The Complete Guide to AutoTempest

Since 2008, AutoTempest has offered a dynamic used car search engine to help you discover your next ride.

Autotempest is an aggregator of vehicle listings from sites across the web, including from PrivateAuto. Let’s see how it works, what its strengths are, and where it’s weak (and some good alternatives).

At the heart of AutoTempest is a powerful aggregator and search engine.

Their goal is to help you find all the cars that match your desired features with one search. They accomplish this goal with a surprisingly easy way to search, but the company is missing a few safety features to help you complete the car-buying process.

AutoTempest is known for three attributes:

1. Comprehensive search capabilities
2. Price comparison tools
3. Vehicle history integration
4. Payment options

The platform’s search engine aggregates vehicle listings from partner sites across the internet. Instead of spending your time searching on eBay, Cars.com, and other common sites, you’ll only need to perform one search.

The results page will show you where the listing was originally posted, but you can sort and filter your way through this comprehensive search engine results page to see your automotive options. Depending on your search criteria, there could be millions of matching listings, so be prepared to sort based on price, location, or other features to hone in on a few favorites.

Once AutoTempest generates a list of millions of vehicles, you need a good way to trim it down to your top picks. Filters do just that.

Here are just a few examples of filters you can add to your search:


You can even filter by keywords such as cruise control, air conditioning, traction control, alloy wheels, ABS brakes to get really specific.

AutoTempest may have a wide range of listing partners, but it isn’t partnered with every auto listing service. The company attempts to fill those gaps with a link-generation service. Your results page will include links to non-partnered listing services. You may need to head to these links and re-enter some of your filters to receive a similar results page.

Unfortunately, Autotempest and its partner sites don't provide a way to safely transfer money.

Once you finally find your dream car on eBay Motors, Craigslist, or another listing service, you are forced to negotiate the transaction off-platform with the seller.
This includes figuring out how to pay for the car, and there aren't a lot of good payment methods out there. In fact, there's only one.

PrivateAuto Pay is your answer. It works instantly anytime—in the middle of the night, on weekends, or on holidays. It’s instant. And there are no transfer fees.

Other payment methods—checks, bank wires, etc—are impossible on weekends due to limited banker's hours and slow processing times. Skip all that hassle, and get the deal done on the spot. PrivateAuto Pay’s escrow-like safeguards give you complete control over the deal.

Here’s just how easy it is:

1. After both parties have signed the bill of sale, you’ll be notified to release payment.
2. You approve the funds transfer from your PrivateAuto Pay account to the seller’s.
3. The seller immediately gets the funds.
4. On with your life.

Seriously, there’s no other free, instant, and safe way to send a large amount of money for a car.

AutoTempest is great for finding your next vehicle. It's not so great for closing the deal. Let's see how the platform compares to other popular listing sites.

If you want to buy a car on eBay, you have to enter your credit card, debit card, or checking account information before using the site. Once verified, the company keeps your payment information private but uses it to transfer money during a sale.

This is safer than using personal checks or handing out your bank account information, but there are still situations where both buyers and sellers have been scammed on eBay.

You’ll also only see the vehicles available through this site when you search listings, unlike AutoTempest, which aggregates listings from multiple sites. Check out our comparison of eBay Motors and PrivateAuto to see how we solve eBay’s lack of transactional infrastructure.

Facebook Marketplace allows you to easily search for cars from local sellers or around the country. The platform’s dynamic search engine and convenient messaging system make it easy to reach out to sellers and learn more about a vehicle before arranging a meeting.

Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t offer any verification of listings. It’s up to you to verify if a listing is a scam or to find the best way to complete a transaction. You also need to use your personal Facebook account, which displays your name, photo, and other personal information.

Check out our comparison of Facebook Marketplace and PrivateAuto to see how we solve Facebook Marketplace's lack of transactional security and privacy issues.

Craigslist is a popular site to buy and sell cars. It offers some privacy, such as a Craigslist-generated email, but it doesn’t protect you from scammers.

AutoTempest isn’t partnered with Craigslist, but it does provide a link to search Craigslist results.

Check out our comparison of Craigslist and PrivateAuto to see how we solve Craigslist's lack of nationwide search capabilities and scam vulnerabilities.

PrivateAuto is the world's only automotive transactional marketplace created exclusively for peer-to-peer car transactions. We connect private-party buyers with sellers and provide all the tools needed to complete the deal, from secure messaging to integrated financing, inspections, car transport, and other services.

PrivateAuto offers instantaneous payments 24/7 through its integrated banking system, PrivateAuto Pay. It’s basically Venmo, without the $5K limit. You can send any amount, with no transfer fees.

PrivateAuto stands out as the only platform offering comprehensive transactional support for every stage of the car sale. From buyer and seller verification to electronic bill of sale signing and in-app messaging, we ensure a smooth, secure, and efficient process.

If you happen to find your dream car on another site, you can still use PrivateAuto Pay to buy it. Our DealNow bridge product allows you to start a transaction anywhere, and finish it on PrivateAuto.

PrivateAuto only allows private-party listings (no dealership inventory to wade through), making it the best marketplace online to find cars for sale by owner.

PrivateAuto has an intuitive website where users can easily shop for used cars, filter by make, model, and individual regions, and list vehicles for sale with guided assistance. Whether choosing a standard listing or an auction format, the process is straightforward and user-friendly.

AutoTempest is great at gathering car listings from all over the web, giving you a lot of purchase options.

But, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows:


Not only is PrivateAuto the best website to buy a car, but we’re also the only automotive transactional marketplace, meaning that we offer technology solutions for every stage of the deal.