Buying or Selling a car on the Net

Through the years I have always counted on the web to list and sell my cars when I am ready to move to the next purchase. Sometimes the experiance is a quick and easy one and other times it can be difficult. So here are a few questions that I have been thinking about. I would appreciate some opinions on the topic..

What features/services would benefit the buyer/seller to expedite the experience?

How can this process be made better?

What are sites like these lacking?

1. Cars.com
2. Ebaymotors
3. Autotrader

Steve

The best solution would be a site that has the ability to do the following four things:

- target local markets (like Craigslist)
- provide trust and protection models (like eBay)
- provide specific value-added auto services (like cars.com, autotrader.com)
- provide access to a large networked base of users (like all the sites you listed)

I actually have a lot of experience in these types of online markets; feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions...

I feel that the big sites like autotrader and cars.com cover all these criteria already. I am looking for functions that would make an individual choose one website over another. Is market exposure to traffic the main factor when shopping for a place to put your car for sale?

Personally, I think for most people the "trust" factor is the largest component. If there were better protection models for large online purchases, all these sites would be making a *lot* more money.

This is where eBay has an advantage, but unfortunately, they don't have much of a local presence just yet...

Very good points. Thank you much!

Trust factor was a key for me. I located my car on autotrader.com but found what seemed to be a much better deal in on Ebay.com Autotrader the car was closer....I could drive and see it, test drive it, ect. I bought the car (He said I was the first one to even look at it!) I had done my research and got a good deal on the car. The better deal? It was on ebay.com but in Cali (I am in NC). I could never buy a car without test driving it, especially without any kind of warranty which mine did not include (private seller). Overall, my experience went great and I got a great deal on my car which I still have to this day!

I don't know if any of the sites that were mentioned has this, but how about a SafePay Escrow, like they use on http://guru.com/index.aspx