CarGurus Releases 2016's Most Affordable and Expensive Used Car Shopping Cities

Analysis Uncovers Certain "Carbitrage" Hotspots Where Shoppers Can Save Significantly

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., August 30, 2016 – CarGurus (https://www.cargurus.com), a leading car shopping website, today released a study ranking the most expensive and most affordable U.S. cities for car shoppers to buy a used car in 2016. Topping the list of most expensive cities is Fresno, CA, where prices on comparable car models are on average 21 percentage points higher than in Miami, FL, the city named most affordable in this study. Overall, the analysis showed a strong concentration of higher used car prices in cities on the West Coast.

After crunching price data for millions of nationwide used car listings, CarGurus analysts also uncovered specific "carbitrage" opportunities for shoppers to find savings by simply expanding where they search for their next car, or even selling their current car in one city and buying their next in another. For example, Chattanooga shoppers looking to buy a used 2013 F-150 could expand their search to Atlanta where they can save almost 4 percent on a comparable model, according to the study. In Chattanooga, the average price for that model pickup truck with average mileage (46,700 miles) is just under $24,500 as compared to just under $23,500 in Atlanta. Another example: those living near Wichita will see similar savings by extending their search to Oklahoma City, where a 2007 Chevy Tahoe with 130,800 miles can produce almost $1,200 in savings.

"While staying local makes sense for most car shoppers, they also may not be aware that car prices do vary across the country," said Lisa Rosenberg, data analyst at CarGurus. "Expanding a car search to a nearby city can sometimes yield significant savings, and for those truly driven by price, it might be worth it."

The full findings from this study, an interactive map showing the full list of metro areas, as well as the most affordable and most expensive cities to buy a used car can all be found below:

* CarGurus interactive used car price map shows the percentage above or below the national average for 98 U.S. metro markets
* Green indicates more than 1% below the average, red indicates more than 1% above the average and yellow is within 1% of the average

Methodology

CarGurus applies mathematical models to analyze and compare millions of car listings and help car shoppers find great deals in their local market. For this analysis, CarGurus compared Instant Market Value (IMV) data on more than 5 million used cars listed for sale in the largest metro areas in the continental U.S. to determine how prices stack up in different cities. Analysts compared prices on used cars (model years 2001-2016) in each metro area to the nationwide average for comparable vehicles, then averaged the price differences for the individual cities studied to determine an overall percentage difference for each city versus the national average. Metro areas are defined as the area 50 miles around the city center. For the complete 2016 ranked list of cities, visit: https://cargur.us/brgmt

About CarGurus

Founded in 2007 by Langley Steinert, co-founder of TripAdvisor, CarGurus (https://www.cargurus.com) is a leading online automotive shopping destination focused on bringing transparency and efficiency to the car research and shopping experience. The site uses technology and market data analysis to help millions of automotive shoppers search for cars and quickly identify the best deals from top-rated dealers in their local area. Today, the site serves more than 20 million unique monthly users and more than 15,000 car dealerships, and ranks #1 among car shopping websites in the U.S. by daily unique visitor traffic. CarGurus also has sites in the UK and Canada.