Los Angeles-based CarsDirect is the leading multi-brand online car buying service, providing new and pre-owned cars and related products and services. As the pioneer of the direct online car buying model, CarsDirect has become the natural choice for consumers who demand objectivity, selection and upfront pricing, and for car sales dealers who want to leverage the Internet for cost-effective incremental sales and revenue.

When customers browse the site without entering personal data, CarDirect will gather and store certain information about the visit. This does not identify customers personally and cannot be linked back to them, unless the customer decides at some point to identify him/herself. But customers who are browsing will have the following information recorded: their IP address, the type of browser and operating system used to access the site, the date and time of access and the pages visited. We are not at all impressed by this level of intrusion.

There is an astonishing list of 49 used car makes – more than most used car sales sites offer. And they encompass more than mere run-of-the-mill brands. We are well impressed by their offerings. They should however place more emphasis on showcasing these cars in pictures too.

This site offers information on finding deals for online customers, but it all depends on what sort of price range one is willing to pay. There is a lot of text on site about how to buy a used car and how to find these special deals. In practical terms we didn’t see any special deals.