MARKETPLACE COMPARISON How many in-market shoppers are you missing?
Already on CarGurus or Autotrader? That doesn’t mean you’re reaching the Cars.com audience. See how much incremental opportunity Cars.com could add to your marketplace strategy.
58%
of Cars.com shoppers do not visit CarGurus
65%
of Cars.com shoppers do not visit AutoTrader1
THE MATCHUP Choose your comparison
Compare Cars.com with CarGurus or Autotrader to see the differences in audience,
opportunities, and how your dealership shows up.
Cars.com vs. CarGurus
Cars.com gives you access to shoppers CarGurus doesn’t, and more
ways to turn that demand into opportunities for your dealership.
THE AUDIENCE
Reach more
in-market shoppers
Cars.com has the highest concentration of likely buyers of any major marketplace. If you’re not listed, they’re buying from your competitors who are.
THE LEADS
Know more before
you follow up
No lead spamming. Every Cars.com lead comes with Shopper Details, so your team knows more about what a shopper wants before the first call.
THE PLATFORM
Protect how your inventory is positioned
CarGurus can label vehicles “Overpriced,” putting pressure on your pricing. Cars.com Deal Badges never go below “Fair,” so you’re never pressured into a discount that cuts into your profit.
| CATEGORY | CARGURUS | CARS.COM |
|---|---|---|
| Audience reach | – |  58% of Cars.com shoppers don’t visit CarGurus |
| Website traffic | Keeps shoppers on its site instead of yours | Deep-links to your website convert 89% higher than Google traffic.⁴ |
| Inventory positioning | Can label vehicles “Overpriced” | Never labeled below “Fair.” You compete on reputation. |
| Brand visibility | Dealership visibility is limited in search results and vehicle pages | Your dealership and team stay front and center |
| Platform capabilities | Listings and performance marketing | Marketplace, appraisals, website and wholesale—all connected |
Cars.com vs. Autotrader
Cars.com reaches in-market shoppers Autotrader doesn’t while helping your
inventory stand out and keeping the shopper relationship focused on your dealership.
THE PLATFORM Get seen without paying to move up
Autotrader’s placement runs on ad spend: pay more, get seen more. Cars.com puts your inventory in front of shoppers without making visibility a bidding contest.
THE AUDIENCE Reach the ready-to-buy shoppers they can’t
A real, separate pool of buyers, not traffic you’re already paying for.
THE LEADS Your leads stay your leads
Autotrader can retarget your leads with other dealers’ cars after they’ve already reached out to you. Cars.com keeps that relationship yours.
| CATEGORY | AUTOTRADER | CARS.COM |
|---|---|---|
| Lead handling | Can send your lead to a competing dealer | Keeps that relationship with your team |
| Search experience | Search results loaded with ads and upsells | A clean, focused path from search to sale |
| Dealer reviews | Pulls in reviews from Google | Uses verified customer reviews to build trust |
| Audience reach | Broad reach, with significant audience overlap across marketplaces | 65% of Cars.com shoppers don’t visit Autotrader |
| Inventory visibility | Placement can depend on additional ad spend | Inventory visibility without making basic placement a bidding contest |
BEYOND THE MARKETPLACE
More than just a listing
Reaching incremental shoppers is only the beginning. Cars.com gives your team more
ways to build trust, understand buyer intent and turn shopper interest into opportunities.
TRUST & REVIEWS Let your stars help
sell your cars
Cars.com hosts 16 million verified reviews3, far more
than CarGurus’s dealer
ratings. Autotrader,
meanwhile, scrapes reviews from Google with little
context.
4x
more positive reviews with response tools4
AI SEARCH Get discovered however shoppers search
Ask Carson™, our AI search tool, direct questions like “best SUV for a family under $30k,” and it finds the match. Cars.com is also the #1 most cited car marketplace among major LLMs.
2x
more leads with Carson™ search5
DEALER VERIFIED LISTINGS Give shoppers more confidence in your inventory
Complete a standardized condition report, OBD scan results included when used, and Cars.com can add a Verified Condition tag shoppers see on your listing.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Quick answers for your marketplace strategy
Why add Cars.com if I already use another marketplace?
Because marketplace audiences aren’t identical. 58% of Cars.com shoppers don’t visit CarGurus, and 65% don’t visit Autotrader. Adding Cars.com gives your inventory access to another pool of in-market shoppers you may not be reaching through those marketplaces today.
Why do Cars.com leads close at a higher rate?
Every lead arrives with Shopper Details: what a shopper is considering, their price range, and how they’ve engaged with other dealers. Shopper Alerts add to that by flagging when a past lead resurfaces with another dealer.
Why is Cars.com traffic different?
Most of our traffic finds us, not the other way around. In fact, over 60% of Cars.com visits are organic.⁴ And the site itself is built around one job: turning that visit into a lead your team can act on.
How does Cars.com’s content help my leads convert?
Shoppers research before they ever contact a dealer, and Cars.com is where a lot of that happens. Our rankings, like the American-Made Index and expert reviews, are part of why Cars.com is the #1 most-cited marketplace among major LLMs. In fact, 55% of those citations come from our expert news and research. Shoppers reaching your listing are already informed, and closer to a decision.⁶
Is Cars.com better than CarGurus?
For lead quality and audience reach, yes. Cars.com leads close at a double-digit higher rate than the market average, and 58% of Cars.com traffic never visits CarGurus.¹ CarGurus leans on deal badging and bidding for placement; Cars.com leans on reputation and reach.
Does Cars.com badge vehicles as “Overpriced” like CarGurus?
No. Cars.com Deal Badges (Great Deal, Good Deal, Fair Deal) give shoppers pricing context, but there’s no negative tier below “Fair Deal.” CarGurus can label a vehicle “Overpriced” and pressure you into a discount. Cars.com never puts that squeeze on your profit.
What’s the difference between Cars.com and Autotrader?
Autotrader’s visibility is tied to ad spend, and its lead process can send your shopper to a competing dealer afterward. Cars.com doesn’t gate visibility behind bidding and keeps your leads with your team. 65% of Cars.com shoppers don’t visit Autotrader,² so it’s a genuinely separate audience.
TURN HERE See what you could be
missing in your market
Your current marketplaces may be working. That doesn’t mean they’re reaching all in-market buyers. Take a closer look at the Cars.com audience in your market and see what adding Cars.com could mean for your dealership.
In your demo, we’ll show you:
- Your market’s numbers, not industry averages
- A live look at Shopper Details and Carson™
Get your demo
Discover your market’s incremental audience
1SimilarWeb audience overlap, Q1 2026
2 Comscore, Feb 2025
3 Cars Commerce, Q1 2026 data
4 Cars Commerce, FY 2025 data
5 Cars Commerce, Oct 2025 data
6 Cars.com Semrush data, May 2026
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