11 car-buying apps in Canada

You can save any vehicle you’re interested in as you browse, and if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can sign up to receive email notifications about new vehicles that match your needs.

When you’re ready to buy, fill out an easy application on Clutch’s website to prequalify for financing or pay in cash.

Prequalify with Clutch

This app has a tag system next to many postings to let you know if you’re getting a below or above market price for the vehicle you’re interested in. On top of that, you’ll be able to save your search and get price alerts and new listings straight to your email inbox. You can also view CARFAX history reports to help you assess whether a vehicle is worth buying.

It’s easy to sign up for an AutoTrader account, which will allow you to save vehicles as you’re scrolling.

When you conduct a search on this car-buying app, you can specify what type of car you’re looking for using a number of generic filters such as price and mileage. You can also choose to search by more specific filters such as the size of the cabin, the safety rating and the car’s fuel economy.

As an added benefit, CarGurus will give you a rating of how good each vehicle’s price is along with an overall rating out of five stars for the dealership. You’ll also get an average breakdown of how much you’ll have to pay for your vehicle each month. This will help make sure that you get the best deal possible from a reputable and trustworthy source at a price you can afford.

After you define a search in this car-buying app, you’ll get a list of vehicles that match the specific parameters you’re interested in. One of the major benefits is that the mileage and price will be listed in the main vehicle list, so you won’t need to open postings in another window to access pertinent information.

You’ll need to watch out for ads in the app, which can interfere with the search functionality. Some users also warn that you’ll need to watch out for scammers when buying and selling cars on Kijiji.

Most of the vehicles listed on this app are private-sale vehicles but you’ll find the odd dealership ad here and there. The plus side of this app is that it’s well-known in most areas so there are a lot of listings available. It’s also easy to negotiate the price with the seller before you go to see the car (and there are no pushy salespeople to contend with!).

The downside of shopping with Used.ca is that just about anyone can post an ad, which means you could end up buying a lemon. This app also provides fewer filters to search by, which means you can’t get overly specific about what you’re looking for.

The main benefit of using Facebook Marketplace is that all your communication with sellers happens through Facebook Messenger. It also allows you to see the seller’s Facebook profile as well as how long they’ve been a member of Facebook. This can give you additional peace of mind if you want to make sure that the person you’re buying from is a trustworthy source.

The only thing you might want to be cautious of when using Marketplace is that the seller can also view your profile if you send them a message. This could potentially expose you to security risks so you should be sure that your profile is set to private and doesn’t give away sensitive personal information.

You can also check the latest manufacturer discounts, estimate the trade-in value of your current vehicle and apply to pre-qualify for a car loan through TD Auto Finance. If you’re ready to buy, you can then be connected with the closest participating dealer.

The app is easy to understand and user-friendly, while another benefit is that you get the peace of mind of dealing with a Big Five bank. But the app is for new vehicles only, so if you’re looking for used car apps you’ll need to consider other options.

You can get details of incentives and rebates, compare prices for similar vehicles, access price guidance for recommendations on how much you should pay, and trade-in valuations. And if there’s a local recommended dealer available, CarCostCanada will refer you in their direction.

Unfortunately, the app isn’t currently available on Android devices.

Start by choosing the make and model of vehicle you want, entering your city and selecting a price range. For more advanced search options, you can filter results based on the model year, mileage, transmission, style of vehicle and more.

And while you may need to visit the dealership in person before buying in some cases, Carpages.ca also offers a Buy From Home program. This allows you to have the vehicle brought to your home for a test drive, or delivered to you once you have purchased it.

The benefit of this app is that you can access thousands of cars in one place. It also allows you to search by generic filters so that you can narrow down what type of vehicle you’re interested in.
The main downside of this app is that you won’t be able to contact sellers directly in the app, which means all of your communication won’t be in one place. You’ll also have to navigate through irrelevant ads within the app for other car-buying sites.

From there, you’ll get a list of vehicle-specific data that outlines what other drivers have paid in your area for a similar vehicle. You can also request that dealers submit their lowest bids in a reverse auction for the car you want — which guarantees that you get the best price.

The biggest concern with this site is that you’re essentially handing your personal information over to a long list of dealers in your area, which could result in unwanted calls or emails. That said, you can avoid this if you upgrade to Unhaggle Premium, which operates on an anonymous basis for both you and the dealers you’re sourcing quotes from. However, the Premium service costs $500.