Autotrader User Reviews

Customer Experience

Positive experience16.6% of reviews
Neutral9.1% of reviews
Negative experience74.3% of reviews

~ Based on 825 written reviews from the US App Store.

What users say

Is Autotrader Safe?

Autotrader - Shop & Buy Cars appears safe based on user ratings. AppsHunter Safety Score for Autotrader is 94/100.

This assessment is based on 345,607 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.7/5.

Safety Analysis

93.8% of ratings point to a safe experience
2.7% of ratings suggest some concerns
3.6% of ratings point to a risky experience

~ Based on 345,607 App Store ratings for Autotrader.

Is Autotrader Legit?

Autotrader - Shop & Buy Cars appears to be a legitimate app. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Autotrader is 90/100.

Based on 90 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Add dealers with 0 APR

Please add dealership that provides zero APR for how many months.

Awful

This has always been the worst app ever created by humanity. Saved cars are constantly lost, app crashes, freezes, takes forever to load. DO BETTER autotrader its been long enough. This thing SUCKS.

Weird animation

Why is it playing an ad for itself every time I open the app?

Horrible

Fix your damn app. Can’t access messages!!!!!!!

Mb

Used to be better when you could search by a map, now you have to magically search by zip codes out of state and how do I know the zip code

All spam

Listing has been active for one day and only have received 8 spam contacts. Spammers or Autotrader have deleted the accounts (after I had communicated w each of them) but they still show up in my dashboard. Also created account on website and app will not allow me to login to the app (login and verify through Google and it goes back to sign in). It’s only 29$ but so far not worth that at all (listed below autotrader’s recommended price as well).
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It is time to go to the next level

Every brand/model has some options that other models do not have. Add keyword search and use AI to populate keywords. With everybody calling autonomous driving a different name, it is really hard to search for or compare capabilities

Some keywords may even have values, for example towing capacity, range, and stopping distance
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Seller Experience 2026

0 real inquiries and 10 scam chat messages across three weeks. Car in question is a 2015 vehicle in “very good condition” with 117k miles and priced in line with KBB. All while being shown “data” stating the “spotlight ad” has shown up in over ‘4,000’ search results. Not recommended for private sellers.
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Thanx - This website Worx great!

Bought a few vehicles with AT info. Great for first start and reviews!

Scammer site for individual sellers

If you want to be spammed by scammers then list your car here. If you ask for a refund they will refuse you. What a disappointment. Within 24 hours of my posting I was contacted by a dozen plus scammers wanting me to buy some alternative auto history report. Everyone wants you to communicate off the platform so they can snarl you. Autotrader offers an identity verification feature, but it’s not mandatory so the scammers don’t do it. Stay away.
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Can’t use advanced search anymore

The side menu is completely gone. App no longer works.

Unusable

Whatever the team has done in the most recent update has broke the app. After 1 search it begins to overheat my phone (which is less than a year old). It’s choppy, pictures won’t load, and completely useless.

Horrible experience for private sellers

If you are a private seller, you’re better off listing the car elsewhere.

First, the UI on this app is genuinely awful. You can’t receive or send messages from the app as it glitches out, and the app straight up doesn’t support the “seller dashboard.” Most functions of the Autotrader website don’t function well on mobile either — you’ll have to be on a computer to do anything.

Second, most of the inquires you receive are scams. Most are obvious scams, but sometimes you’ll be talking to a potential “buyer” for a long time before you catch on.

Good luck finding a human being at Autotrader to address any issues you’re having. There is a lack of seller support in general.

Overall a huge waste of time and money. You’re better off using Facebook marketplace.
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Horrible Messaging

Been through multiple updates and the messaging platform continues to perform horribly. Constantly flashes the whole screen. Hard to open messages. I have a 1 year old phone - this shouldn’t happen.

Scummy offers, Overwhelmed with scams

Trying to sell a car is very difficult with the large number of scam/bot accounts. Also the app seems to be a poor wrapper around a web version — just a poorly designed interface.

Also AutoTrader will repeatedly send you automated lowball offers, each time with a lower amount. This feels like a scummy business practice.
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Algorithm sucks

Algo operates like a drunk monkey with a flamethrower. If
I’m looking for a 5-7 year old 4Runner, that doesn’t mean I’ll take a new one instead….
Or a Tacoma.

It would be a better user experience if you just gave the user what they wanted.

No leads. Only scammers. Broken app

App features (chat) don’t work. Still have to use web browser for full functionality. Worthless service now anyway. The scammers found it and you’ll be bombarded with them.

Search Criteria

We should be able to have the option of doing statewide searches in addition to doing a distance from a particular location or zip code.

A terrible website

For a big company, their website is a shambles! The fact that you can only enter one parameter at a time, is a joke, it takes forever to get anywhere and the layout is just not user-friendly. It needs a complete overhaul.

Tons of Scammers

The messages portion of app is buggy. And I paid $50 to list our car and all I’m getting is tons of AI chats trying to scam me.

I’ve given up trying to sort through fake and real. You waste so much time on the conversation that you are piased off once you realize you are chatting with a bot