Autotrader Reviews 

I generally like to buy my cars cash. And I've found a couple of good ones dealing with Private Sellers on AutoTrader. You can trust that even on the PS market you're less likely to find a lemon, especially if you do your research. Plus PS tend to be more flexible in pricing.

If you try to sell a vehicle as a private seller, literally 100% of your prospective buyers will be scammers trying to steal your money. Oh, and you get to PAY Autotrader for this non-refundable "service." Absolutely don't do it.

Autotrader provides prompt and live customer service - a win in my book. However, within one week of running an ad, I received only phishing and fraudulent inquiries. Repeatedly. Block and Report. The spammers are so convincing that it is difficult to know who to trust. The experience feels stressful and, frankly, violating when you feel like you are talking to a real person who is interested in your vehicle. Perhaps others don't feel so negatively about phishing and fraud these days, since it is rampant, but if we don't fight harder against it, they are winning. We should NOT feel like being spammed is a normal part of doing business. I would rather sell my car for less and save my sanity and safety.

Dealing with the seller via the private chat went smoothly, as did arranging the test drive and putting in an offer. The website and app, however, are finicky and we (both the seller and buyer) had better experiences just calling customer service for assistance. Check state regulations about transferring of titles bc we knew we had to do it in person I our state and saved ourselves 200 in fees bc of this. Car is great, seller was easy to work with, and we completed the test drive and purchase/transfer in 3 days.

The Autotrader platform made the whole selling process easier and safer for both seller and buyer. It was seamless!

I have to say I was skeptical in the beginning. Last fall I made arrangements to see a car at a time and distance that was not appealing. I went and waited an hour, the 'seller' was no show. I called A/T and they were unable to contact the seller. So it was a waste of time.
Happily, this time as a seller, the experience was pleasant and comforting. I feel the verification procedures and all the other structure is set up well and very secure. I had 30 spammers and A/T protected me well as did the personnel I spoke to on the phone. I thought the sales network was very good as well. I highly recommend Autotrader for anyone selling or buying a car!

I appreciate Auto Trader helping me sell my car. Auto Trader does a great job ensuring that the buyer and seller I identities are verified and that the sellers vehicle’s title is clean.. The customer service is amazing. Someone answers the phone quickly and spends whatever time is necessary to ensure the customer has all the information he or she needs.

Never done this before the seller insured me that all I have to do is follow the app.i told her that I was use to giving a check or cash and then receiving a tile.This was new to me but she was right Autotrader handle everything. Thanks.

I got my price but there are so many scammers out there. Autotrader’s buyer and seller protection helped calm me somewhat.

I bought a car sight unseen on facebook marketplace, and used Autotrader PrivateSeller to ensure the purchase was safe (title transfer, guaranteed car in hand, etc.). The seller just listed the vin on auto trader for me to make an offer on to which they accepted. I chose to set up my own shipping as well which went fine. Would do the process the same way if it comes up again.

Overall very good experience. Liked the security and convenience of the platform. Big improvement from how private sales were done in the past. Enables me to sell my car much quicker and for significantly higher than trading in. Still received lots of spam buyers and app interface was very glitchy

Process of buying was smooth and pain free. Support and seller were really helpful and easy to work with and always available to answer questions.

This is an excellent platform and process for completing a private sale. The protections they have in place for both buyer and seller made it stress-free. Instructions were clear, and the outreach from the folks at Autotrader was timely and helpful.
My only gripe is how easy it is for scammers to roam free on the platform. How hard would it be to require identity verification before allowing someone to message a seller? They are easy to spot once you know what to look for, but still a hassle, and it’s obvious they are preying on people desperate to make a sale.

Experience at the end was smooth, once a buyer was selected. However, the initial process was very rough. In the first 2-3 weeks of listing the ad, I was bombarded with dozens of fake/spam accounts asking me to either message a number or purchase a scam vehicle history report.

Also, the offer process needs to be improved. Once an offer is approved it is very tedious to change the price if it is lowered.

I did contact customer service a few times and their service was excellent and prompt.

First time buying exclusively online and I was skeptical, but the search for the exact make, model, year, and features found the exact match. Communicating via chat with the seller allowed me to ask the questions I otherwise would have asked in person, which was great. The seller was verified (a real, honest person!) which also gives confidence. My purchase required trucking which was seamlessly arranged thru Autotrader. I called customer service several times throughout the process and each time was a great experience. I'm likely to buy/sell again in the future.

Buying a car from a private seller, was a pretty easy process. I usually buy from dealerships. I’ll say I’m pretty impressed. I had plenty of help along the way, from a few of the customer service representatives in the Private seller department. They guided me in the right direction in every step of the way. 10/10 🙂

Great process, questions were answered online and by real people on the phone. After the money wire transfer, I got a little nervous, but Cory from Autotrader Private Seller Exchange called me and verified everything and answered my questions, relieving my fears that my money had gone to some scammer named Babaloo in Bangladesh. Seriously, real fears have to be overcome with transactions like this~ huge leap of faith! But you guys pulled through like champs and the whole process was seamless. The vehicle handoff after test drive, one click solution for both buyer and seller was actually amazing and magical. The money being held for the seller was transferred to him in seconds! Well done! I'll be referring you guys to everyone I know (including Babaloo from Bangladesh!)

Very easy and secure as a car buyer. I was apprehensive at first, but the process was easy and even though there was a few issues on my end, they were handled in less than a minute on the phone with Autotrader. Very easy to communicate with the seller and the step by step process went smooth. Small fee for buying through Autotrader which I felt was very fair considering it still came with backing through Autotrader over the higher price package which comes with more protection. Would absolutely buy through Autotrader again!

Private seller here. Auto trader spams you with bots for a few days then low balls you on your car. What a joke. Don’t use Autotrader anymore if you’re a private seller.

AT's private seller exchange has been fantastic. Specifically the service from the team.