Autotrader Reviews 

Overall the experience was quite good. The ad creation process was user friendly and efficient. I was able to only load one video despite saying up to five could be loaded.
Once it was live, buyer chats were organized and simple.
Once I accepted an offer and funds verified, there could be better instructions for both seller and buyer. I wasn't quite sure if I had to send my title to Autotrader who would then issue a new title, or if I directly signed it over to the buyer. Also, the buyer was unsure about how to obtain a temp registration during the interim period.

The experience was great from start to finish. This is the second vehicle I’ve purchased through Private Seller Exchange this year, and the entire process—from payment processing to title and temporary tag handling—was flawless. I can't see myself ever buying from a traditional dealership again. Thanks for providing a safe, secure bridge to the world of private vehicle sales! 😇

The ability to have AutoTrader act as an escrow agent for a private party sale was a game changer! It made the transaction smooth and worry free.

I used the AutoTrader Private Seller exchange to sell my mom's car recently. I also used the full option of using them for all communications, payment and paperwork handling. When the listing first posted I got a LOT of fraudsters asking me to text them on the side, etc... but AutoTrader warns about this and gave me the tools to sniff those out (like ID Verified status) so that's less a critique and more an FYI. Everything worked as described, with my only critique and reason I didn't give 5 stars is the app and website are kinda clunky and I had a hard getting them to work consistently. I was told but a customer service I called that it doesn't work well with Apple Safari, which is bizarre being that Apple literally have a more than 50% mobile market share in the US so they might want to consider making it more compatible with that! Otherwise, everything went great!

Very responsive Autotrader team on phone! I had a few questions with the transaction as it was my first time working through Private Seller Exchange. Everything went smoothly and it was a great process.

This was my first time and the team at the private sellers exchange was amazing. I sometimes ask the question more than once, and they were always glad to respond. It was an amazing experience, and I was glad that I did it. I felt that it kept both the buyer and this other safe throughout the transaction.

I will be back to sell my 2016 Camry on the same platform

If I have one whimsical complaint, it’s that I didn’t realize how popular the private seller exchange would be

I had so many buyers interested in the car that it was difficult for me to keep track. You have an awesome program.

Autotrader private seller exchange made everything so easy.

This was my first time using AutoTrader.com for anything, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the experience. I listed my used car through the Private Exchange, hoping to generate some interest. Within just a couple of days, a potential local buyer reached out and wanted to test-drive the car.

AutoTrader provided clear communication and straightforward instructions throughout the process, including how to connect with the buyer. After the test drive, the buyer submitted a formal offer. Once I accepted it, the buyer securely transferred the payment to AutoTrader.

AutoTrader then provided clear, easy-to-follow instructions for completing the sale, including transferring the vehicle, title, and bill of sale. The process went smoothly, and I was able to complete the transfer with the buyer without any issues. Once both the buyer and I confirmed that the transaction was complete, AutoTrader promptly released the funds to my bank account.

The entire process of listing and selling my car was surprisingly simple, transparent, and hassle-free. I am very pleased with the experience and truly appreciate AutoTrader’s role in facilitating the transaction from beginning to end.

I would highly recommend AutoTrader to anyone looking to buy or sell a vehicle. The process was clear, secure, and remarkably smooth from start to finish.

This was my second Autotrader purchase from a private seller. I appreciate the vehicle history reports and the ease of handling the dmv title/registration.

I had to contact autotrader at least 4 times to complete the purchase due to poor website instructions. I had to download chrome because edge would not bring up necessary bank input screens. I had to call to get this information. I did not see the $199 fee until the very end when it was added to the purchase price. This should have been exposed upfront. The temp plates where from Washington, but no one told us that. I did like the "no touch" payment transfer between buyer and seller.

Sold my 2024 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro through AutoTrader's Private Seller Exchange — couldn't be happier with the process. The platform delivered a final sale price significantly higher than any trade-in or dealer cash offer I received, making the private sale route clearly worth it.

The platform handled everything from secure messaging to payment and title transfer cleanly and professionally. As a private seller with a financed vehicle, I was skeptical the process would be this smooth, but it was straightforward for both me and the buyer.

One strong piece of advice for other private sellers: keep all correspondence with prospective buyers on the AT platform. The built-in fraud protections are real — I encountered several suspicious contacts during the listing period and the platform's structure made it easy to identify and ignore them.

Would not hesitate to use AT PSX again for a high-value private sale.

This website is intended to make you think your private-seller vehicle is worth less than it is. After a few lowball offers, most of which are not legit, you'll begin to consider the lowball "guaranteed best price" from a wholesaler. This is the real intent of the site. It's certainly not to help you sell your car.

The platform made it easy to find the car was looking for communicate with the seller negotiate and set up, not only the purchase in a secure fashion, but also the Delivery. I live in the Midwest and purchased a car from the East Coast and I didn’t have to deal with any of the logistics in getting the car to me. The price for Delivery was relatively competitive, but it came with a piece of mind knowing that auto trader would take care of securing the title securing the vehicle and making sure that I would actually receive a vehicle for what I paid. Highly recommend.

Everything went as smooth as it could with one exception. It is up to the seller to weed out most of the would-be scammers. Two tips - don't answer, but block anyone that first wants to take the discussion off-line ("text me at..."); second - if in doubt, have potential buyer submit to the identity verification if they already aren't verified. Also - the weekly attempts by Autotrader to "buy" your car at a ridiculously low offer are annoying and insulting. This puts them in a conflict of interest in my opinion.

Auto Trader made it so easy to find a vehicle, communicate with the seller, set up a test drive and complete the sale. I will absolutely use Auto Trader in the future.

The entire process was pretty easy and straight forward. The listing was clear, the seller was friendly. Then the final process was easy and quick.

Helpful staff, and I appreciate the ID verification process, and feeling of a safe and secure exchange of funds from buyer to seller!

The whole process was seamless. Autotrader made buying a private sale vehicle an easy and trustworthy experience. I would do it again.

I listed a vehicle for sale, and it took 9 months to sell it, so AT and I got to know each other very well. The listing process was great, very easy. I felt that the cost was reasonable vs. a free ad on Facebook - people only come to AT if they are serious (with caveats, I will bring up below). So most of my time was spent with potential buyers. A LOT of them, probably 80% were trying to bypass the chat, and I wonder if they were just bots. I feel like AT could improve in this regard- for instance, if someone is dropping something that looks like a phone number as the first chat message, maybe you should flag and withhold the message, subject to further verification as a human. Secondly, I'm fully onboard with using the chat, but loading times are horrible. Getting a text message and/or email, clicking and waiting for the window to open is horrendous. During the workweek, when I get most of my pings, I can't be near my phone, or keep a chat window open. Additionally, I often needed to reload it to get comments; the text would come in many seconds before the chat would update. I'd tolerate an app if it ran quickly and smoothly, especially in a low-internet environment, like where my job is. Secondly, maybe the UI team can figure out something to do about the buyers that see a car online, and immediately bid on the car, sight unseen, no test drive, no communication. I got lots of those. Those people aren't going to buy your car. Maybe you can figure out a different way to address what these people are trying to do. Thirdly, I had an atypical situation but I think there's ways you can improve it. You give the buyer a list of things to do to get ready for a sale, one of which is to upload a copy of their title. I did this several months before a buyer wanted to buy. After the buyer's funds were accepted, AT did a search in the NVMTIS database and saw a problem vs. my paper title, ala, showing a different owner. As it turned out, there was never a problem with my title, but my state never updated the database when I bought the vehicle. My recommendation is that you should make sellers upload the title early in the process, and do the title verification early; so that the seller can fix any problems ahead of an interested buyer wanting to buy. I was lucky that my buyer had time to spare; I don't see many in that situation. Customer service, while I was on my own to solve the problem, were accommodating when I asked them to recheck the database (which I did several times). One way to improve there, would be to have the knowledge of how to solve NMVTIS problems by state.. it might have saved me a few days to know that a title bureau existed and was the POC for problems. But since it worked out in the end, I will stick with Autotrader, and give 4 stars.