ADESA vs CarMax Auctions
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ADESA
This app offers a digital auction platform for wholesale car buying. It provides a streamlined experience for bidding and purchasing vehicles from various sales channels, anytime and anywhere. Enhanced search and personalized recommendations help users find and decide on inventory efficiently.
- Digital auction platform
- Bid on timed and live auctions
- Search and filter vehicle inventory
- Vehicle valuation tools
- Personalized recommendations
- Saved search alerts
- Real-time push notifications
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ADESA is revolutionizing the wholesale car buying experience by bringing buyers a more efficient, transparent & streamlined digital auction platform. Get better results with less effort on the newly redesigned ADESA mobile app—anytime, anywhere. One place to bid & buy: Find inventory across all ADESA sales channels! Bid 24/7 on ADESA Clear timed digital auctions any day of the week, and join live daily sales at one of our 56 locations or view auction run lists on ADESA Simulcast—all in one optimized app. Enhanced search & filter functionality: Expanded filters, Condition Report summaries, vehicle valuation tools and more make it easy to research vehicles and find exactly what you’re looking for. We help you do the work: Get personalized vehicle recommendations, saved search alerts, real-time push notifications and more to stay informed and make quick decisions. Discover a new way to buy wholesale with ADESA.
CarMax Auctions
This app allows licensed dealers to participate in weekly vehicle auctions. Dealers can view inventory, research vehicles, place bids in real-time, and listen to live auctioneer audio.
- Real-time bidding
- View vehicle lists
- Place notes and watches
- Research vehicles
- View photos
- Live auctioneer audio
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Welcome to the CarMax Auctions app, made for licensed dealers to source the best inventory from across the country. Auctions are held every week and are conducted by professional auctioneers. CarMax Auctions app features: - View and bid in real time. - View lane vehicle lists and place notes, watches and early bids. - Research vehicles and view photos. - Listen to real-time audio as an auctioneer calls the auction.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ADESA at 2.8 against CarMax Auctions's 1.8. ADESA also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (159 vs 5). CarMax Auctions's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ADESA holds the better App Store score, 2.8 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ADESA has 159 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 9% of ADESA's written reviews are positive against 0% of CarMax Auctions's.
ADESA ships an update weekly, CarMax Auctions every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ADESA | CarMax Auctions |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (159 ratings) — better | 1.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 9.3% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 159 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 12.0.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ADESA | Auction Frontier |
Customer experience
ADESA
CarMax Auctions
Bugs and requests
ADESA
Reported bugs
3 issues- Constant log-outs and need to re-enter credentials
- Inaccurate vehicle status and location information
- Inability to filter and search inventory effectively
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to sort watchlist by lane and run number
- Restore access to past sale reports and vehicle values
- Improve real-time vehicle location tracking
CarMax Auctions
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ADESA
No in-app purchases
CarMax Auctions
No in-app purchases
