Craigslist Car Search
Web and SaaS
car search aggregator
SHOW HN2012
Craigslist Car Search
Hey all - we built this because we really like buying off craigslist vs dealerships.
carsabi.com#craigslist car search#used cars#car listings#vehicle search
236points
103comments
#61of 1,677 in 2012
Top 4%of 2012 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
19 positive, 28 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 23 critical, out of 76 comments about the project. Thread score -0.04.
Execution: 1 for, 14 againstIdea: 7 for, 5 againstDesign: 4 for, 4 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clean, intuitive interface and useful filters
From 4 comments
This looks fantastic! Reminds me of padmapper, for cars. I'm really liking some of the things you've done to parse out information into a more digestible/searchable format. The…
mrmaddog on HNThis is great. Just literally gave up searching CL for a new car after ten minutes of click/back/click/back and saw this here. Timing couldn't be better, and it's quite intuitive.
conipto on HNNo Datsun?!? For "car guys" you need to allow searching by the platform code. Way more important and specific than the decade-spanning model names. For example "e30" should…
pkamb on HNLove it, the interface is great. I'd like to see query parameters stored in the URL instead. As others have mentioned, it'd be nice to be able to bookmark pages and you currently…
michaelschade on HN
Useful for finding a car quickly
From 3 comments
Very nice. Used it to research upcoming purchase quickly, would have signed up to persist saved results if you had that option. Main feedback - browser refresh, back/forward,…
gleb on HNAwesome tool, will use to buy next car.
bordicon on HNWell done! I like it a lot. I'll probably be in the market for a car soon and will definitely check it out. Thanks.
timsegraves on HN
Objections
Likely violates Craigslist terms of use on automated crawling
From 4 comments
According to the Craigslist Terms Of Use (http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use) 7. CONDUCT You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content: ... u) use…
senthil_rajasek on HNYou're very vulnerable to CL shutting you down.
dreadsword on HNSome feedback: 1. didn't work for me until I realized I have to enable cookies? 2. how do I search for any kind of hatchback? 3. did my scrollbar just turn pink in chrome?…
ck2 on HNThis is very cool and would be helpful for more than just cars if it weren't in violation of the terms of use on Craigslist.
sir_charles804 on HN
Bookmarking and URL state missing
From 4 comments
Nice interface. A few thoughts: * There is no way to get back to the home screen. If I want a blank slate I have to manually clear out the fields. * I can't bookmark searches,…
underwater on HNThis is awesome, but maybe consider persisting some basic parameters in the URL string so that I can bookmark a particular page that I like to check often?
bengl3rt on HNLove it, the interface is great. I'd like to see query parameters stored in the URL instead. As others have mentioned, it'd be nice to be able to bookmark pages and you currently…
michaelschade on HNFinally a used car search service that makes sense. Though it needs a way to bookmark search results.
jcarden on HN
Zip code input confusing and leading zeros lost
From 4 comments
I can't seem to get this to work. I type "Vancouver" in the "near" box and I just get a message that says "Please match the requested format.". What's the requested format? What…
kisielk on HNThe zipcode doesn't deal with leading zeros on autodetection properly. Mine said "2138" where it should have said "02138", so it took me a minute to realize it was a zip code.
cbr on HNBUG: Zip codes are losing leading zeroes - make sure you store them as strings rather than numbers.
andrewcamel on HNI'm from Australia, but when I enter text into the "Near" box it says "Please match the requested format.". What format was requested? I tried a postcode, and suburb, neither…
plasma on HN
Back and refresh and new-tab behaviour broken
From 3 comments
Very nice. Used it to research upcoming purchase quickly, would have signed up to persist saved results if you had that option. Main feedback - browser refresh, back/forward,…
gleb on HNNo Datsun?!? For "car guys" you need to allow searching by the platform code. Way more important and specific than the decade-spanning model names. For example "e30" should…
pkamb on HNI searched for something and now it is stuck with that result. Even if I go to a new tab.
therandomguy on HN
Requests
Saved searches and notifications
From 3 comments
pretty good, although for craigslist, there is really no sense in letting someone search within 14 days. anything that's a good deal is gone almost right away I lost out on like…
vaksel on HNNice. Needs saved searches and "anded" searches that would search for more than one thing at a time without having to enter it each time. Some sort of notification app for…
lysine23 on HNYeah, this is totally true. I think we'll be adding a notification system with saved searches soon, but we wanted to see if anyone liked the idea at all first. Also with the 14…
dw5ight on HN
Bookmarkable URLs for search parameters
From 2 comments
This is awesome, but maybe consider persisting some basic parameters in the URL string so that I can bookmark a particular page that I like to check often?
bengl3rt on HNLove it, the interface is great. I'd like to see query parameters stored in the URL instead. As others have mentioned, it'd be nice to be able to bookmark pages and you currently…
michaelschade on HN
Support for more countries such as Canada and UK
From 3 comments
I like it. I'm located in Canada and when I put in my canadian zip code first just to get back to the main page again. You should give a notification when someone enters in a zip…
ricksta on HNUS only? How about Canada?
cvanderlinden on HNDoesn't work with UK postcodes
atomicdog on HN
Exclusion or multi-term search
From 3 comments
my gripe with 90% of car searches. i'm not after one specific car. i'm buying a used car. i have a fixed budget and a some cars that I would avoid. everything else is fair game.…
gcb on HNLove it! Searching on value feels like it'd be useful for a trader, but not necessarily an individual with a strict price limit. How about adding a value measure to the boxes?…
blueski on HNNice. Needs saved searches and "anded" searches that would search for more than one thing at a time without having to enter it each time. Some sort of notification app for…
lysine23 on HN
Questions
Whether the maker has permission from Craigslist
From 2 comments
According to the Craigslist Terms Of Use (http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use) 7. CONDUCT You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content: ... u) use…
senthil_rajasek on HNNice job. Suggestion: specify what format you expect for the "Near" field. It took me a few tries to realize it wanted a ZIP code (and all the while it was telling me to "match…
kasrak on HN
What technology stack the site uses
From 2 comments
Can we know what language/framework/technologies are used on your site? It's pretty well done, congrats.
electrotype on HNVery cool. What's the software stack behind this? How are you performing searches across all this very diverse data? For example, you must be doing some sort of text-analysis to…
sktrdie on HN
Alternatives named
AutoTempest
From 1 comment
I used www.autotempest.com late last year to find my latest car and I'm glad to see some competition emerging. After a quick review, two things that strike me: 1. One feature I…
deltaqueue on HN
Autoglance
From 1 comment
This has some similarity to Autoglance (which is more Hipmunk-like in its UI, currently does not include craigslist data, but does allow searching by color) posted here a few…
jaredsohn on HN
PadMapper
From 2 comments
This looks fantastic! Reminds me of padmapper, for cars. I'm really liking some of the things you've done to parse out information into a more digestible/searchable format. The…
mrmaddog on HN[edit: added mention of Padmapper] I have heard -- anecdotally, at least -- that while that TOS exists, CL practically enforces this if you're (a) straining the site and/or (b)…
daguar on HN
FindTheBest car listings
From 1 comment
Interesting market, with probably a lot of emerging competition from players who understand how to get listing inventory and make interesting insights about the "value" of each…
arosenberg on HN