Why Car Buying is Broken and How We Fixed It
CarShop makes it easy to get a deal without the hassle
The Problem
If you’re anything like me, you hate shopping for a car. You can’t stand the feeling you get every time you walk into a dealership. You resent the fact that you’re expected to haggle for a fair deal. You can’t shake the thought that somehow you got gypped on your trade-in.
You walk into the dealership thinking you’ve done your homework only to have things change up on you last minute. The salesman keeps throwing numbers at you. “For $X down and $Y for your trade-in, you can have this car for $Z a month.”
You wonder, “am I getting a good deal? Is this what others are paying for this car? How do I know I’m not getting screwed here?”
The fact is, most Americans loathe the car shopping process:
One in five Americans (21%) would rather say sayonara to sex for a month than haggle over the price of a car; 44 percent would give up Facebook for one month and 29 percent would turn over their Smartphone for a weekend if it meant avoiding the haggle.
Confusion, second thoughts, and distrust of the dealership are common themes all car shoppers experience at one point or another. Yet there are no simple products out there solving this chronic pain well and in context (i.e. in the right time, at the right place.)
Until now.
The Solution
My team at Edmunds.com and I thought we’d take a stab at solving this endemic problem. We spent months trying to understand shoppers’ pain points, and we eventually came to this conclusion:
What car shoppers want is transparency first and foremost. They care about what the car is going to cost them today (i.e. down-payment,) next month (i.e. monthly payment,) and that they can afford it. Not what the total price of the car is, unless they’re paying cash.
We figured that if we help car shoppers understand all aspects of the car deal, including the down payment and monthly payment, and how that compares to what others have paid for the same car, they would be empowered to make smart decisions about their purchase.
We wanted to to help car shoppers buy smarter and with confidence.
So we built CarShop
We believe that CarShop makes car buying a lot less stressful and painful by design. Here’s how:
Mobility: CarShop was built as an app on purpose. Shoppers need access to actionable data while at the dealership or on the go. They need it in realtime. The experience had to be mobile and had to be easy to use. As far I know, no one else in the marketplace has created such mobile solution.
Price Transparency: We use the Edmunds True Market Value, or average price paid for a car, as the benchmark for the deal. It’s a data point trusted by both shoppers and dealers and it helps level the playing field and set the right expectations on price.
Deal Details: There are so many factors that go into buying a car. The price of the car is one, but there’s also the interest rate, available incentives, and trade-in just to name a few. CarShop helps buyers understand the complete picture so they move forward with confidence.
Guidance: In addition to providing buyers with all the data points they need in real time, CarShop also helps guide them through it all by calling out any discrepancies or out-of-bounds values. It also explains how those values impact the deal.
Live support: If all else fails to bring confidence to buyers, there’s always live, car experts one text or call away! That’s what they do full-time at Edmunds.com! A great resource for all car buyers.


CarShop is not a research app or a discovery app. At least we didn’t build it to be that. It’s completely focused on the deal and giving you, the buyer, the knowledge you need to make an informed, smart decision.
If you’re buying a car, download the app and give it a shot. If you know someone who is buying a car, send them the app. Help us spread the word :)
The app was released last week and it’s still in beta. We want to hear from you so we can make this product better. Do you think CarShop makes car buying less painful? More painful? Doesn’t affect it? Please let us know.