CarGurus, Inc. (CarGurus) operates as a multinational online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles, building upon its listings marketplace with both digital retail solutions and the CarOffer online wholesale platform.
The CarGurus platform gives consumers the confidence to purchase and/or sell a vehicle either online or in person, and it gives dealerships the power to accurately price, effectively market, instantly acquire, and quickly sell vehicles, all with a nationwide reach. T...
CarGurus, Inc. (CarGurus) operates as a multinational online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles, building upon its listings marketplace with both digital retail solutions and the CarOffer online wholesale platform.
The CarGurus platform gives consumers the confidence to purchase and/or sell a vehicle either online or in person, and it gives dealerships the power to accurately price, effectively market, instantly acquire, and quickly sell vehicles, all with a nationwide reach. The company uses proprietary technology, search algorithms, and data analytics to bring trust, transparency, and competitive pricing to the automotive shopping experience.
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 29.3 million average monthly visitors in the U.S., which, in turn, has attracted over 30,000 dealers (including 24,692 paying dealers) to list on its U.S. marketplace platform.
The company's platform supports consumers and dealers alike across the full cycle of their buying and selling needs: allowing consumers to shop, finance, buy, and sell; and allowing dealers to source, price, market, and sell vehicles.
Segments
During the year ended December 31, 2024, the company managed its business and reported earnings through two segments:
The U.S. Marketplace: Derives revenue from marketplace services for customers within the U.S.
Digital Wholesale: Primarily derives revenue from its Dealer-to-Dealer and Instant Max Cash Offer services sold on the CarOffer platform.
Products and Services
The U.S. Marketplace and Other
The product offerings are available through the company's U.S. marketplace; availability on its other marketplaces varies.
Marketplace
The company's online automotive marketplace allows consumers to search for new and used car listings from its dealers based on its proprietary search algorithm. The marketplace for consumers is based on the key algorithms that make up the major elements of the company's marketplace product:
Deal Rating: Eligible used car listings in the company's marketplace are assigned one of five Deal Ratings: Great Deal, Good Deal, Fair Deal, High Priced, or Overpriced. Deal Ratings are based on Instant Market Value, or IMV (the company's proprietary algorithm that assesses the market value of a used vehicle in a local market), and Dealer Ratings (ratings derived from users’ experiences with the dealers they have connected with). The company calculates IMV by applying more than 20 ranking signals and more than 100 normalization rules to tens of millions of data points, including the make, model, trim, year, features, condition, history, geographic location, and mileage of the car.
New Car Price Information: The company analyzes data on manufacturers’ suggested retail prices and recent sales of similar new vehicles, accounting for trade-ins, incentives, and other factors to provide users.
Search Results Page and Vehicle Detail Page: The company's Search Results Page, or SRP, provides users with vehicle-specific details, such as Deal Ratings, as well as in-depth search filters. It also provides users with additional features to aid their search, including similar vehicle recommendations, side-by-side vehicle comparisons, expert reviews, and user rankings. Vehicle Detail Pages, or VDPs, include comprehensive information about the vehicle, including details, such as dealership information, dealer reviews and ratings, payment calculators, vehicle history, price history, and time on site, as well as numerous photos.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, Features: Rapid advancements in consumer-facing AI have transformed the way that consumers search for and gather information, and the company has introduced functionality based on generative AI to improve the user experience on its website, such as features assisting consumer research and reviews.
Digital Deal
The company offers consumers the ability to transact additional elements of their car-buying experience through its websites as they seek to complete more of this process online. The Digital Deal offering allows shoppers to ‘start purchase’ from a VDP on eligible listings, providing them with purchase options, including estimating a car’s trade-in value, deciding on payment options, selecting finance and insurance products, making an appointment, placing a reservation deposit, and/or taking delivery of the vehicle (through the company's Geo Expansion tool), all while undergoing a seamless online-to-in-store experience.
Finance in Advance
Through partnerships with automotive lending companies, eligible consumers can pre-qualify for financing on cars from dealerships that offer financing from these partners. The company primarily generates revenue from these partnerships based on the number of funded loans from consumers who pre-qualify with its lending partners through its site.
Sell My Car – Top Dealer Offers
The company has two products that allow consumers to sell their cars: Sell My Car – Top Dealer Offers and Sell My Car – Instant Max Cash Offer. Top Dealer Offers allows dealers to make tailored trade-in offers on CarGurus consumer vehicles, generating valuable trade-in leads for their business. CarGurus dealers have control over their bidding and direct access to consumers actively looking to sell their vehicles. All leads are delivered directly to the dealer and include detailed consumer contact information and other insights to help the dealer close the deal. Instant Max Cash Offer is part of the company's Digital Wholesale segment.
Dealer Listings and Data Insights Products
The company offers the Listings and Data Insights subscriptions to dealers through tiered sets of packages providing leads and connections; sponsored placements; branding; and tools and insights.
The company also offers Featured and Featured Priority subscriptions, comparable to Featured+ and Featured Priority+, respectively, but without access to Digital Deal leads. Listings and Data Insights subscriptions are priced monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually based on a dealer’s inventory size and region, and the company's assessment of the return on investment, or ROI.
Dealer Data Dashboard and Merchandising Tools
Dealers with an applicable Listings and Data Insights subscription have access to the following Dealer Dashboard features and merchandising tools that provide dealers with data insights and information to facilitate efficient and effective management, pricing, and advertising of inventory.
Performance Summary: Real-time and historical data enabling dealers to analyze connections, SRP, and VDP views at a granular level to inform a dealer’s sales and merchandising efforts.
Dealer Data Insights: Pricing analysis of the dealer’s inventory, including better access to automated data that fits into a dealer’s workflow and a summary of a vehicle’s missing information, such as price, photos, or trim, helping dealers better merchandise their vehicles and allowing them to react more quickly to the market and turn units. This includes acquisition insights report, next best deal rating, maximize margin report, and merchandising health report.
User Review Management: Ability for dealers to track and manage reviews about them from the company's users, including responding to users, reporting potentially fraudulent reviews, and publishing positive reviews to social media platforms for broader exposure.
Dealers with an applicable Listings and Data Insights subscription also have access to the following additional Dealer Data Dashboard features and tools:
Pricing Tool: Enables dealers to assess how pricing changes impact each vehicle’s Deal Rating, helping them make informed decisions using local market data.
Market Analysis: Highlights local trends, such as the most searched makes and models, to help dealers align inventory strategies with consumer preferences.
LeadAI: Identifies high-intent leads by scoring and labeling them as ‘Hot’ or ‘Warm’ based on user behavior for Enhanced, Featured, and Featured Priority Listings and Data Insights subscribers.
IMV Scan: Allows dealers to scan a vehicle identification number using their smartphone to access IMV data, and aiding wholesale pricing decisions. IMV scan is built into the CarGurus app for Enhanced, Featured, or Featured Priority Listings subscribers in the U.S.
Dealer Mobile App: Provides mobile access to Dealer Dashboard features, including leads, tools, and customizable notifications.
Dealer Listings and Data Insights Subscription Add-Ons
In addition to Listings and Data Insights subscriptions, dealers can purchase value add-on products à la carte to further the exposure of their vehicles.
Highlight: Allows dealers to showcase inventory in additional featured slots that are available to dealers in existing products.
Real Time Performance Marketing, or RPM: Allows dealers to leverage the engaged CarGurus audience to reach high-intent car buyers on other websites and social media platforms across the internet. These targeted placements on third-party sites help dealers build their brand presence and drive additional traffic directly to the dealer’s website. RPM is sold as a subscription and priced as a percentage of Listings and Data Insights while accounting for factors, such as dealership characteristics and performance expectations.
Digital Deal with Geo Expansion: Allows dealerships to expand their VDP geographic footprint to non-local customers via dealer home delivery services. Revenue is generated through fees charged to the dealership to enable listings beyond the default geographical radius. This program provides additional vehicle options to car shoppers open to home delivery services while promoting participating dealers’ delivery capabilities and increasing non-local VDP views.
Auto Manufacturer and Other Advertiser Products
The company's platform enables auto manufacturers and others to purchase targeted advertising on its sites and third-party platforms, including social media:
Brand Reinforcement: Manufacturers can advertise to consumers based on the make, model, and location of vehicles they are searching for, increasing exposure to interested buyers.
Category Sponsorship: Sponsors can secure exclusive spots on high-traffic pages, such as the New Car front page, Used Car front page, or Research Center.
Automobile Segment Exclusivity: Manufacturers can target specific segments (e.g., SUV, sedan, hybrid, luxury) to support new or existing model launches.
Consumer Segment Exposure: Targeted advertising based on parameters like budget, vehicle preferences, and location can reach relevant audiences on CarGurus and third-party websites.
International
The company also connects high-intent consumers with automotive dealers operating an automotive marketplace in Canada and the U.K., offering a transparent shopping experience similar to its U.S. marketplace. In the U.K., it provides inventories of used vehicles and expert reviews, complemented by privately listed vehicles and expert review content on its PistonHeads website.
Autolist
Autolist provides consumers an online automotive marketplace through mobile applications and a website. The platform includes inventory from top automotive dealers across the U.S. and gives consumers quick access to manage their search on the go with real-time alerts of newly available inventory and changes that occur on vehicles and saved searches they have configured. An independent editorial staff produces content to keep consumers informed on the latest vehicles and trends in the automotive market.
PistonHeads
PistonHeads is a U.K. automotive marketplace, auction platform, and editorial site geared towards automotive enthusiasts. The platform allows consumers to search across a broad range of dealer and private seller listings and stay informed about automotive news through editorial articles and expert reviews. Paying the U.K. dealers who list on the CarGurus platform automatically have their inventory added to the PistonHeads site for greater consumer reach. PistonHeads also runs PistonHeads Auctions, a platform that allows individuals and dealers to list their vehicles for auction and buyers to either bid at auction, make an offer before the auction starts, or commit to buy a vehicle at a set price before the auction starts.
Digital Wholesale
Dealer-to-Dealer
The company's CarOffer platform delivers market insights directly into wholesale buying and selling decisions, empowering dealers to identify profitable opportunities and execute transactions within a data-driven wholesale platform. The CarOffer Matrix streamlines this process by allowing dealers to set standing buy orders and make instant offers, eliminating the need for manual bidding, as well as by providing selling dealers with real-time market pricing and interest information for their vehicles.
Sell My Car – Instant Max Cash Offer
Sell My Car – Instant Max Cash Offer allows consumers to sell vehicles to dealers entirely online, providing dealers with a fresh source of trade-in inventory and helping to ensure liquidity amongst CarOffer’s platform. CarOffer processes transactions directly and collects dealer fees.
Mobile Applications
Consumer Mobile Application
CarGurus’ consumer mobile application offers a seamless experience for buying and selling cars with features, such as search and browse tools with detailed filters, price analysis to evaluate deals, dealer reviews for informed decisions, and financing options with payment calculators. The app supports personalized accounts, push notifications for updates, and secure authentication for smooth access.
Dealer Mobile Application
CarGurus’ dealer mobile application enables dealership operations with a suite of tools designed for efficiency and effectiveness. Key features include an IMV scan for quick vehicle identification number scanning or manual input, inventory management for adding, updating, or removing vehicles, and lead management for tracking and responding to inquiries. The app provides pricing tools to set competitive prices, dealer insights for performance and market analysis, and push notifications for timely updates. It supports localization with multi-language and country-specific settings, leverages native device features like the camera, and offers customizable app settings.
Technology and Product Development
The company is a technology and data company focused on utilizing its background as a trusted marketplace for consumers and dealers to provide its customers with innovative and actionable data analysis. It has built an extensive repository of data on cars, prices, dealers, and the interactions between consumers and dealers that is the result of many years of data aggregation and regression modeling. The company designs its mobile and web products to create a transparent experience for both consumers and dealers. Its software is built using a combination of internally developed software, third-party software and services, and open-source software.
Infrastructure
The company's development servers and the U.S. and Canadian websites are hosted through third-party cloud services in the U.S. and at third-party data centers in the U.S. near Dallas, Texas. Its European websites are hosted on third-party cloud computing services near each of London, England; Dublin, Ireland; and Frankfurt, Germany. The company uses third-party content distribution networks to cache and serve many portions of its sites at locations across the globe. It monitors and tests at the application, host, network, and full-site levels to maintain availability and promote performance. The company uses third-party cloud computing services for many data processing jobs and backup/recovery services.
Marketing and Brand
Consumer Marketing
Through its consumer marketing program, the company engages consumers at all points of the consumers’ journey to communicate its brand values and value propositions, as well as to drive consumer leads and transactions for its dealers and partners. It advertises through online and offline channels, including linear, cable, and connected television, video, social media, display, search, content marketing, partnerships, sponsorships, influencers, and affiliate relationships. The company continually tests into emerging and new channels with the goal of optimizing its customer acquisition cost and driving awareness of its brand. It uses its owned channels, including email, text messages, and on-site and in-app messaging, to deepen its relationships with existing customers. Leveraging its proprietary data and content, the company also engages in press outreach to deliver its messages through organic media and articles. It drives its consumer marketing efforts internally, but engages agency partners when appropriate. Outside of the U.S., the company tailors marketing efforts to local markets.
Dealer Marketing
The company’s dealer marketing team is primarily focused on building marketing assets that best educate dealer customers and prospects about its products. It executes dealer campaigns through a number of channels, including email, direct mail, and social media. In addition, the company hosts events to deepen its understanding of dealer needs and relationships and provide content. The company's marketing team consistently uses research to support ongoing improvement and development of its customer experience.
Sales
The company’s sales team is responsible for driving dealer acquisition, subscription conversions, and product adoption across franchise and independent dealerships. Both inside and field sales teams support strategic dealership groups in major markets in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., with additional advertising sales staff based in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Account Managers work with paying dealers to enhance satisfaction and retention through tailored support, including product usage guidance, inventory merchandising, ROI tracking, and profit growth strategies. Active communication with dealers strengthens relationships and fosters success on the company’s platform.
Competition
The company’s competitors offer various marketplaces, products, and services that compete with it. Some of these competitors include:
Major U.S. online automotive marketplaces, such as AutoTrader.com, Carfax.com, Cars.com, and TrueCar.com;
Other U.S. automotive websites, such as Edmunds.com and KBB.com;
Online dealerships, such as Carvana.com;
Peer-to-peer marketplaces, such as Craigslist.com;
Vehicle auction companies, including digital wholesale platforms, such as ACV Auctions, OPENLANE, and E INC; and
E-commerce sites, such as the partnership between Amazon.com, Inc., or Amazon, and Hyundai to sell cars on Amazon.com.
Intellectual Property
CarGurus has one issued U.S. patent with an expiration date of May 2034, one pending U.S. patent application, and one pending international patent application. The company is the registered holder of several domestic and international domain names that include ‘CarGurus’, ‘CarOffer’, ‘Pistonheads’, and ‘Autolist’, and other variations of its trade names.
Regulatory
The company’s wholesale operations through CarOffer are regulated by the states in which it operates and by the U.S. federal government.
The company's websites and mobile applications enable it, dealers, and users to send and receive text messages and other mobile phone communications, which requires it to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, in the U.S. The TCPA, as interpreted and implemented by the Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, and federal and state courts, imposes significant restrictions on utilization of telephone calls and text messages to residential and mobile telephone numbers as a means of communication.
History
The company was founded in 2005. The company was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 2015. The company was formerly known as CarGurus LLC and changed its name to CarGurus, Inc. in 2015.
