Carprices.com: A Fairly Pleasant Waste of Time
Written: Jul 23 '02 (Updated May 10 '05)
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Automotive web sites are among my favorite places to visit on the world wide web. Part of the reason for my strong affection for car sites is my love for vehicles and the other part is because of my job position (I work in automotive software). When I get the chance to use a new automotive web site, whether for personal or professional reasons, I’m always ready to jump at the chance.
One site that I was unfamiliar with until recently is Carprices.com, an automotive site that specializes in buying/selling vehicles, financing, insurance, and warranty information. I needed to lookup some facts on insurance, so I clicked my mouse and away I went, into carprices.com.
What Does This Service Offer?:
Carprices.com is broken into three main sections to meet your automotive needs:
Research and Price- This part of carprices.com is dedicated to the new vehicle shopper. You can build a vehicle, selecting the model, color, options, and features that you want in a car or truck. You can also lookup specifications and make comparisons with other vehicles, obtain crash ratings, and get a final price quote on your dream vehicle. There’s even a new car “matchmaker” function that will help find the appropriate vehicle for your individual needs, based on your answers to questions.
Auto Classifieds- In this section, you can search for a used vehicle to buy by browsing the classified ads and/or enter your own vehicle advertisement for selling your car. To search for a used car, you can either select a make and model combination, or search by price range. Entering your zip code will produce a list of vehicles for sale, listed in order of the distance from your home. If you want to see more details of the vehicle, you can click a link and another window will open up. In this window, there is usually a picture of the car or truck, and a place where you can send an e-mail to the seller, if your interested in making a purchases. In some (but not all) instances, there will also be a phone number and contact name, if you would rather place a phone call and skip the e-mail.
Owner’s Guide- This is the area that originally initiated my visit to the site in the first place. Here, you can lookup warranty information, maintenance, insurance, read articles about your car, and even chat with other potential buyers/sellers.
Other Services:
Carprices.com offers some other services to the car enthusiast, but in order to utilize them, you have to sign up as a member of the site. This is as simple as entering your e-mail address, making up a user name and password, and entering a few other bits of data. There is no cost for this service. The benefits include a monthly newsletter, money- saving coupons, and access to your own “virtual garage”, a system that keeps track of your presently owned vehicles and sends you maintenance reminders, deals on extended warranty, etc.
Final Thoughts:
Carprices.com seems to be an adequate service, but it’s not necessarily the best one I’ve ever used. I originally logged into this site to shop for auto insurance. What I found was that the site was big on insurance facts and terminology, and it did a good job of explaining insurance. But there wasn’t much in the way of information on actually buying insurance. I was able to get a quote from Progressive Insurance, and I filled out a generic form which was then sent to several different insurance companies for quotes. The direct quotes I received back were from Travelers, AIG, Hartford Group, AMICA, and a few others. A few of the other companies sent me an e-mail quote. I wasn’t impressed with the offers, which ranged very widely, or the amount of time it took to produce a quote.
The car search function is ok, but again, there are other sites that are much better and that offer more selections and options for “building” your dream car. The classified ad system seems to be pretty good, allowing buyers several options on contacting the seller, which is nice. With many other sites, you have to forward an e-mail to the site itself, who then forwards your message on to the seller. At least with this site, you are often given a phone number so that you can eliminate the middleman and call directly.
Most other services offered here are just links into other sites. If you want to buy parts for your vehicle, you will be linked into jcwhitney.com. If you want a quote on a warranty, you will be linked into warrantybynet.com. Even the purchasing of a vehicle is powered by autobytel.com.
Overall, this is an ok site, but I’m not very impressed. The first thing this site needs to do is update the layout and appearance. It looks very archaic to me. Then, it needs to enhance some of its basic features and product offerings and expand on some of its search functions. When that happens, I might come back and visit again. But until then, there are better auto sites to visit and enjoy. Carprices.com is about as middle- of- the- road as you can get.
Be Sure to Click on the Links Below to Read More Reviews on Related Web Sites:
Cars Direct.com
Autoweb.com
Invoice Dealers.com
Discount Tire Direct.com
Carmax.com
Cars.com
Pricequotes.com
Autonation.com
Recommended:
Yes
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