Finding a vehicle

Introduction

For international visitors to the United States, buying a vehicle can be much more cost-effective than renting, especially for visits longer than a couple of months.

And no one ever dreamed of cruising Route 66 in a rented Hyundai Elantra.

So how should you go about finding a vehicle to buy?

This article aims to help you understand how to find a vehicle to purchase that suits your visit.  Let’s go.

Table of Contents

Buying from a dealer - search portals
Buying from individuals
Buying from auctions
Vehicle values

One way to search for vehicles would be to go to every auto dealer’s website and search for vehicles there.  But that’s time-consuming.

A faster way to search for vehicles sold by dealers is to use a vehicle search portal, which aggregates listings from multiple dealerships, allowing you to sort and filter the results.

In the US, vehicle search portals tend to specialize in vehicle type: the ones that are good for cars and trucks aren’t as good for motorcycles and motorhomes, and vice versa.

We’ll share our favorite search portals by vehicle type below.

The following search engines aggregate cars and trucks for sale by dealers and make it easy to sort and filter:

• Autolist
• Cargurus
• Truecar

Autotrader lists cars and trucks for sale by dealers and individuals.

If you're looking for a motorhome (we call them Recreational Vehicles, or RV's in the US), you should check out these search engines:

• RV Trader
• Camping World

W‍hile not technically a search portal, many buyers find used motorhomes for sale offered by rental companies, such as Cruise America.  Rental companies typically keep motorhomes in service for a fixed number of years or mileage (e.g., 5 years or 150,000 miles).  When they reach the end of their rental life, the rental company refurbishes them (removing all of the rental company’s branding) and sells them to the public. While these vehicles may have a bit of wear and tear, the rental company has serviced them regularly through their rental life and made any necessary repairs.

If you're planning to visit the US on two wheels, Cycletrader is an excellent resource.

‍If you’d prefer to buy your vehicle from an individual instead of a dealership, there are several great places to start your search.

Craigslist is a great place to search for used vehicles sold by individuals because it offers a wide variety of listings, in every city and town in the US, often at lower prices compared to dealerships.

Facebook is another great place to search for vehicles for sale by individuals.  While you might begin your search on Facebook Marketplace, joining groups that align with the geography or interest of your visit can also be a great place to find vehicles.  For example,

• Travelers of the Panamerican Highway through the Americas often list list their vehicles on the Panamerican Travelers Association page,
• Porsche lovers find buyers and sellers on the Porsche 911 Buy and Sell page, and
• Austin and Surrounding Areas Buy, Sell, Trade connects buyers and sellers in and around Austin, Texas.

So if your visit has a specific theme, vehicle, or location, use the search function in Facebook, join a couple of groups, and start watching for vehicles that suit you.

A word of warning when it comes to searching for vehicles at auction:

• most auction venues are only accessible by licensed auto dealers,
• many that are available to individuals are for damaged (salvage) vehicles, and
• some are great for niche situations.

Most auto auctions, such as Manheim and Adesa are accessible to licensed auto dealers only, so cross these off your list.

Cheap vehicles can be found at auctions such as IAAI and Copart, but they almost come with a salvage title.  Converting a salvage title to a rebuilt title can be a complex process, and the demand for vehicles with salvage or rebuilt titles is significantly lower than demand for vehicles with clean titles, so the vehicle will be harder to sell at the end of your visit.

For certain collectors, vintage, and exotic vehicles, the auction sites Bring A Trailer and Cars and Bids can be excellent resources.  Here, sellers list their vehicles directly, and the auction platform facilitates the transaction, ensuring safety for buyers and sellers alike.

A vehicle typically has three values, listed here in descending order: retail, private party, and wholesale/trade-in.  Retail is the price that you will pay for a vehicle sold by a dealership, private party is the price you will pay for a vehicle sold by a non-dealer individual, and wholesale/trade-in is the price that a dealer will pay you for your vehicle.

The most widely used vehicle price guide in the US is Kelley Blue Book.  Other price guides include Blackbook and National Auto Dealer's Association (NADA).

As you conduct your vehicle search, check price guides to understand whether the offer price is high, low, or in-line.

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