Has Craigslist Affected Your Car Search?

In December, Craigslist began requiring dealers to pay $5 an add to post in the "cars and trucks" section. Many dealers, of course, balked! It does seem a bit steep. Several of the people we talked to said they would consider it more if it was $1 or $2 an ad, but $5 seemed excessive to lots of dealerships. The major reason we say that is a lot of the car salesmen, post their OWN ads. It's not always a "big business" posting the ads for them.

One reason Craigslist did this was because dealers were posting multiple ads for the same car. One salesman would post the 2012 Toyota and then another would post the same car an hour later, often times not even aware it was originally posted by someone else. There used to be thousands in a city with this method.

Now, you're lucky to see 25 car postings in a single day. Actually, there are only TWO cars listed for Sunday! One issue we have with it is that if Craigslist deems your ad incorrect for some reason, they can close it without a way to receiving a refund.

Instead though, many dealers are simply posting in the Cars and Trucks by Owner to get their advertisements out. 

Plenty of people use Craigslist to start their research. Our question is, has this change affected your car search and the way you look for your new vehicle?