Don't forget the Grads... Top Used Car Sites

It is that time of year again, with Summer fast approaching, and students preparing for graduation. I know a little something about Alexa's readers, and you are a bit wealthier than most, so I'm assuming that you will all be buying cars for your graduates? Listed below are the top sites to help you begin your search for the perfect used car for your favorite graduate.

But first, a word from our sponsor, amazon.com:


Top Used Car Sites

As with so many of these lists, sometimes we are comparing apples and oranges. For example, some of the sites below sell both used and new cars. Some of these license their data from other sources, and some sites are not included at all because they are not "sites" but simply sections of much larger sites, like autos.msn.com, for example (who just happen to source their data from the #1 site on our list, AutoTrader.)

1. AutoTrader - autotrader.com
Not only is AutoTrader the biggest online used car site, it is also used to power a number of the sites in this list.
Alexa Rank: 886

2. Edmunds.com - edmunds.com
Edmunds started off in 1995 as a vehicle research website and now has a healthy business helping to sell used cars, powered by AutoTrader.
Alexa Rank: 1,130

3. Cars.com - cars.com
The number three site in our list is Cars.com, started in 1998, and owned by a conglomerate of Newspaper/Media companies.
Alexa Rank: 1,592

4. CarMax - carmax.com
Carmax is an interesting hybrid of 100 real-world car lots spread across the United States and a large online website. The advantage is that all the cars undergo the same inspection process and are warrantied and have a 5 day money back refund policy.
Alexa Rank: 4,110

5. Carfax - carfax.com
Carfax is the service that people use to make sure that they aren't buying a car that was previously "totalled". They compile data from 20 different sources so that you can see your car's official history. They also have a thorough listing of used cars for sale.
Alexa Rank: 6,615

6. CarsDirect - carsdirect.com
Number 6 on our list is Los Angeles-based CarsDirect, first launched in 2001 as a service to connect you with dealers in your area. They have been selling used cars since 2002.
Alexa Rank: 6,904

7. Vehix.com - vehix.com
Vehix.com was launched in 1996 as a automotive research portal and now has an inventory of nearly 1 million vehicles listed. Vehix.com is also one of the only sites in our roundup to experience uninterrupted growth during the economic downturn, no doubt due to their continued television advertising.
Alexa Rank: 9,567

8. Carsoup - carsoup.com
These lists always contain at least one surprise for me, and CarSoup is it. I still don't know much about them (how about an "about us" link guys) but one look at their brightly colored site and you'll see that they definitely stand out from the crowd.
Alexa Rank: 30,383

9. AutoBytel - autobytel.com
AutoBytel claims to have been the first auto-buying site, launching in 1995, and are now a publicly traded company: Nasdaq- ABTL. The AutoBytel site is beginning to look a little old-school and they have allowed eight other online car sites pass them in the rankings.
Alexa Rank: 34,125

That's it for our list today. Don't forget your Grad!