What is iSeeCars.com?
iSeeCars.com is a car search engine -- "the Kayak.com for people in the market to buy a car," according to ABC News -- that aggregates all listings of used cars for sale onto one site, making it easier and much less time-consuming for consumers to find the best deals and save money. It turns used car shopping on its head by applying big data analytics powered by over 25 billion (and growing) data points and using proprietary algorithms to objectively analyze, score and rank millions of cars and tens of thousands of dealers, providing helpful insights and guidance to users to find a good car at a good price from a trustworthy seller.
Based in the Boston area, iSeeCars.com was founded by technology veteran Vineet Manohar, who formerly led Big Data projects at TripAdvisor, and software executive Phong Ly, who helped launch new products and markets at SAP.
How does iSeeCars.com provide value to users?
The value for consumers centers on bringing information transparency to the used car shopping process.
1) Save time and manual effort. The average car shopper visits 18 different websites in their search for a car, according to a Google automotive survey. iSeeCars.com aggregates and analyzes data daily from over 75% of all used car listings in the United States onto a single site. It also brings together and evaluates relevant information from multiple sources to help consumers more easily find their perfect car.
2) Avoid overpaying and save money. One out of four used cars for sale is over-priced by an average of over $1,000. iSeeCars.com helps consumers save money by analyzing, scoring and ranking each car to identify the best deals, and by assessing each dealer objectively. Since its launch, iSeeCars.com has helped shoppers save over $60 million.
3) Arm shoppers with objective analyses and stats to negotiate a great price with the seller. iSeeCars.com provides an unbiased analysis of cars to users and highlights front and center whether the car is underpriced or overpriced, as well as statistics such as how fair the dealer is and whether they're out to gouge consumers, how long the vehicle has been on the market, price change history, the vehicle's number of owners, whether it has been in an accident, and many other data points. As a result, consumers will be able to arm themselves with the key stats in order to have a smart dialogue with the seller and negotiate a great price.
How does iSeeCars.com calculate the market price for a used car?
Knowing the market price of a car is helpful in understanding whether the asking price of a car is fair or whether the seller is pricing their cars higher than market value. iSeeCars.com calculates the market price by analyzing the prices of similar cars for sale in the same local area. A mathematical model is then created that takes into account many factors including price, mileage, condition, features to determine how much sellers are underpricing or overpricing their cars. Cars that are underpriced relative to our calculated market price are highlighted as being priced "Below Market." Overpriced cars are indicated on the site as "Above Market."
Our technology analyzes over 10 million listings on a daily basis to make our pricing calculations. Below is an example of the price analysis for a given car:
How does iSeeCars.com calculate the rating for a dealership?
While finding the perfect used car is great, it would be even better to find unbiased information about each dealer. We use a number of signals to help determine how price competitive a dealer is, how transparent the dealer is in disclosing information about the car, and how responsive it is in replying to shoppers' inquiries and questions.
For each dealer, our site compiles a scorecard that shows how the dealer ranks across each of those metrics. Here's an example of a dealer's scorecard:
How does iSeeCars.com determine whether a car is a "Good Deal"?
A used car is highlighted as a "Good Deal" if our algorithm determines that it is a good car for sale at a good price from a good dealer. To determine whether a used car is a good car, we analyze car history data, what the seller says about the car, how much the car has been used, whether it has been smoked in, the number of previous owners, and many other factors. A car is for sale at a good price if it is priced at a certain amount below our estimated market price. A dealer is good if the dealer rates highly across their scorecard compared with other dealers.
Team
iSeeCars.com is brought to you by people hailing from these companies and institutions:
User Testimonials
“Excellent Site. As a product director, and someone who has been looking for a car for the last month, I stumbled upon your site and I have to say I am impressed. The taxonomy choices, the sleek interface, and the search results are by far the best in the industry. Thanks for the nice site.” -P. Schiller
“You did very good on the lay out of this page. I can see what I want to see right there in front of me. It tells me the most important information in the center of the page right were it needs to be and there isn't anything that is annoying or in the way when I scroll down. I love how the people like me can see the car we are getting.” -N. Fordham
“I found a wonderful deal thanks to you. I wanted to thank you for your service.” -D. Elliott
“Decided to try your service/website today instead of Autotrader and liked it.” -F. Lane
“You helped me located a good car.” -K. Ross
“As of 8/4/15, I'm the owner of a 2004 Jeep Wrangler Sport. Thank you for everything in your efforts to help me find a Jeep Wrangler. I would be glad to recommend your services to help someone who is trying. Thank you sincerely.” -B. Taylor
“Thank you for your helping me find my dream car, I found a 2010 mustang convertible thru your web site and I love it I have told all my friends and family about using your site to find their dream car. Thnx again for your help.” -K. Robertson
