CarGurusReviews 364

I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy (well maybe my worst ;). They have unscrupulous business practices. We were with CG for years and added a second dealership location to our account in 2016. After less than a year, our incompetent account rep, Coleman, called to inform us that our "contract was up for renewal" for our first dealership location and that the fee would be increasing in 30 days. We informed him that we were consolidating locations in a month and wouldn't need the 2 separate accounts, therefore, closing 1 of the dealership accounts. This is where the shadiness begins: Coleman says that our new dealership account is now up for renewal too and would be increasing. He offered NO good explanation of this increase or why our 2nd location miraculously was up for renewal less than a year later. This was just a mafia-like, bully tactic to get us to pay more, even though our inventory wasn't increasing size! We demanded to speak to a supervisor, but since they likely office out of their living rooms, no one was available to speak to us. We never got a call or email. Now they stopped charging our credit card, and we are no longer on the site even though other dealers' inventory are advertised for free. Again, they are trying to ghost us so we can be pressured into paying double to be back on the site.
And let's not mention the "good deal" "great Deal"-joke! Your car with more features will be deemed "overpriced" while a car with a higher trim package but less features misleads a consumer by calling it a "great deal." The truly only reason this website is successful is their ability to appear at the top of the google search page, dominating the vehicle advertising market.

In summary, they need a better management structure and PUBLISHED, straight-forward advertisement pricing for dealers-not a hustling scam where they charge dealers different prices for the same packages!

I am a dealer.
I read the statements of many here complaining about their reviews being removed. That is simply not the case. IF YOU PERSONALIZE, LIE, USE FALSE INFO, OR ARE PLAIN STUPID, they allow a dealer to contest the review, and sometimes then will they remove the review. Too many reviews are fake, and those they cant determine to be true they leave for you to see.
If the customer doesn't click on their "Call" button, or do one of many other things that give them TOTAL CONTROL of that customer, regardless if they buy a car from us or not, they CANNOT leave a review.
Their pricing guide on clean, serviced QUALITY cars is simply inaccurate- VERY INACCURATE, and very low, but a neglected wreck gets a good "GREEN ARROW" cause its priced cheaper. And you fall for it.
They try to get a chat going acting like someone from the dealership, annoying the customer to get info and then contact the dealership to provide what they got. I DO NOT WANT YOU ACTING LIKE MY EMPLOYEE! Have them contact me WITHOUT YOUR INTERFERING! Thats what I pay for.
The age on the lot of the vehicles is not accurate, many times the vehicle arrives 30 days later after the info is put on our website which they transfer over to their website. When we finally get it cleaned and serviced, title gets paid and we wait for a clear lien from the lease company or bank, its already 60-90, even 120 days old on day one. 30 days old and we get "I see that you've had that car awhile". WRONG. Its a fresh unit.
The list is endless of stupidity to placate the masses and draw you in to their website to sell advertising and other nonsense. The facts are so different. And this controls the buyers because its "WRITTEN" on a website and therefore Leonardo DaVinci or Henry Ford himself was the source when in fact its a website fraud that you would normally ignore if met in real life.
Car Gurus cares NOTHING about these facts or dealers that pay for their services, they have a toy you believe in and because they are profitable and have clout with the uninformed web surfers, in good conscience I can give them a "FAIL", and a big one at that.

I had a Chat and the Dealer wanted to add a $900 dealer fee to the price and this is not shown which means the price means nothing because they can float bogus fees however they like a way to avoid giving a "FAIR DEAL" price. You cannot gauge deal without a price. The dealer is in Tampa on Florida Ave where all the dealers and the Dealer starts with the letter F, so you can guess. I have NEVER been able to buy anything from them.

I do not have an account with CarGurus, but they (ghost) my add's. They post vehicles I sold a long time ago, and I get calls and e-mails about these cars. The customers get pissed at me, thinking I am posting these fake ad's to get phone call's and e-mails. This is called "FISHING" in this business. I don't pull deceitful crap like that. The P. O. S. People at CarGurus do this thinking we are going to sign up with them from the response we get from the add's.
Before you get pissed off at a dealer for not having a vehicle that is advertised on CarGurus site, consider the source you are shopping on.

The service from CarGurus is fantastic. They point out cars that you have selected to fit your particular interest. They keep you updated and informed where they are and pretty much a lot of detail.

The major problem with their service and other services similar to Car Gurus, is the dealers leave cars that have been sold on their own personal dealership website and CarGurus for long after the car has been sold. In some cases, I wonder if the car really existed to begin with. This happened with not just one car. I was interested in 3 different cars. I contacted the dealership through CarGurus and only one dealership set me up to come in and see the car. As I was getting ready to leave, they called to say the car was no longer available. The car is still on their personal website and CarGurus, four days later. Almost the same issue with two other dealers. They won't return calls. They won't let you know if the car is sold and if they do respond to you, they'll want you to come in and look at something different.

Dealer transparency? I don't think so... I think it's a game and a big cloud of suspicion on how cars get advertised and subsequently sold. A good concept and good service. I think the dealers ruin it for CarGurus and the customers.

You trust CarGurus dealer reviews at your own peril. Why? Because they don't publish all reviews they receive of the dealers' actions and customer experiences, but only the ones they like. Of course they are not going to tell you that. It is very important to remember that CarGurus has a vested interest in their dealer relationships. They can't run their site without dealer cooperation with the listings data. They are ultimately vested in the industry, not you as a consumer. If you report a particularly negative dealer experience, they will remove your review and tell you that they need "better information" about your experience with the dealer. What they really mean is that they need a review that describes a better experience and doesn't damage their dealer relations or even subject them to reprisals. You will only get mildly negative to very positive dealer reviews from CarGurus as a result and their "transparency" promise is therefore worth as much as it costs for them to make it, i. E. nothing.

The reviews on this site are incredibly misleading and shallow. The reviewer/consumer does not even have to make a transaction with the dealership, only an e-mail interaction. Therefore you get a lot of positive reviews like, "nice people" and "responded efficiently to my inquiry." Furthermore, Car Gurus does not allow reviews from consumers that do not use their site. SO if I purchased a car from "Dealer A" by going to their lot or through another site like eBay and have a verified purchase agreement, then I could not post a review on Car Gurus. The result of this shallow review system is that there are dealerships on Car Gurus that have a large amount of positive reviews with little to no sales transactions and basically a lot of dumb reviews.

Some great examples to look at are dealerships like Amazing Cars LLC, Car Champs, Ultimate Automobiles (Stafford TX) and Ultimate Motorsports (Houston TX). They have a large collection of positive reviews on Car Gurus but if you did even some basic searching around the internet you would find that those dealerships have a HUGE amount of negative reviews - see review sites like YP, Yelp, etc. As well, those same dealerships advertise many cars for sale through Car Gurus that are not actually available! They are "bait" cars, so they can get inquiries and contacts.

I could never trust Car Gurus because of their incomplete and shallow dealer review system and the fact that they allow many shady dealerships to operate through their site.

MUST READ THIS. Have never put review anywhere for anything. Not my bag
Can't believe it!
Spoke to Steve smith at Dace Stockport
Went through what extras on car a week ago. Paid the £100 deposit. Gave up work got the day and business partner took me from Leicester to Stockport. Left st 6.30 there for 9.15.
Car came out with scratches on body and deep scratch in door. Asked about any marks etc and was all good apparently. Checked car over and it smoked like a pig even warmed up and smelled of oil.! Full Serv history was not full Serv history!
Convinced me to test drive. Realised then that cruise control not on car as advert and told on phone. Turned back immediately to complain. Wasted our time completely also turned down a job to do this. Explained my disgust and that we'd lost prob £500 in lost earnings and a new customer. Manager gave me fuel for journey and deposit back and thought it was enough. Totally disgusted. Did bare minimum for their schoolboy error, or was it?@@@@@@
Thankyou very much DACE!
Ametuers at Stockport

Last Wednesday I purchased a 2011 Mercedes-Benz E-550! This was the most pleasant car buying experience in all of my 50 years of life! Robbie Abbas and Jimmy Alomia were wonderfully helpful during the selection process of the perfect vehicle for me! They were great during the financing experience and ultimately through the delivery process! I would highly recommend Luxury Auto Selection located at 4580 N. Elston Avenue in Chicago!