People are always looking for more convenient ways to buy things—especially when it comes to purchasing a vehicle. Buying a car or vehicle of any kind is rarely an easy task. Traditionally, you have to go to a dealership, negotiate the price with the salesperson, who will often pressure you to add on unnecessary extras, find financing, get insurance, and more. But, the good news is there is a convenient solution to the hassle of purchasing a vehicle, car buying apps.
What Are Car Buying Apps?
Car apps are applications you can use on a computer or mobile device to search for and purchase vehicles. They have several benefits over buying a vehicle from a dealership. Car apps are convenient because you can buy a car from the comfort of your home. Some apps have alerts, meaning you can be automatically notified when a vehicle you want goes on sale. You can still negotiate the price of a vehicle, meaning you still have some bargaining power. A car app is useful if you want to purchase a vehicle with less hassle than going to a dealership.
Best Car Buying Apps In Canada
In Canada, there are a variety of car buying apps to choose from. This means that most consumers should be able to find an app, and a car, that meets their needs.
AutoTrader
AutoTrader is the largest online car company in Canada. It has an extensive inventory of both new and used vehicles that is constantly being updated. Prospective buyers are almost certain to find what they’re looking for. The company is supported by pricing tools, buyers’ guides, reviews, and more. Meaning that buyers are given the tools they need to make an informed decision about the vehicle they want.
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AutoTrader has both a website and a mobile app, which makes purchasing vehicles from home easy and convenient. There are over 400,000 used vehicles available, from cars to trucks to boats to snowmobiles. It’s likely that you can find what you’re looking for with AutoTrader.
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Additional AutoTrader Features
- Reviews: AutoTrader has reviews from the vehicles’ owner so you can make an informed decision before you buy anything.
- Detailed Search: Vehicle searches are location-based and can be very detailed or more general. This way you can look for a specific vehicle or a whole range of vehicles.
- Pricing Index: The app’s results also include AutoTrader’s pricing index, so you can check if the seller priced their vehicle appropriately.
- My Garage: This feature allows you to save vehicles to your account so you can look at them at a later time.
- Real-Time Updates: The listings are updated in real-time, meaning that you can always see the newest ads.
- CarProof: You can also view CarProof reports to look into a vehicle’s history.
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Edmunds is a US-based online car app, this means that Canadians can’t use the app to purchase a vehicle. But, it is still a good resource for those consumers interested in conducting thorough research before they make a purchase.
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The app has a variety of new and used vehicles available to purchase. Potential buyers can apply a variety of filters to find the vehicle they want, including price, year, condition, vehicle history, and gas mileage.
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Extensive Reviews
You can also read car reviews and user ratings for the vehicles on the Edmunds app. You can compare the true market value and the average price paid for similar vehicles in your area, compare car dealer offers, calculate a monthly payment at home, save your vehicles to look at later, trade-in and price vehicles, and even text car dealers instantly to get discounts.
The Can It Fit Feature
A unique feature of the Edmunds app is the Can It Fit feature. This feature uses Augmented Reality to see the inside dimensions of a car to see if you’ll fit in it. This feature eliminates the issue of buying a vehicle before seeing it in person.
Kijiji
Kijiji is one of Canada’s top online classified advertisement sites. There are millions of items listed across many categories, and the site has a whole section dedicated to vehicles.
Both a vehicle’s owner and a dealership can post on Kijiji, meaning that there is a healthy mix of vehicles for sale on the site. You can apply a variety of filters to your search, including colour, fuel type, and whether a vehicle is for sale by a dealership or by the owner. These filters make it easy to track down the perfect vehicle for you.
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It is free to post on Kijiji, although the sellers who pay can have their ad featured so more people will see it. This means that you might be shown the same vehicle over and over again.
You can also save your favourite vehicles to look at later, meaning that if you see something you like you don’t have to worry about finding the ad again.
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Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is Facebook’s community-driven classified advertisement site. Anyone on Facebook can post an ad. Car dealerships can also post ads, so there is a good mix of vehicles being sold by their owners and by dealerships.
This app allows you to filter ads, meaning you can easily search for vehicles meeting your criteria. These filters include transmission type, exterior colour, and body type. No matter what kind of vehicle you’re looking for, Facebook Marketplace is likely to have something that catches your eye.
One of the most useful features of Facebook Marketplace is the ability to see a seller’s rating. The more buyers that are satisfied with a seller, the higher their rating will be. This rating system helps to weed out unscrupulous sellers.
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CarMax
CarMax has an inventory of over 50,000 used cars, SUVs, and trucks, so you are likely to find the vehicle you want.
This app allows you to search for vehicles using a variety of filters, including make, model, and gas mileage. You can also see the vehicles’ details, photos, and vehicle history
CarMax also allows you to finance and pay for vehicles all within the app. You can…
- Determine estimated monthly payments
- Apply for financing
- Make payments
This makes the app a one-stop shop for consumers who are looking to purchase a vehicle.
Get A 360° View
One of CarMax’s most interesting features is that you can get a 360° view of the interior of the vehicle you’re interested in purchasing. This will allow you to get a good idea of what the car looks like before you buy it so there are no surprises when you receive it.
Save For Later
Another useful feature is the ability to save vehicles you were looking at and to get notifications for the vehicles you saved, allowing you to come back to the app and find a vehicle you were looking at before.
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Money-Back Guarantee
CarMax also offers a 7-day money-back guarantee on every vehicle and free appraisals on vehicles that are actual offers (and not just estimates), meaning that you and your wallet will be happy.
CarGurus
CarGurus is an app that searches thousands of sites to find and price new and used vehicles. Its algorithm tracks things like dealer reviews and dealer location and lets you know if a car is a good deal, taking the hassle out of sorting through thousands of sites to find your perfect vehicle.
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This app makes it easy to get access to essential information about a vehicle, including vehicle history, price changes, and checking if a vehicle has been scrapped. This information makes it much easier for anyone buying a vehicle with CarGurus to make an informed decision about what they’re purchasing.
Used.ca
Used.ca is an online classified advertisement site based in Canada. Not only do people sell vehicles on this site, but they also sell many more things including furniture, electronics, and toys. It is split by city, so if you wanted to look for cars in Toronto you would go to usedtoronto.com.
This site has a couple of interesting features. Not only can you see how many people have viewed an ad, but you can also filter out commercial ads if you don’t want to see vehicles from dealerships.
There doesn’t seem to be many vehicles on used.ca, since most people use the more well-known Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace. Still, you might be able to find a good deal on a vehicle you’re looking for.
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Trovit Cars
Trovit Cars is an app that scans thousands of different websites for used vehicles and displays them in one place. That way, instead of spending hours on different sites to find the vehicle you want, you only have to look in one place.
A great feature of this app is how many filters you can apply to find your dream vehicle. You can filter, for example, by location, by make and model, and by mileage. You can also set alerts so you can receive a notification on your phone when the app has a vehicle that matches the vehicle you’re looking for.
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Bottom Line
There are many car apps in Canada that you can use to find the new or used vehicle you’ve been looking for. Each of these apps has special features that make it easier to make an informed decision about a vehicle, whether it’s checking a vehicle’s history, seeing photos of the inside of the vehicle, or reading reviews. No matter which app you choose, car buying apps are a great way to purchase a vehicle without having to deal with the hassle of a salesperson or dealership.
