These clowns wanted my Paypal account information (any guesses what they intended to do with that information?). The only other calls came from a company in California trying to sell me their shipping and advertising services (four calls even though I told them not to call again).

I listed my truck on Autotrader after reading what a great audience they had and all the reviews that they publish about how effective selling automobiles on their site would be. After having my truck listed on their site for 3 weeks, I decided to put an ad on Craigslist for free (Auto Trader's ad cost me $60). On the Auto Trader site, my truck was showing up in results hundreds of times, but I only had one person look at my contact info. I received one text message asking if my truck was the eco boost and that was it. Which makes me think that their reports are a big fat lie!!!! Within 3 days of listing my truck on Craigslist, I had a buyer that was interested in my truck. He came and bought it the next weekend. I requested a refund from Autotrader, but because my truck sold, even though they had nothing to do with the sale, I was not entitled to a refund. My advice if you are selling a car would be to list on Craigslist for free. Save yourself the hassle of being scammed by Auto Trader.

After reading all their hype about the reach they have and the amount of potential buyers they would put me in front of. Then when my ad was placed absolutely zero contacts from buyers. I sold my car through Craigslist in days.

I placed an ad with AutoTrader and received one email with a low ball offer for my Vette. I'm only glad I didn't purchase the 100 dollar ad because the 75 dollar one was worthless to me. Save your cash and post your vehicle elsewhere. Ended up finding my buyer on Craigslist.

The moment that I placed the ad to sell a car, I started to received "prank" calls or emails of people asking for my personal email so can deal directly. I complained to the company about the service since day one. I sent the evidence about not receiving reliable buyers, they replied to me saying that I was right, the contact came from a fraudulent line. I panicked and I sold the car to a dealer to a great loss! I asked for my money back and they said I'm not entitle to received the money because I sold the car!!! Yes but not through the website ad and they said to me, the guarantee doesn't specify if you sell it through the website or not, only if you sell the car!! I have even spoken with a supervisor and they said to me the same. "You have sold the car, and we can't give you the money back." So my advise to you is do not pay for this service, you will receive the same kind of calls and "buyers" that you will receive on a free website. Nothing special about the service and they do not honor the guarantee that they promise.

I am going to make it my personal mission to blog about, review and inform the public about Autotrader's obvious bait and switch tactics. I got their "OFFER" online for my 2006 Toyota Highlander limited hybrid. I plugged it in 2 ways, one with overstating the blemishes on the car and was given a quote of 7500 dollars. We did it again at First Hyundai in Mass. putting even more blemishes into the equation and on their own computer with their own salesman entering the information he saw on the car, it came to a 7050 dollar "OFFER". But when he walked back to my table after yanking my chain and stringing me along for nearly an hour with "the guys behind the desk", he claimed the car was only worth $4900. When I told them Autotrader and their dealership were bait and switch masters and asked for the key back, they seemed to change their view of my car.

I decided to list my car with autotrader because I heard that it worked well and reached a lot of people. I paid $75 for my ad. I had it on the site for 6 weeks, and got no interested parties (only scams). I stayed optimistic, autotrader called me seeing if they could help, which they never did. I also had the car listed on craigslist. 3 days ago I sold my car through craigslist. So autotrader has a "money back guarantee." Well when I contacted them asking to take my ad down, and give me my refund, they refused. They stated that the refund was only if I didn't sell my car, which I DIDN'T sell my car with them. Now, they are telling me that If I wanted a refund I would have had to request my refund 21 days BEFORE my ad expired. How the hell would someone know that OH! It's 21 days before my expiration date, guess I'm not going to sell my car, looks like I should get a refund. Are you kidding me? ** waste of money. They are a bunch of crooks. I will tell EVERYONE I know not to use autotrader. You are way better off using Craigslist. Stay away.

This site works side by side with dealers and gives you the value of your car with an auction price... which is even way below BLACK BOOK value! Warning: DO NOT use to to get a fair trade in value. You will not get it and the dealer will make out like a bandit! Example... I have a 2011 Cadillac SRX Black Book Value which is low... at $24k and change... Auto Trader $20K Trade In BS Certificate they give you which doesn't even come with a condom! If you plan to use that certificate at a dealer, then you better get the black box, The Magnum Condoms, because that's what you're going to need after them sticking it to you with that BS Certificate from Auto Trader! Use Black Book even though that's a bit low as well.

Initially, I paid $120 to put my vehicle on Autotrader and get upgraded to a better standing locally. It seemed to do okay, but not many views on my advertisement. A week after I had it listed, I got a call from an Autotrader salesman telling me how the VIP service would help me sell my car (which is a modified Nissan 350Z and close to a show car). Told me how I would get a lot more views on my car since it would now be a top spot nationally. My car is a damn sexy car and after 2 weeks of it being on the VIP, there was not a change in the ratio of searches to clicks. There was almost 3,000 searches for a 350z and I received about 50-80 clicks on the car, even though it was the highest spot on the page nationally.

Paid $80. Have a Toyota Highlander 2010 with low miles (37k). Well priced according to all sources. I've received a total of 4 calls. 3 of them scams or automated calls from resellers. Autotrader.com is a farce and I'll never work with them again! Do not use.

I'm very unhappy with my AutoTrader Classics experience. I've received zero authentic responses via the AutoTrader ad. I did receive 2 scam responses requesting my PayPal account information. Chumps. I thought AutoTrader Classics might produce a decent return on my $50 ad investment, but in reality it didn't produce a SINGLE authentic interested party. The car I listed was priced competitively, so that's not the problem. When I contacted them to obtain BASIC info such as number of page views, I was informed that they don't maintain that kind of information. Newsflash to AutoTrader Classics: "Number of page views" is kind of an important bit of information to us pesky customers! Very disappointing. If they offered refunds for unsatisfied customers, I'd certainly request one. I'll take it as a lesson learned and tell my car club friends to not waste their money on their site. Hopefully I can save some other unsuspecting sap $50. Put me down as totally unimpressed.

As many has already mentioned, AutoTrader pretty much forces you to upgrade to the more expensive premium ad to even have a chance to show up in the search. Not only that, you would think now you paid extra, you will be getting a lot of responses right? WRONG! I get 10x more responses from the free craigslist and actually sold the car there. Private seller, save yourself some money and stay away from AutoTrader.

If you plan to only buy into this site at the minimum price offering it is NOT worth it. Your ad looks pitiful when compared to the other fancy ads bought by dealerships. This is not a good investment for a private seller.

In the past (5 years ago) I have had great success with Auto Trader (Canada) but recently (they must be under new ownership?) (April/2014) it has been more than frustrating, even getting disconnected and hung up on. If you want to place an ad, you cannot post it immediately as they have to review it and make sure no persons are in the photos and if so, the photo(s) will be removed. Waiting for an email reply never happened so I had to call each time - even on the priority listing which is only for 8 days and to me is very, very expensive. If you happen to 'edit' your listing once it does show up in the right space and you have to monitor it to make sure it is there, and in the proper heading, then the listing disappears.

Terrible customer service. Will not use again. I was getting errors on the listing and contacted them several times while the ad ran. They NEVER returned messages or called. Would definitely not recommend.

We placed our ad and had to call and email numerous times. We paid for premier listing and 4 days later they cancelled our ad. Use other sites, all free.

Purchased a Money Back Guarantee stating: "Money Back Guarantee: If your vehicle doesn't sell within 90 days, we'll refund the fees you paid for the initial purchase price of your ad, excluding the cost of any enhancements purchased. The Refund Request form must be postmarked between Mar. 23, 2014 and Apr. 11, 2014. Additional Terms of Sale apply." Spoke to customer service March 24, 2014 and was told it was void because I extended the ad! Then realized my ad was never actually extended.

The AutoTrader search engine is misleading in that you punch to sort miles of a car and because you don't have a premium ad, your car is down at the bottom somewhere and will not be seen. This is misleading because you are using the search engine to sort and it’s sorting only what they want you to see. Isn't this grounds for a lawsuit?

DO NOT buy a Private Seller Ad. Your ad will not be found by potential buyers. It's obvious that AutoTrader makes its money with dealer ads. They will take your money for a private party ad, but their system is set up to only show dealer ads in buyers searches. Dealers list under "featured" ads. Private Parties do not. Buyers will find several pages of Featured dealer ads and give up searching long before they find your ad. AutoTrader does sell your phone number to organizations who use robocalls that offer to sell your car and calls from low-balling car dealers. Stay away from AutoTrader.

They have a great website and it was very easy to list my vehicle. Unfortunately, I had a very low response rate to my ad. I have done well in the past with Auto Trader but that was a few years ago. I only got three calls in as many months this time around for a popular vehicle listed at a great price. Where did all their customers go?

I was selling my car to a dealer that works with AutoTrader using its price guarantee. I was completely honest and accurate about the condition of the vehicle I was selling, more so than most people would be. AutoTrader offered me a price based on the description, and it was guaranteed. I took it to their authorized buying dealer, Route 18 Jeep in East Brunswick, and they admitted that I had been very forthright about the condition. However, they offered me $3000 under AutoTrader's guarantee and would not accept the vehicle. This is a scam. The dealer did not want my vehicle, a 2006 Toyota Sienna with 130k miles, because it could not resell it and make a profit. They were going to send it to auction and wanted to make a profit that way. Not my problem. Dealers that work with AutoTrader should honor the price guarantee unless the owner was dishonest about the vehicle. I have contacted AutoTrader numerous times, by phone and email, and they have not responded. Do not do business with these people or Route 18 Jeep in East Brunswick, NJ. They are more unscrupulous than most. I am very angry about AutoTrader not honoring the guaranteed price and not responding. I think I will pursue this in small claims court.

I placed an ad with Auto Trader at a cost of 45 as I was led to believe that they would sell it fast!!! I followed all of their guidelines, even with their low price guide of my vehicle. In 4 weeks, I received one phone call, quite often the site was down and many features unavailable. I have emailed them 3 times with no response.

I have subscribed to Auto Trader. Wanted to sell my vehicle fast. Did the Cheapest ad available. No calls. Auto Trader called me to upsell my ad. I finally agreed because they uploaded my photos for me. No hits yet it has been at least 4 weeks. I placed an ad because I used to look at their print ads all the time. I guess no one ever looks at their online site. I would not recommend them to anybody. Waste of money.

Had submitted an ad back a month or so ago and then cancelled it. Well just recently resubmitted the ad with some upgraded info. Received e-mail ok. Then received the following: Your Ad Has Been Removed from autoTRADER.ca. See below for the editor’s comments: "Comment from editor: Other. We apologize but after reviewing your ad, we have found that it does not currently meet one of our criteria and so it is currently being denied." That was it. What criteria didn't I meet? Have e-mailed them for an explanation and to date have not received anything back. But on reviewing the info and complaints on your site, AT has become a total "Dealer" manipulated site. The dealer ads are slick and shiny. I think that if anyone sends in an ad with real good materials, etc. then I believe that dealers may complain and it is removed. AT use to carry many "Private" ads however it is almost 100% dealer related ads now.

I have found their trade in values which seem to link to a specific dealer work in THAT dealer's favor, NOT the consumer. Find trade in values by averaging fair to good prices using KBB, NADA or Edmunds. Best bet is to go to a Carmax and they will give you a written offer good for a week or a few hundred miles. I spent almost $100 to sell a Tacoma on AT and sold it in a week on Craigslist instead and sold a RAV 4 later both for a few hundred over dealer trade in. Dealers seem to be using the internet to post their HIGHEST prices and call them internet prices. When you go to the lots the posted prices are way above all consumer guide retail pricing to make it appear the internet pricing was good. Buyer beware of auto buying/selling services.

Started receiving multiple calls and text after posting an ad on AutoTrader.com. It appears that the telemarketers and scam artists are targeting online sellers by combing sites like Craigslist and AutoTrader for victims. FWIW we removed the ad and are still receiving calls.

I work in the auto industry and as a result, I've been highly advised to sell my car on Auto Rrader, and the result sucked. They upsell you for more "features" one right after the other and it definitely wasn't worth the upgrades. Ended up selling my car to someone on Facebook for a grand higher than the AutoTrader listing. Also, dealers pay ridiculous amounts of money to be on AutoRrader (thousands per month minimum) and I know one dealer that stopped advertising with them. Their sales dropped a whopping 2 cars less per month, not enough to justify the thousands that they were spending. BOTTOM LINE: AutoTrader costs more money than the advertising is actually worth. Please stop supporting them. Use Google business listings or free services like Craigslist if you want to shop for a car. Use Facebook, Craigslist, etc. to sell...

I went to AutoTrader because I was researching the trade-in value of my vehicle, a 2012 Volvo S60. I was researching this because I have leased this vehicle and the lease will be up in February. I am trying to decide what to do: purchase the car or buy a new one? I'm not sure. The Kelly Blue Book TRADE IN value of the car right now is about $26,500. The amount I can purchase the car right now, according to US Bank is about $26,000. The AutoTrader proposed value (after careful consideration) is $16,068. Does anyone see anything wrong with this?? We are talking about a 2012 Volvo S60 T5, equipped with the technology package (navigation, backup camera, etc.), cold-weather package (heated seats, mirrors), with 35,000 miles, never before in an accident and in perfect condition! This is ODD.

I have been looking to purchase a car and found two vehicles in which I was interested on Autotrader.com. After sending the internal e-mail from the ad page to each, I received an e-mail back from one of the two vehicles. I also received a text message from that person. Subsequently, I received multiple texts and e-mails with further information. However, when I asked for information to arrange an inspection of the car, all contact broke off. In the case of the second vehicle, there was little information on the ad, but a phone number was listed. On calling the number, I had the unpleasant experience of having the other person on the line use a series of expletives then hang up on me. I re-checked the number and re-dialed in case I had "fat fingered" the previous call only to be put on speaker and harangued.

I wanted to subscribe for 2 month service because I thought it would be enough to find a car, so I paid their initiation fees for 2 month upfront (19.99 x 2) at the signing. Couple of month later on July 25th we got an email reminding us that we have auto renewal and the charge of another $19.99 will be placed the following day on our credit card account. I contacted Auto Trade immediately stating that I do not authorize this charge and will dispute it. A month later they sent me another email stating that if I will not pay, they will send me to collection and the charge was increased to $54.99. I decided to call them. After several attempts, I finally got through and they told me that because I didn't remove auto renewal option, I acquire this charge.

I spent over a hundred dollars on this site. I also ran a free ad on Craigslist because, why not it's free. In two months my ad got 17 page views, no leads, calls or emails. I had it listed $2000 below Kelly blue book value and well under every other car in my area. I also paid $25 to post it on kbb.com. Here is why I am upset. After I spent $100+ dollars on the ad, Auto Trader runs ads for Chrysler dealerships (my car is a Chrysler) ON MY PAGE. I paid over $100 for this page, they are running ads on it and now I have to compete with no money down and all kinds of incentives? Come on, if my page was free I'd understand but putting competing ads on my page? That's just poor form. It took them days to run my ad, and I had to pay $15 for a privacy shield. Privacy shield gives me an anonymous email address so people don't email me directly. It's also good for privacy because my email address has my name it in, but come on, $15? Craigslist does this for free.

I paid $99 in 2006 & was guaranteed an ad on the FRONT page. Not only was my ad not on the front page, it was not advertised at all! I got tired of contacting them & never getting it resolved. I am trying 2 sell my car now & thought I'd contact them. Surely they'd have record of my payment on their database. I still have the 2006 magazine on which they promised my car would be on the front page so I thought they could redeem themselves now. Their local phone number is disconnected. After reading all the bad reviews I don't think it is even worth my time to contact anyone associated with them. I feel bad for all of us that we're duped by this auto trader. They are no better than online and phone scammers. We all should spread the word and warn anyone even considering selling their car to avoid them. Lesson learned.

I listed to sell my car on March 25th, 2013 and it took like 2-3 days for my ad to go live. I had purchased the deluxe ad with money back guarantee. I did not get even a single email on my car for what is claimed as an awesome site. Now after 90 days I called on July 10th to check on my 90-day money back and was told to wait till the end of the month. I waited and then sent an email on 13th and finally got a response to apply for refund. Today noticed ad edit confirmation emails 2 or 3 times and in the email it was mentioned contact customer service if edits are not done by you. When I called and spoke with the rep she said I did not do any changes but internally changes are made.

I would not pay for any of AutoTrader's services; it is a ripoff if they say you can get your money back if it does not sell. They are lying. You have to meet so many terms and conditions. I paid for the $259.00 VIP service and they refused to give me money back when I called. This is the worst online company I have ever dealt with.

Do not sign up for AutoTrader's service to see how much your car is worth and to give you a quote. I have received dozens of phone calls to my cell phone with pre-recorded greetings and messages. It is too much! I hate AutoTrader! I have taken my ad off of AutoTrader weeks ago and I am still getting them. I will not ever use them again. Money down the drain. Both of my last cars were bought off of Craigslist within 10 days of posting my ads all at my price less a few hundred bucks. Both were great cars, a Navigator and a Prius. No calls, nothing from AT, not one. Stupid of me to try them twice after the first one bombed out too. Stay away from AT!

Auto Trader proudly displays the fact that if your vehicle does not sell in 90 days, you are entitled to a refund if the proper form is submitted and all terms have been met. What they do not display is the fact that the request for refund must be postdated 91-111 days after the ad was begun. That gives a 10-day window only to be refunded. This information needs to be displayed in the same way that the "guarantee" that the car will sell or your purchase will be refunded!

Two bald tires, blown rear exhaust box but worst of all, fuel pump tampering. The electrics leading to the pump had been altered recently and both fuel pump and in-line fuel filter next to the fuel tank had impact damage as if they were hit by an object. To try to sell a vehicle in an unroadworthy state, this company should come under your review as they are in my opinion, chancers. They were given several chances to resolve the problem, but after less than 3 hours of purchasing the car, they refused to take phone calls from mobiles, landlines or a local public phone box in their area, but sold the car as roadworthy and mechanically sound?

False ad price on AutoTrader Car ID: AT-12A28778. Return to this vehicle quickly by searching with its AutoTrader.com Car ID (or, "AT Car ID"). The price is $15,998.00, but the price was really $26,000.00. The dealer confirmed the price and availability by phone on Wednesday, April 18th but refused to sell the truck for the advertised price on Thursday, April 19th. The dealer did not remove the ad on Autotrader.com.

On March 2007, I saw advertisements on Auto Trader for a 1992 BMW 325i. The purchase price was $3,500. I went to look at the car and because I was in desperate need of a car, I decided to buy the car. There was a female sales person that I spoke with. I asked her what type of payment they take. She told me that they take all types of payments, but if you pay with a check or credit card then the car and $150.00 fee. I really need a car to get back and forth to work so I decided to buy it. She told me to write two checks, one for the amount of $2,000.00 and the other for $1,650.00, I did. The sales person told me that I would get my title in the mail in two weeks.

I place a worry-free ad and figured my car would either sell or I get a refund. The car did not sell, even after pricing it way below blue book value. Their terms and conditions have changed since I placed my ad and refuse to honor the original terms. Now, they say the ad must run 90 days and if you want a refund, you must send written verification 91-111 days after the ad has run in order to receive a refund. That was not true when I placed my ad. If your car does not sell, you will receive a refund. It didn't matter how long the ad was running. Live chat is worthless. I spoke with someone named Gwendolyn. She is an absolute basket case. All she could do was quote current terms and conditions and then tell me to call in if I wanted to speak with someone else.

I purchased a 3-week ad. I could not find my ad online, so I questioned them about it. I was told that it was being reviewed (which I understand). My issue is that the ad was reviewed (and not available online) for 48 hours. The 2 days that my ad was not visible online was subtracted from the 3-week ad that I purchased. I paid for a 21-day ad and only got 19 days.

We placed an ad for our classic 1955 Chevy Bel Air. A no-brainer to sell, or so we thought.

We paid for an 8-week ad. We didn't receive many calls and when we searched our listing using the sort by price, low to high, we could not find our ad. The reason for this is that Autotrader.com does not sort all of the ads by price. They group them according to how much the ads costs.

My husband purchased a vehicle from a dealership 3 months ago. We were told to go home and wait for the paperwork in the mail. By the time we had to make a payment we realized that the bank was charging us a different price. They explained to us that the purchase price for the van was $6,975. The price was fixed from $4500 to $6975 after we left the dealership.

My son purchased a car on AutoTrader in May 2010. He answered the ad for a Honda. The website said that the purchase price was insured for $5,000. Meaning that if something went wrong during the transaction, the buyers didn't have to worry about not having their money refunded. We contacted AutoTrader and they said that there was nothing they could do. I call the local police, like the local police really care about the money you are scammed out of by a worldwide site? My son paid $2,200 twenty two hundred dollars on a car and set up payments for 2 ($700) installments.

I located a truck on AutoTrader that I wanted to purchase for my business. I first attempted to contact the "seller" via the number provided on the ad but it went directly to fax. I then sent her an email about my interest in the truck. She asked for my contact information on order to forward to the third-party agent for securing the funds until the transaction was complete. I followed the instructions on wiring the funds via Western Union. I attempted to call several times after that to follow up on the process but to no avail.

I listed a 40 Ford on Auto Trader at a cost of $100.00 for 2 months. I tried to list it in their Hot Rod printed magazine, but the website tried to force me to list it in both the "classic" and "Hot Rod" magazine at double the cost. It would not let me select only the "Hot Rod" printed magazine so I listed it online only. I later saw the "Classic" and "Hot Rod" printed magazine were combined into only one magazine. They tried to charge me double for a single magazine. Auto Trader is a rip-off.

I was victim of scam using AutoTrader.com trade mark and licensing to sell vehicles. I went looking for Fraud Awareness on site and discovered it at the bottom in small, almost unnoticeable print. I contacted AutoTrader about the problem and spoke with an operator about the problem. I was informed of policy that I had already discovered too late, and was told that the link had been removed under suspicion of fraud (3/24/10on day of purchase). I had, however, recieved a verification copy of email notification of seller through AutoTrader.com, though when the ad was removed, I was never contacted by the site notifying me (as possible buy) that the link had been removed and why. Had I been informed of the reason, in a timely manner, I could have stopped payment at the source (Moneygram) before the money was collected (3/25/10). I lost $3,282.00 from 401k general purpose loan taken to purchase vehicle.

On June 16, I assisted my aged father in the purchase of a 2008 Ford F150 pickup truck (VIN **). After viewing the AutoTrader.com internet advertisement for this truck, I telephoned Mr. ** (**). After several in depth conversations with Mr. **, ** explained that he could not provide title nor ship the vehicle until paid for in full. ** gave his description of the truck and stated that the vehicle had "a full factory warranty from Ford" and an 8' truck box that is necessary for our farming operation. On the afternoon of June 16, we completed an electronic wire transfer of $9,980 into Mr. **'s personal account number ** at the Bank of America. The truck arrived in Illinois via an auto transport carrier on July 4, 2009.

I bought an ad on AutoTrader.com for $125 on Tuesday, but they never posted the ad and refused to help me. I have contacted customer service many times via phone and email and got the same answer that "it will be available in 24 hours". Can someone please help me? I think it is unfair for companies like this to just take people's money and there's nothing we can do about it.

My husband and I bought a 2000 Ford Focus through AutoTrader. After about 2 weeks later, I noticed an oil leak; also, the car wouldn't start. We have had to replace the battery cables. They fixed the leak from the head gasket and the coolant pipe. Well, it's in the shop again today with the same problems--it wouldn't start and the leak is back. They have checked everything; it's not the alternator. There's too many problems for only having this car for 3 months..

I took my daughter to look at cars. What a mistake. This place is a ripoff. The ad in AutoTrader said $9,988. The car needed four tires (bald). I also took another car brakes pulse. They said they would replace the tires. Then the price was wrong; it was $13,839. What a waste of time. I will tell everyone I know about this place. Beware.

On March 26, 2009, I posted my pickup truck for sale on Autotader.com, ad #**. I have searched many times several different ways and cannot find the ad. I have emailed and called them but no response.

Autotrader deleted my Ad and wont reinstate it until I send them a copy of my insurance card or title or other proof of ownership. They require me to touch or modify the ad every month to keep it up and I have followed their requirements but this month my ad was not longer online. They said they automatically deleted all ads over a certain age and the only way to reinstate it is to send proof of ownership.

I listed my car on autotrader.com for 8 weeks. The ad was clean, the car was in good condition and fairly priced. I received no calls on the car at all. Finally in the last week I went on line and tried to find my listing. I could not find it!!!

We were with autotrader.com about 3 years ago and their price just went so high and the leads were not all the good for us in this small area of Wyoming. So we cancelled them. They kept sending us bills and we would call in and cancel, but for some reason our sells person never got it cancelled correctly wonder why?

Lastly, I got almost no serious inquiries about the car. Most of the few calls I received were from scammers promising to sell my car for more than I was asking if I sent them money. Overall a horrible experience and waste of money. USE CRAIGSLIST! I got way more responses from my Craigslist add and it is FREE.

Months went by and their technicians has cannot to resolve my issue and their managers refuses to help me. I was forced to use other means to sell my car. On top of that I was also forced to requested a refund and politely did so multiple times. However Autotrader.com felt that my situation is not entitled to the refund and my request was utterly denied. Also their lack of help and service seems to extend this to any further assistance and service. It is now May 2008, the situation has yet to be resolved , their service will not help me out, I cannot get my money back, I am stuck and I really do not know what to do.

I contacted Autotrader.com on behalf of my son who is in the Army National Guard, re: a vehicle of interest. Autotrader forwarded our information to the seller of the vehicle. As per the requirements of Autotrader, we dealt with the seller from then on. Autotrader was given information and proof this particular ad and seller were frauds and removed the ad replacing it with this ad has been removed at the sellers request. We assumed the seller removed the ad as we agreed to purchase the car. Autotrader negligently did not notify any of the customers who inquired about the particular ad of this scam. They were aware of it well before my son sent the seller $3,000 and has not received, nor will he receive said car.

They charged our credit card immediately and have never placed the ad. It has been more than 10 days and they state the ad is stuck! Your kidding. I plan on calling my credit card company to complain and refuse the charge.

AutoTrader charged me $39 for an 8 week ad. I periodically would look at for my ad only to discovered the ad was deleted 4 times during the 8 weeks. Took a few days to get it back each time. I don't know how many days in total during that time frame that the ad didn't run. They refuse to refund my money. My opinion is that their practices are deceptive to private sellers.

Wasted time prepping the ad and pictures. Lost $49 bucks for the deluxe ad.

I wish I had read the entries on this site before I listed my suv for sale on autotrader.com. I spent time and money for nothing more than a handful of phone calls from other companies offering to sell my car for a fee. So in the end, I paid Auto Trader to list my car for these other companies to see and call me to solicit more money from me. Thanks for nothing Auto Trader. Consider my 69 bucks a gift. Maybe they can take half that amount and donate it to a cancer charity at the least.

We listed our car on Auto Trader and have received nothing but calls from solicitors wanting to sell our car for us. When we asked for a refund, we were told Auto Trader gives NO REFUNDS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

Paid $79 for time-unimited ad 6/29 (ad d 52128713)in return for the promise to be able to edit photos. I was never able to add or change photos, to my selling detriment. I asked for a partial refund, but they refused saying it was a server problem happening to all, for several weeks.

Unfortunately I decided to sell my car at this website. This was the most miserable online service I ever used in my entire life. When I uploaded my ad, I had to call customer service and had to wait over 20 min. Updates take an eternity (over 2 days!!!), I got only one potential buyer through this website and around 30 from (the free) craigslist.com over a period of more than 2 weeks. The fees are high and any pathetic upgrade is a complete ripoff. I would never recommend this to anyone and I will tell about my experience to all people I know. I would rate this product as a MONUMENTAL DISASTER!

Didn't sell the car I had for sale but got tons of calls from resellers to be my agent to sell the car. Also got 2 emails for the same thing.

I put my car for sale in a online service, that links to Carfax, it asked to view the history of my car, so i clicked on it, it told me i had 13 records found in our database IMPORTANT! The 13 records on this 1991 CHEVROLET CAMARO RS may confirm a clean title history or uncover potential problems. Find out by ordering the complete CARFAX Vehicle History Report.and by the way 13 records found in our database was printed in bold red and so was IMPORTANT! when i called the online service to inquire about the link they used on the site she told me maybe i would want to buy carfax then she went on to say this could be as simple as oil changes and i told her that was what it was then, but nevertheless to me it inplies danger on this car. i have tried to reach Carfax but the phone # i found for them is a very general voice mail.