If you’re looking to sell a used car or buy a vehicle online, CarGurus and PrivateAuto both offer a platform to do it. Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. Also, see how PrivateAuto stacks up against other competitors.

CarGurus Inc is a car shopping and research website. They offer new as well as used vehicles for sale and also feature car reviews and car recommendations, as well as other educational content.

PrivateAuto is an end-to-end platform for private vehicle transactions. PrivateAuto includes a marketplace, integrated banking and payments, in-app messaging, vehicle financing options, and a quick way to e-sign any necessary documentation (such as the Bill of Sale and title transfer documents).

CarGurus and PrivateAuto seem similar on the surface—both are automotive marketplaces—but they have significant differences.

CarGurus for Sellers

On CarGurus, vehicle owners can get an instant offer on a used car, but that offer is via a third-party that aims to buy the car wholesale (pay as little as possible) and sell it to dealerships. Sellers who decline the “instant offer” feature can list their car on the CarGurus marketplace.

CarGurus has a low seller fee of just $4.95 but lacks some of the much-needed functionality PrivateAuto offers. For example: the ability to counteroffer, accept, or reject buyer offers; the ability to message with buyers without exchanging contact info; the ability to receive funds instantly, anytime, with no limits on amount; verified buyer funds—to name a few.

CarGurus for Buyers

Buyers are met with a lot of inventory on CarGurus, but that inventory is a mix of dealer and private-party cars, with dealer offerings making the lion’s share of cars for sale. On the left column of a listings page, users can scroll down to a filter feature for “Dealer,” “Authorized Dealer,” “CarGurus Partners,” and “Private.” All of these are initially enabled by default.

Private sellers often offer better value than dealers (who need to make their spread), but the private sales are diluted in a deluge of dealer and partner offerings.

On CarGurus, buyers lack the ability to interact directly with sellers, and lack the ability to send funds instantly, including on nights and weekends.

CarGurus for Both Buyers and Sellers

The CarGurus payment gateway, CarGurus Pay, offers a transaction medium for buyers to pay sellers. However, the service is only available in select states and has a transaction limit of $25,000.00. Where PrivateAuto Pay is instantaneous, CarGuru Pay funds take anywhere from one to three days to clear.

As a marketplace, CarGurus connects a seller to potential buyers, but doesn’t offer a lot of support for getting a transaction done. Buyer and seller need to exchange contact info—potentially making them vulnerable to scams—because the CarGurus platform lacks a native messaging feature.

CarGurus does not allow buyers to make offers and sellers to accept, reject, or make counteroffers; the platform also does not offer a feature for buyer and seller to schedule a test drive.

CarGurus Pros


CarGurus Cons

PrivateAuto is a technology platform designed to simplify every aspect of a private vehicle transaction. The PrivateAuto tech stack includes a marketplace, instantaneous payment gateway, identity verification, scheduling, and messaging.

PrivateAuto for Sellers

Sellers can easily create a listing for their vehicle, and can manage incoming offers via their listing dashboard, with the option to accept, reject, or make a counteroffer. They can chat with potential buyers via the in-app messaging feature without ever giving out their personal contact info.

With PrivateAuto’s ability to verify funds, sellers can stop dealing with buyers who can’t afford their car.

When they accept an offer, the PrivateAuto scheduler allows sellers to arrange a test drive with the buyer. At the time of the meeting, buyer and seller can conclude the entire transaction via the PrivateAuto mobile app, which allows for the following to occur:


PrivateAuto for Buyers

Buyers on PrivateAuto can place offers on vehicle listings and communicate with sellers. They can schedule with sellers for a test drive and can complete the entire transaction at the time of meeting—including sending unlimited funds instantaneously.

PrivateAuto also allows buyers to apply for vehicle financing within the app. If approved, the buyer’s status appears as “verified funds” to sellers.

PrivateAuto for Both Buyers and Sellers

Buyers and sellers alike benefit from the security of identity verification, in-app messaging, and instantaneous payments.

Neither CarGurus nor PrivateAuto have buyer transaction fees. On the sell side, CarGurus is the clear winner: sellers pay $4.95 to post a listing on CarGurus and $150 to do so on PrivateAuto.

Both CarGurus and PrivateAuto offer vehicle advertising on their website and app. PrivateAuto also offers a detailed vehicle history report (accident history, repairs, and maintenance history), while CarGurus doesn’t.

Vehicle history reports make it easier for buyers to trust that the state of your vehicle is as advertised. Therefore, if you’re looking to sell your vehicle quickly, you’re much more likely to find a buyer if you include a detailed vehicle history report in your car listing.

PrivateAuto also offers a window brochure with QR code so that sellers can drive offline traffic to their listing; CarGurus does not offer anything similar.

PrivateAuto is the clear winner when it comes to sellers and potential buyers interacting prior to the transaction.

Both companies offer financing options via third-party lenders. CarGurus financing option, Finance in Advance, requires buyers to apply for financing before submitting an offer. However, this can be a double-edged sword, as a buyer is locked into buying through CarGurus once they’ve been approved for financing.

PrivateAuto also has a buyer financing option, but buyers don’t have to apply for a car loan before they find a vehicle they want to purchase. Rather, PrivateAuto allows a buyer to apply for financing at any point, including after making an offer on a vehicle.

PrivateAuto can verify buyer funds, and sellers can opt to receive offers only from buyers with verified funds. CarGurus has no verified funds capability.

PrivateAuto allows buyers and sellers to message inside the PrivateAuto app without exchanging contact information. On CarGurus, in contrast, parties must exchange contact info and take the conversation off the CarGurus platform.

PrivateAuto allows buyers to make offers, and sellers to accept or reject them—or make counteroffers. CarGurus lacks equivalent functionality.

PrivateAuto allows both parties to e-sign the bill of sale via the mobile app; CarGurus does not.

If you want to sell your car and get the money for it quickly, PrivateAuto is the clear winner in the payments arena. PrivateAuto Pay has an unlimited transaction limit, and funds appear instantaneously in the seller’s account, any time of day, 7 days per week.

CarGurus Pay, the CarGurus banking integration, has a transaction limit of $25,000, so you won’t be able to sell or purchase a more expensive vehicle through this integration. Additionally, their transaction time is 1-3 days. This means that either the seller will need to trust the buyer to take the vehicle, trusting that the funds will come through—or the buyer will need to send the money to the seller and return for the vehicle after funds have cleared. All in all, terribly inconvenient for both parties.

With the speed and security of PrivateAuto Pay, PrivateAuto is the only private vehicle transaction platform that allows a seller and buyer to conclude the entire deal in a few minutes when they meet for a test drive.

In addition to being instantaneous, PrivateAuto Pay offers the following benefits that CarGurus Pay lacks:

Fraud is among the biggest concerns when car shopping or selling a vehicle online. CarGurus does offer one form of verification to curb instances of fraud—driver’s license verification.

PrivateAuto wins out in terms of fraud prevention, offering thorough identity verification via selfie, as well as driver’s license verification. You can choose to only sell to and buy from verified accounts.

Plus, PrivateAuto offers an in-app chatting option, so you don’t have to share personal information to communicate with buyers and sellers.

The verdict on CarGurus vs PrivateAuto?

If you want to sell your car easily, quickly, and securely, PrivateAuto wins out over CarGurus. Though the PrivateAuto seller’s fee is higher than that of CarGurus, the security and convenience of PrivateAuto justifies the additional cost. With instantaneous payments, secure in-app messaging, and buyer verification, sellers have more flexibility and safety on PrivateAuto.

For buyers, PrivateAuto’s tech platform far outperforms the CarGurus app. The in-app messaging integration makes it easy for buyers to go car shopping online without having to give out personal information in order to communicate with sellers.

To maintain their safety, buyers can choose to only contact verified sellers and those with a detailed car history report (including repairs, maintenance, and accident history) on PrivateAuto.

With split payment options, instantaneous payments, and in-app financing, PrivateAuto’s payment options have no direct competition in the world of private car sales.

As neither company has buyer fees and PrivateAuto offers many more benefits than CarGurus, PrivateAuto wins on the buy side.

Thinking about selling your car privately? Check out PrivateAuto—the easiest, safest, and only self-service way to sell your car privately. The sales process consists of a few simple steps:

1. Gather necessary documentation
You’ll need your vehicle title and other documentation. Have all the paperwork you need to sell your car privately handy, so you’re not scrambling to find it at the moment of completing a sale.

2. Register on PrivateAuto and get verified

To make PrivateAuto a safe place for everyone, we require email, phone, and driver’s license verification, including facial recognition. Get started here.

3. List your car

Easily create your PrivateAuto listing with our step-by-step guide. Bonus: we include a window brochure with a QR code scannable to your listing.

4. Set your terms

It’s your car, so you drive the deal! You can control where, when, and who you meet. Decide whether to accept only ID-verified buyers, or buyers with verified funds. Don’t waste your time with buyers who aren’t verified to your preference.

5. Vet incoming offers

Manage offers in one place with the ability to accept, reject, or counter offers within the app. Listing on multiple sites? Filter all communications through PrivateAuto by sharing your listing link on all platforms. Your personal info is protected: no more giving out your phone number or email address. All communication happens in our app.

6. Choose a buyer

When you find an offer you like, accept it and proceed to the next step with that buyer.

7. Schedule a meeting

The buyer will want to look at your car. No more back and forth texts. You never have to give out your phone number. Rather, use our handy scheduling feature to schedule test driving and coordinate a time and place for meeting. (Oh, and you’ll be able to finalize the transaction instantly at the first meeting, FYI.)

8. E-sign documents

After the buyer is satisfied with your car and the two of you have agreed on a purchase price, you can easily e-sign the Bill of Sale within our app, from your phone. With our shared documents feature, you can easily locate the paperwork needed after the sale.

9. Get paid, instantly

Before PrivateAuto, receiving funds was the most stressful part of the entire selling process, especially for any used car sale over $5,000. There just aren’t a lot of good ways to move large amounts of money quickly and conveniently. Those days are over! Verify and receive funds instantaneously with PrivateAuto Pay, our innovative banking integration. Guaranteed funds for transactions large and small.

10. Transfer title

When you sell your vehicle, fill out the necessary information on the back of the title transfer form and sign the vehicle title in order to transfer ownership of the vehicle to the new owner.