Guidelines for Dealer Pricing and Marketing on CarGurus

August 02, 2024

All prices displayed for vehicles on the CarGurus.com or the CarGurus.ca website, and mobile and other applications, products and services (the “Site”) must be full cash prices available to any shopper. Prices cannot be conditional in any way; they must not require dealer-sponsored financing, a down payment, or other large or non-customary fees. If a dealership wishes to include incentives in its pricing, those must be incentives for which any shopper is eligible. Lastly, the pricing must comply with both the letter and the spirit of all federal, state, provincial, and local laws, rules and regulations applicable to that dealership.

If a dealer's prices do not meet these guidelines, all pricing information will be removed from the Site as soon as CarGurus becomes so aware and the dealership will be provided with prompt notice via email and the opportunity to fix the pricing so that it complies with these guidelines and can be added back to the Site. Please note that CarGurus may base its analysis of whether a dealer meets the above guidelines on the dealer's price display on the Site and the dealer's own website and on feedback from Site users relating to the dealer.

Examples of pricing problems:

  • Prices that are explicitly after down payment or trade-in.

    • For example: "All Prices reflect $2000 Trade Equity or Cash Down."

  • Prices that require dealer financing.

    • For example: "Must finance internet discount price thru dealer to get advertised deal, payments, rates and options. Credit score must be over 780+ to get advertised aforementioned deal"

  • Unreasonably large dealer preparation fees, as determined by CarGurus in its sole discretion, based on CarGurus' understanding of industry standards and/or trends.

  • Prices that include incentives that most shoppers can't receive.

    • For example: "PRICE INCLUDES AND CUSTOMER MUST QUALIFY FOR COLLEGE GRAD REBATE OF $500, CUSTOMER LOYALTY REBATE OF $500, ACTIVE MILITARY REBATE OF $500, AND FINANCE REBATE!"

  • Prices that are only the down payment or estimated monthly payments.

CarGurus may exclude or remove from the Site embedded contact information in images, often know as "Watermarking," if CarGurus determines in its sole discretion that such information is embedded with the intent of circumventing the CarGurus lead routing process.

Each vehicle listing must accurately reflect the make, model, year, trim, VIN, options and other features of a vehicle currently available for sale. The listed vehicle must be in the dealer’s possession and available for purchase, and the dealer must have the right and ability to transfer title of said vehicle. If CarGurus determines or learns that a dealership is posting inaccurate listings, those listings and/or that dealership's entire inventory may be removed from the Site.

CarGurus reserves the right (but assumes no obligation) to delete, move, condense or edit any content on the Site that comes to CarGurus' attention and that CarGurus considers unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons. In addition, if a listing has received a high volume of leads CarGurus may temporarily remove the listing from user search results.

USE OF CARGURUS DEAL RATING BADGES SERVICE: For a dealer wishing to use this service, upon request for permission made directly to CarGurus, CarGurus in its sole discretion may grant to such dealer the permission to display the requested Deal Rating Badge on the particular dealer's website. A Deal Rating Badge must be requested directly from CarGurus in advance of each time the badge is displayed (i.e., in advance of each time a page that would potentially display a badge is loaded). A dealer cannot use images or links to images of the Deal Rating Badges on the dealer's website except for the ones requested from and permitted by CarGurus. The prices listed in conjunction with a Deal Rating Badge request and in conjunction with the display of the same Deal Rating Badge must be the same and must be in compliance with these Guidelines for Dealer Pricing and Marketing on CarGurus. All Deal Rating Badges permitted for dealer use by CarGurus must be displayed by dealers only in the exact form provided by CarGurus and only as permitted by CarGurus. CarGurus may terminate the Deal Rating Badges Service or may revoke any dealer's right to use the Service or any Deal Rating Badge at any time in its sole discretion.