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| HOME | CANADA | USED CAR CLASSIFIEDS |

Canada Used Car Classifieds

Looking for used cars? Check out these classified sites.

Used cars, new cars, sell your car, car reviews - Carpages.ca
http://www.carpages.ca/

Carpages continues to improve and I really like their innovative approaches to searching and displaying results. Plus they have around 40,000 vehicles in the database making them a leading site on numbers as well - the combination of added extras and sheer numbers has moved them to the top of this category.

To get started choose your search criteria in the Used Car Search box (upper left hand area of screen) and then click on the green Search button. Alternately, you could use one of the One-Click Searches in the upper right hand corner of the Used Car Search box.

A good search tool in terms of car criteria and seemingly a fair number of vehicles in the database (if your search returns many results you are only shown the first 500 so it is hard to know how many cars there are in the carpages.ca inventory). I like the results display format and the manipulation options are good. Details on individual vehicles are good and although the online form is not secure it is doesn't ask for too much information.

Pros:
There are plenty of vehicles in the database and the search is very well done. The result display format is good and can be re-sorted by year, make, model, price, odometer and location. The recently added ability to view by location on a map is also good.

The individual vehicle details page is well done with links to reviews, a payment calculator and the ability to send the car details to a friend or print out the information. The VIN is included and most vehicles have a good range of pictures.

Cons:
The only negative comment I have is that I would prefer either a secure form for entering my personal information or one that anonymized my data - however Carpages does now require only either a phone number or an email address rather than both.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Get your search started using the Used Car Search box - at this point you don't need to worry about indicating your location if you don't want to. On the next screen click on the blue 'change' link after the province name.
  
  You can now click on a radio button to choose 'search by postal code'. Simply enter your postal code, choose a search radius using the slider (10-200 km) and click on the green 'Apply' button. Voila! You can then use distance from you as a sorting option. Great work Carpages but I wonder how many people miss this cool feature if they opt for one of the One-Click searches on the main page?
  
  

Used car search | Auto123
http://www.auto123.com/en/used-cars/search

To get started indicate your search criteria - including distance from postal code to search (instead of the goofy earlier 'select your region method') and click on the search button in the lower right hand corner of the blue search box.

Lots of cars in database (over 55,000) and a fairly good site overall with lots of extra information for the used car buyer (reviews, technical specs etc).

Pros:
The search tool is good with plenty of criteria and the ability to search within a certain radius of your postal code. The recently upgraded results format is excellent with some really cool features. I love the sliders on the side of the page that allow you to dynamically adjust your budget and mileage parameters. The graph of cars within the budget range is also nifty as is the ability to compare up to six vehicles. You can also save cars for later to your account, modify the size of your search radius on the fly and refine the search by options like power doors.

The details page is well done with links to information about the car from various sources (manufacturer, consumer and professional reviews etc). You can easily contact the seller and if the vehicle is at a dealership you can go to the dealer's site with a single click. Individual vehicles can be bookmarked and most have a good selection of photos of the vehicle.

Cons:
I am not as impressed with the way results are displayed as I am with the searching criteria and the tools available (sliders, graphs) on the results listing. The display method is a bit cumbersome and although the distance from your location is given you cannot sort on this criteria - this is a major failing in my book. In fact results can only be sorted on four criteria - price, mileage, year and make and model. Most vehicles don't have a VIN and if you want more information on a vehicle you'll have to submit personal information on a non-secure form.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Indicate your criteria, enter your postal code and select a search radius of 25 to unlimited km and click on the search button at the bottom right hand corner of the blue search box.
  
  

New and Used Cars for Sale - MonsterAuto.ca
http://www.monsterauto.ca/usedcar_search.php?act=showfrm

We've given you a link right in to the advanced search page - so to get started indicate your make, model, year range, price range and mileage range and search by distance from your postal code or by province and/or city.

Just under 18,930 vehicles in the database (with just over 6,000 of these in Ontario). Good information for buyers and sellers in the Tips & Advice and Research section of the site.

Pros:
MonsterAuto allows you to search on distance from your postal code (but so do most sites now - thank goodness). You can also sort by distance from your postal code.

Clean, efficient design and pleasant to use. There are lots of vehicles in the database and it is nice to be able to refine your search after the initial round.

Cons:
Results on individual vehicles do not always include VIN which is a major stumbling block on used vehicles - any interested purchaser is going to want to see a used car history on a secondhand vehicle (to be fair however the site's manager tells me that some dealers do not submit VINs with their listings because they have been advised by police not to have VINs online - see the link below for more information about this). Email contact form is not secure.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Enter your parameters and click on the Search Used Car Listings button.
  
  
• Car Cloning - Valuable Information from MonsterAuto
  Here's a quote from Anthony from MonsterAuto "David Leonhardt former spokesperson for CAA Ontario has written an article for us on Car Cloning - Identity Theft on Wheels which explains better why police do not like websites to include VINs - also there is some very good info to protect individuals when buying a used car." Where Can I Buy A Car Online is happy to provide our visitors with this information courtesy of MonsterAuto.
  
  

AutoTrader.ca
http://www.autotrader.ca/

To get started select your region and on the next page select your make and model and click on the blue 'Advanced Search' button in the 'Find a Used Vehicle' box. I suggest that you select make and model (or at least make) on the first page since the Advanced search seems a bit flaky and sometimes doesn't bring up the make and model search boxes on the next screen if you don't select them on the first page.

AutoTrader.ca has probably the most cars of any site in Canada with generally around 290,000 used and new listings distributed fairly well across the country. The advanced search tool is well-done with a good selection of criteria and various options for search range (postal code, regions or all of BC). Unfortunately the way results are displayed is cumbersome, sorting options are limited and details on individual vehicles could be more extensive.

Pros:
There are lots of vehicles in the Autotrader.ca inventory and the search tool is adequate. Results can be re-sorted by location, mileage, price, year, make and model and you can email ads to a friend. You can also save ads and helpful links within individual vehicle listings allow you to see more cars in the price range of the one you are looking at as well as other listings from this seller and more listings of the particular make and model you are looking at.

Cons:
The display format is cumbersome and re-sorting by location either doesn't work reliably or is (in my opinion) unhelpful - I want to be able to see how far a car is away from my location not that it is located in Richmond or Burnaby or Surrey. Why bother to have the 'search by km from my postal code' function if you are just going to put locations by name?

Individual vehicle details could be more extensive and it is disappointing that most don't have a VIN. Also (and this is a pet peeve of mine) entering a price should be mandatory for those listing a vehicle - I don't know about you but I'm not even going to bother contacting someone about their vehicle if they don't list a price (unless it is something really special). Private sellers are often only contactable by phone - this is silly, surely if you're listing a vehicle on the Internet you MUST have email. Should you want more information from someone who does have email you'll supply your personal information on a non-secure form.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  To get started select your region and on the next page select your make and model and click on the blue 'Advanced Search' button in the 'Find a Used Vehicle' box. I suggest that you select make and model (or at least make) on the first page since the Advanced search seems a bit flaky and sometimes doesn't bring up the make and model search boxes on the next screen if you don't select them on the first page.
  
  On the next page put in your search criteria and then choose to search either by province and region or by distance from your postal code.
  
  

autoExpert.ca - Used cars for sale - pre-owned cars for sale - used cars' classified ads QUEBEC ONLY
http://www.autoexpert.ca/en-ca/Home.aspx

You can get started using the 3 search boxes with pull down lists on the left hand side of the page. Or click on the blue Advanced Search link (you must select a manufacturer or region before clicking on the Advanced Search link).

There are a good number of cars in the database - around 14,000 - and the search tools are good. Results can be manipulated easily.

Pros:
This site only covers Quebec but is now available in English as well as French - well done autoExpert!

There are a good number of vehicles in inventory and the search tool is adequate. I especially like that the number in brackets shows you how many of each brand are in the database and geotargetting automatically shows you vehicles in your region based on your IP address. Results can be re-sorted by year, make and model, mileage, price, region and dealer name. You can print specific ads out and contact the dealer using a fill in form. You can also see other inventory at that dealer.

There are also plans in the works to allow you to submit ads to go in Auto Expert's print advertising - that will be a great feature. Finally, Auto Expert also allows sellers to advertise their car for sale at no charge.

Cons:
I would like to be able to search by distance from my postal code rather than by region. Logically I would also like to be able to SORT by distance from my postal code. You have to supply too much personal information on a non-secure form for my liking to contact the seller. In terms of information on individual vehicles this isn't too bad but it would be much better if VIN was included (however the site's manager informs me that it is illegal to post VINs online in Quebec though I know other sites still do so).

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  To get started either use the three pull down lists in the boxes in the top left of the main page or click on the 'Advanced Search' link (after indicating the manufacturer or region you are interested in).
  
  To use the simple search indicate your desired make, model and region and click on the orange SEARCH button. On the advanced search screen indicate make, model, year range, price range, mileage range, region, dealer or private seller ad, keywords and how you would like the results sorted (by year, make and model, mileage, price, region or dealer name).
  
  

BuySell.com - Vehicle Search
http://www.buysell.com/search/vehiclesearch.aspx

BuySell.com has lots of vehicles in the site but the search tool is not as good as it could be and the way results are displayed is cumbersome in the extreme. Still, it gets a fairly good rating due to the large number of vehicles in the database.

Pros:
There are lots of vehicles advertised on this site although the number varies widely from province to province (for example BC has almost 25,000 while Ontario has about half that). You need to make sure you are searching in the right location - either change your region to the one that is appropriate before you begin searching (use the Change Region link at the top of the page) or check off the correct box in the search screen that you reach by clicking on the Search link and then on the Vehicles tab (Search all of Canada or Search entire province). You can search by city or distance from your postal code and the search criteria are adequate.

Details on individual vehicles vary widely since they are reliant on user input. If there is an email form available you don't have to submit too much personal information on the non-secure form.

A new feature (or maybe I just didn't notice it before?) that somewhat ameliorates the lack of a sorting facility based on distance from your postal code is the list of Cities now shown in the left hand column of the results' page. You can then click on the city/cities that are pertinent to your search - for example if I am searching in Victoria I might also click on Saanichton, Sooke, Sidney and Salt Spring Island to look at the vehicles in those locations.

Cons:
The results display format is very cumbersome and although you can sort by a number of criteria you can not sort by either location (which inconveniently is NOT shown on the results screen in any meaningful way although it may be 'buried' in a ton of descriptive text about the vehicle) or distance from your postal code. You also cannot sort by age of the vehicle, model name or mileage. Some sellers may put their email address in the ad text but for many vehicles the only way to contact the seller is by telephone.

There seems to be no list of mandatory items that a seller must enter so you'll find cars without prices which is darn annoying to say the least.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Make sure you are looking in the correct region (or change it by using the blue Change Region link at the top left hand area of the page) as if you have the wrong region selected (i.e. Ontario) and search with an inappropriate postal code (i.e. a BC postal code) you will not get any results. Indicate the criteria you are looking for, enter your postal code and a search radius and click on the orange SEARCH NOW button.
  
  

Text4Cars : Used Cars Canada
http://www.text4cars.com/defaultca.aspx

This site takes an innovative approach to both buying and selling of used cars. Primarily it is the use of text messaging and paying for leads by sellers that sets this site apart. There are just under 30,500 vehicles in the database - pretty good for a site that's been running less than two years. A large proportion of the vehicles are in Ontario (about 13,000) and Alberta (7,500).

Once you find a vehicle you are interested in you can, as a buyer, send a text message to the seller quickly and easily (or send it on several vehicles at once).

Pros:
There are a good number of vehicles in the database and using the advanced search you can specify all the usual criteria (make, model, age range, price, mileage, fuel type) as well as select desired features and search by province, district or distance from your postal code.

Results can be re-sorted by year, make, model, city or price. Results on individual vehicles are pretty good.

Cons:
Although you can search by postal code you can not sort results in terms of distance from your postal code. VIN is not given. The form where you enter your name, email address and phone number is not secure.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Specify your vehicle criteria and area you want to search (by province, district or distance from postal code). Specify results per page and click on the Search button at the bottom of the form.
  
  

Calgary cars and trucks Edmonton cars and trucks - AutoHunter Alberta!
http://alberta.autohunter.ca/find-alberta-cars.html

Although this site operates in the Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Maritime market for this review we are focusing on the Alberta section which is the most active. If you are elsewhere in Canada simply click on the appropriate section in the blue bar across the top of the home page. There are several thousand vehicles listed in Alberta.

I'm not crazy about the searching facility on this site - although there are lots of different search options none of them really impress me that much. The format for displaying results is very cumbersome and is limited in terms of its manipulation. Details on individual vehicles could be more extensive although the details page does have some nifty features and the method for contacting the seller is very well done.

Pros:
The 'anonymized' contact system is very well done (although you must complete the free, non-secure registration to take advantage of it) and there are plenty of vehicles in the database. You can save vehicles you are interested in to a clipboard as well as email them to a friend and there is a nifty 'digital brochure' feature.

Cons:
I don't like the search tool which is oriented towards cities rather than offering a search conducted in terms of distance from your postal code. The way that results are displayed is extremely cumbersome and your only choice is to re-sort by price, make or year - you can not re-sort by location. I would like to see VIN listed on the details page.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Select your search criteria and click on the Search button (within the power search tool box). This 'power search' will show you cars that meet your search criteria throughout the province of Alberta.
  
  

gmcanada.com - Choose an Optimum Certified Used Vehicle
http://apps.gmcanada.com/app/GMCanada/UsedVehicleLocatorCriteria.do

A good search tool that allows you to find all makes of vehicle - not just GM brands - on GM dealer lots nationwide. Unfortunately the results display format is not great and can not be manipulated in any way. Details on individual vehicles are skimpy but you've got a couple of different options if you'd like more information on a specific vehicle.

Pros:
There seem to be quite a few vehicles in the database - even non-GM vehicles are represented. The search tool allows you to search within a distance from your postal code. The VIN is given on the details page and you can contact the seller by email (email address of the dealership is usually given on the details page - simply hover over the contact us link) or click on the blue 'Ask Us about this vehicle' button which will take you to a non-secure enquiry form.

Cons:
The results display format is a bit hard to read and scan quickly and can't be re-sorted in any way. You are not shown the location but rather the dealership name which is rarely helpful unless you are intimately familiar with all the dealerships in your region/province. Details on individual vehicles are quite brief and some don't even have a photo.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Search either by Body Type or by Make and Model. Specify your criteria using the sliders and drop down lists, input your postal code and search radius (5-500 km) and click on the red Search button.
  
  

LeaseBusters - Canada's #1 Lease Takeover Pioneers
http://www.leasebusters.com/en/Selectionlease.asp

This site's inventory has fallen by almost 50% since the last review so it has lost a point in the overall rating (last review the site had 3,940 vehicles - now there are only 1,971). On the positive side however, this site doesn't require you to register and log in if you are simply looking for a lease to take over.

I don't like the search at all and the way results are displayed is very cumbersome. Results can be re-sorted but there is still room for improvement in terms of manipulation of found results. Details on individual vehicles are okay and contacting the seller is simple but not very protective of the seller's confidentiality.

Pros:
The results list can be re-sorted by year, make, model, mileage, payment, term, down payment or cash incentive. Details on individual vehicles are quite good and you are not required to divulge any personal information to contact the seller.

Cons:
You have only 5 choices of location in which to search - all of Canada, western Canada, Ontario, Quebec or Atlantic Canada - this is totally inadequate as a location searching criteria. It also seems to be rather unreliable as a search in which I indicated Western Canada brought up a couple of vehicles in Toronto! The results are displayed in a cumbersome format but you can click on text list at the bottom of the search screen to produce a much more concise and easier to scan results listing.

It would be nice to see VIN on these used vehicles and I know that if I were a seller - especially a female one - I wouldn't be too happy about all the information about me seen on the detail screen (name, phone number, email address, city and province). I don't know how much of this you have to enter but surely first name and email is sufficient?

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Choose your vehicle characteristics and a location to search in and click on Search (I suggest you click on the Text list radio buttton just above the Search button as well).
  
  

Sell or Buy Used Cars, Vans, SUVs, Trucks and Auto Parts in Canada
http://www.emotors.ca/Cars/search.aspx

A good search tool but the numbers of vehicles in the database continues to drop (from 1,476 to 1,282). The results display format is a bit cumbersome but it can be manipulated in a variety of ways. Details on individual vehicles could be better but the method of contacting the seller is fairly non-intrusive.

Pros:
The search tool is good with lots of criteria to choose from and the ability to search by province and region or distance from your postal code. And a very cool feature of the search is that it indicates how many vehicles there are remaining as you change your search criteria - so for example when I select British Columbia as my search area I am shown that there are 207 vehicles in British Columbia. When I choose Toyota as the make I am shown that there are 17 Toyotas for sale in BC. Very cool feature.

Although the display format is a bit cumbersome in terms of screen real estate it takes up and not really being easy to scan quickly it does feature lots of manipulation options. You can re-sort results by distance or location, mileage, price or year made. Any of those sorts can be descending or ascending and you can show from 10-100 ads per page. To contact the seller you need only supply your name and email address (albeit on a non-secure form). Lastly, on the positive side, all of eMotors services are free (including selling your vehicle) and their help section is REALLY well done.

Cons:
I wish that the display format was a little more streamlined but it's not too bad. It would be nice to see VIN in the vehicle details and they could be a little more extensive overall.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Select your search criteria and search either by province and region or distance from your postal code.
  
  

The Car Experience LUXURY AND SPECIALTY CARS ONLY
http://www2.thecarexperience.com/pls/carexp/carexp_public_search.carexpsearch

In fairness to the other listings in this category I must point out that this is not the site to come to if you are looking for an economical, practical and reliable family car. This site deals exclusively in exotic and fanciful vehicles some of which cost more than most of us will MAKE in our entire lifetime! So if you're looking for something to get you to work each day and into the countryside with the family on the weekend this is not the site for you.

That being said - if you are seriously searching for that collectable vehicle this is a fair place to start. The search tool is mediocre (to say the least) and the results display format is cumbersome and can't be manipulated in any way. Details on individual vehicles are pretty good and contacting the seller only requires divulging your name and email address.

Pros:
There are a fair number of vehicles in the database and individual vehicle details are quite good and often have a VIN supplied.

Cons:
The search form doesn't let you indicate your location and the results list doesn't allow you to sort by any criteria so you can not easily find vehicles close to your or ones within your price range.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Select your make, model, age range and price range and then click on the search button you prefer (with highest prices at the top or at the bottom).
  
  

Buy and Sell Classic and Muscle Cars
http://www.collectorcarads.com/

This site has a fair number of vehicles (just over 3,500) even though it only serves the collector market. The search is poor and the results list can not be manipulated in any way. Details on vehicles are very skimpy but contacting the seller is easy and non-intrusive.

Pros:
There are a fair number of vehicles in this collector car only database. Contacting the seller only requires that you divulge your email address.

Cons:
The search tool only allows you to specify state or province for location and you aren't shown the vehicle's location in the results display (except in the text of the description - so you can't use it for sorting). You can not re-sort the results listing and details on individual vehicles vary widely depending on what the seller feels like including.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Select your search criteria (make, model, age range and location) and click on the Search button. All vehicles are also indexed by make on the right hand side of the page.
  
  

Used Cars @ CarCasher.com
http://www.carcasher.com/

To get started indicate your make and model choices in the FIND box and distance to search from your postal code. Choose your sort criteria and direction (ascending or descending) and click on the Search Now button. Or go straight to the Advanced Search by clicking on the Advanced Search link in the bottom of the FIND box.

This site doesn't have a huge number of vehicles in its database (around 500 as far as I can tell) and these are all in Ontario (CarCasher seems to be an American site) and though the search tool is good I am not impressed with the way results are displayed or the fact that they can't be manipulated at all. Individual vehicle details are quite good with VIN, photos and helpful options. Getting more information on a vehicles is not too difficult.

Pros:
The search tool here is good and details on individual vehicles are fairly well done with options to print your listing, contact the seller, see other vehicles the seller has on offer and or save the vehicle to your scrapbook. .

Cons:
The display format is cumbersome and although you can ask for a sort in the search you can not re-sort in any way in the displayed results. The results are interspersed with Google ads and are very difficult to scan quickly. Although you can sort on distance from your postal code the location is shown in the results as city/province rather than as a distance from your location. Not helpful. VIN is missing on most individual records and a majority of the entries now seem to be lease takeovers rather than outright sales.

You have to supply too much personal information on a non-secure form to get more information from the seller.

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Select your make and model, price range, year range, mileage range and a load of other characteristics and then select the distance to search from your postal code (10-All miles). You can choose to sort by price or year (ONLY!) either ascending or descending before you click on the Search Now button.
  
  

Car Lease Transfer - Short term Used Auto Leasing
http://www.leaseboys.com/lease_take_over.php

To get started searching for a vehicle on this site you do have to complete the very thorough registration which, most unfortunately, is NOT on a secure page. Another major deficiency of this site is that there don't seem to be a ton of vehicles in it - at the time of this review there were just 123 vehicles for lease takeover in Canada (down 10% from the last review).

Compared to straightforward sales listings of used vehicles this is obviously very low.

The search is adequate but I don't like the way results are displayed and they can't be manipulated in any way. Details on individual cars could be better and I don't like the way you contact the seller.

Pros:
If getting a late model vehicle on a temporary basis is appealing then this is the site for you. Otherwise there isn't too much positive to say about it.

Cons:
The search is by state/province which is not really very helpful in a country the size of Canada - I feel strongly that a distance from postal code search is the only way to go. You can't re-sort the list of cars you obtain from searching and other than saving them to your favourites you can't manipulate them in any way (you can't print them out or email them to a friend for example). I would like to see the vehicle's VIN listed and I think in a system like this where you have to register and log in before you can do anything that contacting the seller could be MUCH better handled (I think that the site should be handling anonymized emails behind the scenes - instead you are shown all the seller's details; name, phone number and email address).

How to:

• Search for a used vehicle online
  Choose your vehicle characteristics and your province/state and click on the Search Vehicles button.
  
  

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