Best Car Buying Apps, Expert Picks (June 2024) (2024)

1. Cars.com

Cars.com is one of the best car buying and selling apps out there. You can look at both new and used cars on the app, while many other apps only show used vehicles. Cars.com shines in the amount and types of filters you can use to find cars, including no accidents, clean title, one owner, entertainment features, convenience systems and more. You can also shop from dealers that offer virtual appointments and contactless delivery.

The car buying app has an expert review team that makes detailed video reviews of new models to help you shop from home. Cars.com also collects owner reviews from millions of drivers. This consumer review score includes comfort, interior design, performance, value for money, exterior styling and reliability.

Cars.com offers a private sale option if you want to find a local buyer for your car. However, you’ll have to do this on the Cars.com website — the app doesn’t have private listing functionality at this time.

App Functionality

Here’s what you can do with the Cars.com app, which is available for both Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS systems:

• Browse millions of new and used cars and use advanced search filters to narrow down your picks
• Look at dealership reviews from customers and get directions to a dealer
• Estimate monthly payments while browsing vehicles
• Get an instant offer on your car to sell or trade it in
• Save favorites and get price drop notifications

2. Edmunds

Edmunds is a household name when it comes to comparing car values and shopping for new vehicles. The Edmunds app gives you plenty of control when searching for new and used cars in your area, including True Cost to Own^® ratings that show ownership costs over multiple years.

The website Edmunds.com has an instant cash offer tool, but this isn’t available in the app. That said, you can appraise your vehicle model in the app. You’ll see trade-in, private-party and dealer retail market pricing. The process in the app is a bit more manual than the appraisal process online because you can’t input your car’s exact vehicle identification number (VIN) or license plate. You’ll need to manually select the trim and features of the car.

One unique thing about the Edmunds car buying app is its augmented reality (AR) tool for visualizing your car in your garage. It’s called Can It Fit and it detects your garage’s dimensions and then puts a 3D image of the car you select in your garage.

App Functionality

You can do the following in the Edmunds car buying app, which is available through Google Play and for iPhones through the Apple app store:

• Browse and filter new and used cars
• Save favorites and research customer reviews, safety ratings, True Cost to Own and more
• Appraise your car with its make, model and condition
• Use the Can It Fit augmented reality car visualization feature
• Compare two cars side by side on features and more

3. Carvana

Carvana is one of the only apps with a buying process that’s 100% online. You can browse Carvana’s inventory, view 360-degree images of the interior and exterior, look at Carfax reports for each vehicle and apply for financing within the app. Depending on your location, you can get the new car delivered to your door or pick it up from one of Carvana’s car vending machines.

You can also use the app to sell your car to Carvana. Just enter basic information about your car and you’ll get an instant offer you can use to sell or trade in your car. Selling your car is contingent on an inspection that a Carvana representative will perform when they come to pick up the vehicle.

Since Carvana delivers cars, you can filter your search results by earliest arrival. In some areas, you could get delivery as soon as the next day. Carvana offers a seven-day money-back guarantee, so you can change your mind if you don’t like the car within a week.

Read more: Carvana review

App Functionality

Here’s what you can do in the app:

• Search and filter Carvana’s used car inventory
• Look at a Carfax report for each vehicle
• Prequalify for an auto loan and get financing within the app
• Get a cash offer to sell or trade in your car
• Track delivery and make loan payments

4. CarMax

CarMax is another great app for buying a car. With the CarMax app, you can buy a car online and pick it up in-store or get it delivered if you live within 60 miles of select locations. The car buying app will let you know what options are available in your area.

When you sign in, the app will ask for your location to show you cars at your nearest store. But you can also shop for cars across the country and get a car shipped to your store. And when you make an appointment to pick up a car, you can let CarMax know you’re on the way in the app.

The CarMax app is focused on car buying, not selling or trading in. So, if you want to sell your car or trade it to get a lower down payment, you’ll need to set up an appointment outside the app or get a cash offer on the website.

App Functionality

Here’s what you can do with the CarMax app:

• Search used vehicles at any CarMax location
• Purchase a car in the app and get it shipped to your house or a nearby CarMax location for a test drive
• Notify CarMax when you’re on your way
• Save favorites and track changes
• Get free vehicle history reports
• Get prequalified for a loan and make financing payments

Read more: Carmax review

5. TrueCar

TrueCar works with thousands of dealerships across the country to list new and used cars for sale. It’s an online marketplace that lets you shop for cars on dealer lots in your area. The app has many useful features, including payment calculators to estimate auto loan payments or see your buying power based on your credit score and budget. You can also take a quiz to see what type of car would be best for your lifestyle. The TrueCar Price Curve shows prices based on nearby sales, so you know you’re getting a fair price.

Since TrueCar doesn’t own any inventory, you’ll work with a local dealership to finalize the sale. That means you can get financing from an online lender or through the dealer, but not TrueCar.

One nice thing about the TrueCar app is you can get a cash offer for your car. After verifying details about the trim and condition, you can redeem the offer at a dealer in your area to sell the car or trade it in.

Read more: Truecar review

App Functionality

With the TrueCar app, you can:

• Shop new and used cars from dealers across the country
• Build and price your ideal new car
• Research vehicle reviews and rankings
• Compare cars side by side
• Take a car finder quiz
• Use buying power and auto loan calculators
• Get a cash offer for your car and make an appointment at a car dealership to sell it or trade it in

6. Vroom

Vroom is an online dealership that’s similar to Carvana. The difference is that Vroom doesn’t have any physical locations, so everything is done online. Vroom buys all its vehicles and inspects each one so you don’t have to deal with third parties when purchasing a car through the app.

Vroom’s car purchase and selling app lets you do anything you can do on Vroom’s website. You can browse inventory, get prequalified, secure a loan from its lending partners, sign paperwork and schedule the car’s delivery. Vroom sells used cars only, though you can get some very lightly used vehicles with under 1,000 miles from the company.

Vroom can pick up or deliver cars anywhere in the country except for Massachusetts, Alaska and Hawaii. Selling or trading a car with Vroom is easy since you can do the whole process in the app.

App Functionality

Here are the in-app features you can take advantage of with the Vroom app:

• Shop from thousands of used vehicles
• Schedule a vehicle delivery
• Get prequalified for a loan without hurting your credit
• Get financing from a lending partner
• Get an offer for selling or trading in your vehicle

7. Carfax

Carfax can be an indispensable tool if you’re selling your car privately. The main benefit of using Carfax is you can get an official vehicle history report for your car, which will list the number of owners, previous accidents and major service records. Having a printed Carfax report can help bolster your sale price and give confidence to the buyer.

Besides purchasing Carfax reports, you can also search for used cars in your area with the app. The listings come from over 28,000 dealerships across the country and include free Carfax reports for detailed information.

App Functionality

Here’s what you can do in the Carfax mobile app:

• Get Carfax vehicle history reports for any VIN or license plate
• Shop used cars across the country
• Filter search results in multiple ways including by vehicle history and Carfax value
• Save searches and contact dealers to buy a car

There are a few different ways to look at car buying apps. Depending on what you want to accomplish, different apps may be better than others. Here are a few factors that differentiate car buying apps:

• New or used: Obviously, if you want to buy a new car you’ll have to shop with apps that sell new vehicles. This would rule out Vroom, CarMax, Carvana and Carfax from our list.
• Online vs. in-person: Many car buying apps offer home delivery, including Carvana and Vroom. This is something to consider if it’s important to you.
• Direct or third-party app: Out of our list, Vroom, Carvana and CarMax own their vehicle inventories and sell directly to consumers. The other car buying apps aggregate dealership listings and require you to finalize the sale at a local dealer.
• Transaction or research focus: Apps like Edmunds and Carfax are great for researching cars and deciding what you want to buy. Apps like Vroom are focused more on buying and selling transactions. And some apps — like TrueCar — mix research with robust transaction support.

Using a Private Sale App

Besides the apps from actual car dealers and selling companies above, you can also use apps like eBay Motors and Facebook Marketplace to buy or sell a car privately.

Buying on a Private Sale App

Buying a car from a private seller can help you save a bit of money compared to buying at a dealership, but it takes more work on your part. You’ll have to research the vehicle and meet with the seller. It’s also a good idea to take the car to get inspected before the sale to be sure of the car’s condition. eBay Motors offers secure payments and transaction support, while Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist don’t.

Selling on a Private Sale App

The advantage to selling a car on a private marketplace is that you can ask the full market value for your vehicle and expect to be paid around that amount. In contrast, car dealers and other companies offer below-market value because they need to make money off your vehicle.

Depending on your car’s value, you could make a few hundred to a few thousand more by selling on Facebook Marketplace or locally on eBay Motors. But using a platform like this takes a lot of work — you have to collect your car’s records and vehicle history report and then sift through multiple people to find the right buyer.

The best car buying or selling app for you can depend on many things. We recommend looking at the company’s customer support ratings, vehicle inventory size and financing options to find the best option.

Customer Support

Look for apps that are known for good customer support. Take a little time to research the after-sale process with each company. Find out if the company takes care of all the paperwork or if you need to file something with the department of motor vehicles (DMV) on your own.

Vehicle Inventory

Even the best car buying apps won’t show you every single vehicle for sale everywhere. Different apps work with different dealer networks or even have their own inventory. For example, Carvana has its own inventory of 45,000 vehicles, while Cars.com’s dealer network has over 2 million vehicles. Some people may prefer having more choices with Cars.com, while others might like the one-stop-shop process of Carvana instead.

Financing

It’s also important to consider the financing options you have in a car buying or selling app. Typically, companies that own their inventory offer in-house financing or partner with lenders to offer auto loans. On the other hand, apps that just aggregate dealership listings usually don’t offer financing. In this case, you’ll need to get financing through the selling dealer or another lender on your own.

We recommend Cars.com as the best car buying and selling app due to its large inventory of new and used cars along with the option to sell or trade your car. Our top picks for the best car buying and selling apps are:

• Cars.com
• Edmunds
• Carvana
• CarMax
• TrueCar
• Vroom
• Carfax

However, the best option for you depends on your unique needs. Compare multiple car buying apps to find the best one for your situation.

Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best platforms to sell your car. We collected data on several providers to grade each company in five key areas. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the car selling platforms that scored the most points topping the list.

Here are the factors our ratings take into account:

• Industry Standing: Our research team considers ratings from industry experts and years in business when determining this score.
• Platform: Platforms that offer a variety of features, including instant offers and multiple sales options, are more likely to meet consumers’ needs.
• Cost: To compare providers’ average offer prices, our team conducted a secret shopper analysis for a variety of vehicle types. We also considered the fees companies charge to use their platforms.
• Support: Car selling companies that offer strong transaction support received the highest scores in this category. This includes offerings like free pickup service as well as how quickly you receive your payment.
• Customer Experience: This score is based on customer satisfaction ratings on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Trustpilot as well as our team’s experience reaching out to each platform.

*Data accurate at time of publication