• Cars.com

2017 CUSTOMER CHOICE AWARD

Cars.com

Overview

Cars.com has a rating of 3.56 stars from 320 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with Cars.com most frequently mention customer service, great experience, and whole process. Cars.com ranks 4th among Car Buying sites.

  • Service
    39
  • Value
    36
  • Quality
    37

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 25%
Positive
2
Neutral
0
Negative
6
9
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What reviewers want you to know

Positive highlights

Critical highlights

No critical highlights yet

How would you rate Cars.com?
Top Positive Review

“Easy 5 Stars”

Eric C.
8/24/23

After setting up an ad with a couple of other (overpriced) sites, I decided to add Cars.com. I was very impressed with the price of FREE. When I finished adding the details and photos the ad looked great! It allowed easy edits (and there were many) and cost me nothing. Several prospective buyers were sent to me from cars.com--they were just as good as the buyers sent to me from Cargurus, ebay motors and Craigslist (Carvana was such a joke!). All of the features which concerned me (length of ad, number of photos, features listed, ad editing, ad price, popularity of the site, and site functionality) were available and of the same caliber as ANY of the paid sites. I'm not sure if there's a fee we have to pay if the vehicle sells (I canceled my ads after a couple weeks due to a change in business plans), but f there is it's a much better deal than the paid sites who charge up-front whether the vehicle sells or not. I will DEFINITELY recommend and continue to use Cars.com.

Top Critical Review

“Site is a Joke.”

Paul S.
10/3/23

Got an offer for a vehicle over $12,000 less than it's actual value. What a waste of time. Not sure who is benefitting from this.

Reviews (320)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

customer service (23)
Thumbnail of user pauls2283
2 reviews
2 helpful votes
October 3rd, 2023

Got an offer for a vehicle over $12,000 less than it's actual value. What a waste of time. Not sure who is benefitting from this.

Tip for consumers:
Suppose to be a service company, not products. Apparently the review site is just as screwed up.

Products used:
None

Value
Thumbnail of user jamesp4436
1 review
5 helpful votes
December 22nd, 2022
Verified purchase

Got an offer from site. Cars.com then sent an email confirming offer and pointed me to a dealer to turn car in and complete transaction. The dealer rep called confirmed time and date and location. When i got there dealer rep wanted keys and registration. They then proceeded with an offer which was much lower than initial offer. Attempted to hold me hostage by holding my keys and registration as they went back and forth with a manager.
Their comment when I asked about offer from Cars.com "they aren't buying the car". Avoid this con.

Tip for consumers:
Avoid this site

Products used:
None

Thumbnail of user davidc7301
3 reviews
0 helpful votes
October 15th, 2023

So, the problem with Cars.com is that the price you see is often nowhere near the price you'll pay. Dealerships show the MSRP and may add over $10,000 to that price after you contact them. Yes, $10,000. I found that to be a huge waste of time and not worth the effort. It would be very easy to change that and actually show the price you have to pay.

Thumbnail of user alexb137
3 reviews
4 helpful votes
January 27th, 2016

I'm satisfied with their services.

Thumbnail of user enchilders
4 reviews
8 helpful votes
August 24th, 2023

After setting up an ad with a couple of other (overpriced) sites, I decided to add Cars.com. I was very impressed with the price of FREE. When I finished adding the details and photos the ad looked great! It allowed easy edits (and there were many) and cost me nothing. Several prospective buyers were sent to me from cars.com--they were just as good as the buyers sent to me from Cargurus, ebay motors and Craigslist (Carvana was such a joke!). All of the features which concerned me (length of ad, number of photos, features listed, ad editing, ad price, popularity of the site, and site functionality) were available and of the same caliber as ANY of the paid sites. I'm not sure if there's a fee we have to pay if the vehicle sells (I canceled my ads after a couple weeks due to a change in business plans), but f there is it's a much better deal than the paid sites who charge up-front whether the vehicle sells or not. I will DEFINITELY recommend and continue to use Cars.com.

Tip for consumers:
Worked great for me as a private seller. Cars.com has a VERY well-known name. There are NO fees to list (unknown if fees apply later). If you have the photos and information ready and you are simply publishing an ad for your vehicle the process is very quick and your ad will be visible in just a couple minutes.

Products used:
Listing/advertising.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user anthonyp31
4 reviews
7 helpful votes
February 20th, 2023

Searching and calling different dealers on this site I've found that the advertised prices are not the actual prices the cars are being sold for. The prices, once I call the dealerships, have gone up as high as $7000. I get some runaround about needing to qualify for rebates(100% disabled Vet, who can't drive anyway. First responder but not a nurse, certain tax bracket). I'm sure people with a qualifying tax bracket aren't searching cars.com for a car. So this has been my experience in SoCal on this site. I'm sure others will have their own experience.

Service
Quality
Thumbnail of user karenj1369
1 review
0 helpful votes
July 11th, 2021

I was in a bind with my old vehicle. Wesley Egerton at Winners Circle Nissan of Hampton was very helpful in getting me back on the road. He assessed my car needs and responded quickly and efficiently. I didn't feel rushed to make a decision. Wesley made the process easy by making sure everything was taken care of before I left. Thanks so much for the awesome service. I highly recommend.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user davidm8535
1 review
1 helpful vote
November 25th, 2022

Too many dead ends, and dealers not communicating reasonably. Too many cars posted that are already sold.

Thumbnail of user stephens2427
1 review
3 helpful votes
October 24th, 2022

These People Are CROOK'S. 8,000 truck ended up almost 12,000... 4,000 in tax's and fees to the Elderly, Disabled Who just lost everything in a hurricane... SHAME ON YOU! Mcgrath Fort Myers Volvo. The Brakes Failed and Myself and my Wife almost died. How can you people Sleep at night... God Will Punish the people who take advantage of the unfortunate.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user andrew.c
1 review
1 helpful vote
June 27th, 2023

Cars.com has very poor customer service and generates very few good leads. We ran into several issues where deleted/sold vehicles would show back up for sale on their website out of the blue. We could not see them, remove them, or delete them from the backend where we have previously marked them sold. All requests to have them removed were ignored. This created confusion and made some customers angry. Hajreta Kadic in accounts receivable needs to be replaced with someone more competent and friendly. Julia Zayed as an account representative is worthless.

Products used:
Advertising

Thumbnail of user benedictas1
1 review
0 helpful votes
December 28th, 2022

TJ is a great salesman.He breaks down everything and communicates very well. I will always recommend TJ. Thank you

Thumbnail of user nickf723
1 review
1 helpful vote
August 6th, 2023

Business is advertising vehicles they don't have at low prices to get you to click on them so they can offer the same vehicle for 10-15k more. SCAM…

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user barbiej12
1 review
0 helpful votes
September 26th, 2022

I finally got my new 2023 Vette. I have assisted so many that I want to share my happiness! Corvette Barbie has her new Vette and it is perfect! I understand the waiting, the anxiety, the excitement, and the final happiness! This car is everything I had knew it would be and I experienced everything at Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet!

Thumbnail of user chadj172
1 review
2 helpful votes
February 3rd, 2023
Verified purchase

This site is a joke for an owner trying to sell their car. These clowns shut me down 2 times trying to sell mybtruck. When I called and asked why, they said I need to prove to them I OWN the truck and send them proof! WTF seriously but if I paid them or was a dealer, it's OK lol.

Thumbnail of user tonys1488
1 review
3 helpful votes
May 28th, 2022

Inconsistence in their search engine and my biggest complain is that you will see cars from "CARAVANA" online dealer popping everywhere like they're pushing you to see their website to only find out that none of the cars advertised by this overpriced company is available, so they are using the little click-bite trick. There is other better choices to search for your new or used vehicle. I'm not using cars.com

Thumbnail of user leonc193
1 review
0 helpful votes
April 29th, 2023

Bobbie keys at dream nissan was great. He help me fond the car I was looking for with no problem. He was very easy to work with. I give him a 5star

Thumbnail of user mc1311
1 review
0 helpful votes
August 15th, 2023

This review is for cars.com's instant offer business, where you can sell your car to them similar to Carvana, CarMax, Vroom and others. In selling my car I received eight separate quotes and the offer from cars.com was the highest by $1,121. When I brought my car to the local dealership as instructed by cars.com I was under the impression that the process would be similar to CarMax's and Carvana's, where they will pay you the offer price unless something doesn't check out during the final inspection, like the condition of car, extra miles, missing options, etc. Once this dealer affiliated with cars.com was done with the inspection their actual offer was well below the original offer. I balked and asked why the large difference? I told the appraiser that I had received much higher offers, including cars.com's original offer. He came back and bumped it up by $1,000 but still $1,925 below original offer. He proceeded to talk about the market and what he could get for the car, etc. All fine and I have no issues with the appraisal, but why tell me my car is worth $X and then two days later tell me it's $X minus $1,925? This is the problem with cars.com. It doesn't stack up to Carvana or CarMax. Those places will give you the quoted offer unless something is off. It appears as if cars.com gives you a high offer and when you get to the inspection they pull the rug under you. To me that is a complete waste of everyone's time and a disingenuous business model. Pay what you say you're going to pay. I will stick to Carvana and CarMax and avoid cars.com.

Thumbnail of user maggiem388
1 review
0 helpful votes
September 27th, 2022

The best dealership in the Midwest. See Monty when you go to the Phillips Chevy in Lansing IL. He is the best. Got me hooked up.

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user alanl674
1 review
0 helpful votes
January 2nd, 2023

The people who worked in this dealership are extremely unprofessional and rude. I don't have an appointment and tried to ask for help to change motor oil. It won't spend a technician couple of hours (maybe just 15 minutes) and I am willing to stay at the dealership for whatever time waiting. However, a black service advisor (don't know his name) just stormed next to me and screamed at me that "THERE IS NO SERVICE FOR NO APPOINTMENT" while pounded the service table angrily. He has no courtesy to customers and I don't recommend anyone to go to this dealership. Stay away from this ugly place.

Thumbnail of user christopherb2123
1 review
0 helpful votes
September 16th, 2022

I was treated will up most respect and courtesy Marvin did an amazing job helping me with the purchase of my new truck. Go see Marvin and Jay, they would help you out.

Products used:
Truck

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user maryannc142
1 review
7 helpful votes
November 29th, 2021

Reached out to cars.com regarding a listing they have. Advised them that the price they have listed is $10k lower than the dealership. MEGAN, told me that sometimes there are errors and that I would need to contact the dealer for correct pricing, HOWEVER never said cars.com would address the issue with the dealership and have it corrected. Seems a little strange that they would allow wrong information to sit on their site. Bad business practice!

Thumbnail of user jenniferr2848
1 review
0 helpful votes
November 28th, 2022

Dairon was great help! Monthly payments was a little over our budget but he tried his best to make us have a great experience and feel comfortable buying a car thanks hgreg for your wonderful 5 STARS!

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user bartg41
1 review
0 helpful votes
September 30th, 2022

Bought a car thru cars.com and Kinion auto.
It has some hiccups but in the end they worked with me and we were able to resolve everything.

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user thomasb3809
1 review
0 helpful votes
November 22nd, 2022

This dealership went out of there way to help me with a problem I had with A vehicle I bought from them. If you want good service and are looking for a vehicle shop James Mitsubishi in Rome N.Y.

Service
Thumbnail of user thomasb3430
1 review
2 helpful votes
May 30th, 2022

Listed my daughter's vehicle for sale on Cars.com for the fist time. Can't seem to access the listing or the inquiries on her car on the app even though she got emails. Used a computer to login and still can't find the listing. Pictures posted when listed did not appear. Clicked the Feedback button and then chat feature and nothing. Moving to another site.

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Thumbnail of user customerc13
Customer C.
Typically does not respond to reviews

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3.6
320 reviews
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