CarGurus Statement on DCWP Claims: CarGurus has Pioneered Automotive Price Transparency for Consumers for the last 20 Years

A statement from CarGurus CEO Jason Trevisan:

We are deeply disappointed that the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) is bringing claims against CarGurus. We’re also surprised they’re taking this step given our history of leading the market in information transparency, our open collaboration with them, and our repeated efforts to engage productively with them.

Their claims don’t reflect the facts: Since our founding in 2006, CarGurus has pioneered used car price transparency for consumers through tools and features that have since become industry standards. Over the last 20 years, we’ve continued to raise the bar as the leading provider of automotive information, driving others to follow our example.

Trust and transparency have been core to the CarGurus mission. We’ve led the industry with tools that give shoppers more confidence when making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives — a responsibility we take seriously.

• We were the first to introduce Deal Ratings that objectively evaluate a vehicle’s list price relative to similar cars in a region across a full spectrum of ratings, ranging from Great Deal to Overpriced.
• We provide these deal ratings from an unbiased point of view, rather than using it as a marketing tactic. Because of that, we continue to be the only car shopping site to identify listings as Overpriced.¹
• We maintain the highest standards for Great Deal ratings. CarGurus awards our top deal ratings to a smaller share of used inventory than competitors.²
• We were the first to show a listing’s price change history and days on the market. Both give consumers useful information as they search for the right car and connect with dealers.
• We encourage shoppers to rate their dealer experiences and limit reviews to those who can verify they interacted with the dealer, giving consumers an extra layer of transparency when deciding where to buy.
• We provide vehicle history reports which give shoppers a clearer picture of a vehicle’s past, including reported accidents, prior damage, and title status.

These are just some examples of our legacy of transparency as a marketplace, and they show a clear through line of efforts to provide the most data-rich and transparent consumer shopping experience. Beyond our history, we’re always looking to the future as we recognize that maintaining our position as a market leader is never done.

We’ve continued to invest in and prioritize new tools, technologies, and guidelines to continue providing transparency as regulations, pricing practices, and consumer expectations change. Recent examples of this include:

• Required dealer fee disclosure: We were the first car shopping site to require that dealers disclose any mandatory dealer fees (not including governmental fees) on used car listings to keep their Deal Ratings. Listings without fee information get a “No Rating” price analysis and are ranked lower in search results.
• Clearer pricing on site: We added “Price includes fees” and “No additional dealer fees” badges and filters to help shoppers easily identify these listings. Listings without fee information are clearly labeled as “Fees not disclosed”, so shoppers can see and compare all available options.
• Adapting to new risks: Because pricing practices evolve and no system can identify every issue immediately, we are continuously enhancing our tools, processes, and policies as new patterns emerge. This includes ongoing investment in our Trust and Safety team, who use a combination of AI tools and human review to identify potential issues and take action when listings don’t meet our standards (including removing deal ratings, pricing, and even removing dealers from our platform for non-compliance).
• Proactive industry collaboration: We’ve been working with automotive industry associations, dealer technology partners, and federal and state agencies to encourage transparency improvements and share ideas for how to best move the industry forward. As we built our fee-disclosure updates, we worked closely with regulators to better understand their focus on price transparency. We’ve proactively shared best practices with dealer listing-feed providers.

This reflects the many ways we’re continuing our mission to provide consumers the most trustworthy experience in car shopping, a goal that’s consistent with the DCWP’s mission of safeguarding consumers from unfair, deceptive, and predatory practices. We have shared information with them about our practices; we’ve continued to enhance our policies and enforcement tools; and we will continue to fulfill our mission of being the most trusted and transparent automotive marketplace.

The allegations in the complaint ignore our decades-long track record of setting the standard for transparency in car buying and selling. They also overlook clear evidence of the value consumers find in our features. Shoppers have made CarGurus the most-visited car shopping site in the US³, and they choose to spend more than double the total time on our site than on our closest competitor’s.⁴

We reject the DCWP’s claims and will defend the company vigorously.