autoTRADER.ca Reviews 

Auto trader just permanently deleted my ad with no explanation. And i tried contacting them and have gotten no response yet. I guess there's a reason auto trader has a 2 star rating. It should be a big fat 0.

Pop ups & interference make the site next to impssible to navigate. We will not purchase from anyone who uses them.

I had to give 1 star but given the opportunity for less, Autorader Canada WOULD GET a zero no-stars. As expected, the site is still as pathetic as it was in the past. Over many years it has continued to go downhill. I placed my vehicle for sale as a private seller. Free of course but due to free, you get garbage from Autotrader. Ad ran for 3 weeks, never did get any ad counter for views even though of course this often late to technology states in the account: Coming soon
Statistics - Your listing performance statistics will appear here once the feature is live. Extend the duration of your package now. Book a Premium package Two-month boost for maximum exposure. Of course they would rather that you PAY for an ad but for free, they probably would like to say that you should be happy to have the privilege of posting on their garbage site......I do know that I got at least 1 view seeing as how the usual scammer type replied and requested that I send info to her email address and she even knew to break it up so it wouldn't be a complete easy to click on address. Scammers like this try it often, especially on Autotrader. I tried to report it directly from my email, that of course was a no-go, absolutely pathetic in that their option IS BROKEN. Customer support? Why bother, they aren't going to change how their site operates and when I placed my vehicle on Meta Marketplace, 18 views in about an hour, 2 serious responses/inquiries, sold a few hours later. THAT WAS on the very first day of posting within a mere few hours or so. In decades past I advertised in the Trader publications, vheicles, boats, trailers etc. It was a 50/50 gamble for results and one of the publications they once owned - The Buy & Sell, was actually much better but that too is long gone now. Waste your time if you like to post an ad for your vehicle but in my opinion the sooner this site falls victim to being obsolete due to being so poorly setup, the better. I won't even EVER bother perusing their site even if I was looking for a vehicle and instead, Facebook/Meta Marketplace all the way!

Very reliable and large customer pool, so selling and buying is positively competitive.

It used to be great It's absolutely terrible now. You can't set up filters properly not at all for motorcycles Even when they show you pictures of the motorcycle you may be looking for it doesn't have the model or the amount of kilometers on the bike It's absolutely disgraceful completely unusable I hate you!!!

Paid for a premium listing and advertised two personal vehicles because we’re moving out of the country. They removed my ad from the site and blocked my account, claiming I was a dealer when I’m not. There’s no phone number for private sellers, and when I reached customer service 1877 searching Google, I was told they only assist car dealers and that I should email support instead.
It’s been frustrating, and I’m still waiting for a reply and hoping for a refund. They should have at least contacted me before removing my ad and blocking my account. We would have had the chance to clarify everything and resolve it properly.
By the way, only lead I got was a text from a scammer from Pakistan with a Quebec# saying he's from Brandon who insisted a vehicle report from a flagged website, vehiclereportglobal.com. I told him I'd give him the VIN & he could get it himself. Good thing I googled legitimacy before proceeding.

AutoTrader is so not the marketplace it was back in the day. I tried the free service. They said my ad was released but it never was. It was available to scam bots however which sent deceptive texts using almost identical scripts to trick me into buying from certain car history services (do they pay for this?). They make it seemingly impossible for buyers and sellers who are not dealers or scammers to interact freely. Kijiji and Marketplace were miles better.

autotrader.ca is a scam. they take your $55 and do not actually "boost" your ad. when contacted to find out where we can verify number of views/clicks has been "boosted", they do not reply. their free version renders your ad buried and mostly unsearchable. full of dealership ads and scammers, this platform has rendered no actual leads. fb marketplace and others are a better choice which provide analytics and actual sales leads.

1 Star

My experience with AutoTrader has been incredibly disappointing.

I paid to list my vehicle, only to have the ad never go live due to what AutoTrader described as "technical difficulties." Taking a customer's money while failing to provide the service they paid for is unacceptable, especially for a company that has been in the automotive marketplace for decades.

What makes this even more frustrating is that there appears to be no sense of urgency to resolve the issue. When someone is selling a vehicle, timing matters. Every day a listing is delayed is a day of lost exposure and potential buyers.

AutoTrader used to be the gold standard for buying and selling vehicles. Unfortunately, it feels like the company has failed to keep pace with modern technology and customer expectations. Meanwhile, platforms like Facebook Marketplace and other newer competitors offer faster, easier, and often free alternatives that actually work when you need them to.

It's disappointing to see a once-respected brand fall behind because it can't reliably deliver the basic service customers are paying for. Based on my experience, I would have a hard time recommending AutoTrader to anyone looking to sell a vehicle.

The updated/new app is horrible. I'm now using a different site/app when looking for a vehicle.
It's just too many steps to complicated before seeing results. I am no fan of the updated app.

Please be advised that this scammer is operating on autotrader.ca

If you encounter this wording and / or this number be aware

1-825-917-9600

Before I lock in my schedule and arrange a ride, could you send me the VI report from Carused. ca? I prefer it since it gives more detailed info like auction data, vehicle score, inspection results, and a full history. It's carfax, just more cheaper, so I think it's a better deal. Would appreciate it if you could send it over before we move forward. Thanks!

Carused.ca is a scam site

Autotrader.ca is reliable and I have sent an email so that they may be aware of this scammer is operating on their site

Absolute waste of time. Every response I’ve had to our car for sale listing is a scammer wanting me to buy some random report.

I’m pretty patient and usually a positive person but this has been such a waste of time I can’t believe it.

The support email only accepts specific emails and my gmail wouldn’t work.

The scammer requests are so consistent and frequent I have to assume this is a common issue. There are lots of other marketplaces with buyers and sellers like Airbnb and Outdoorsy and we never deal with this.

Autotrader, do better.

I put my trailer on Autotrader Canada and on Facebook Marketplace. I got 49 views on Autotrader and 2 scam requests, on Facebook Marketplace I got hundreds of views and sold it through them for FREE! Personally I found Autotrader a waste of money.

I placed my first ad on Auto Trader and got a response almost immediately.
They offered to pay full value but required an auto report first and supplied the link to the vendor.
I didn't know it was a scam til after buying it.
I didn't realize this was a thing until I googled it after.
Got interest from 3 more buyers all of them asking for car reports.
Auto Trader is aware of these scams but takes no responsibility for allowing it to go on.
They should be upfront and have a big warning for new listings about these scams.
This would be very beneficial for new users of their site.
Placed ad on facebook marketplace and got over 30 legitimate inquiries within a few hours.
I was able to sell the car in one day.
Deleted my account with auto trader the same day.

They call me every single day. I have told them many times to stop calling and even to take me off their call list. They even continued to call after I deleted my account. They have not listen and I am getting pissed.

Selling privately does nothing except get you inandated by scammers selling virtual vehicle reports (like Carfax) and or requiring some sort of fee to pay a local person to see your vehicle since they (the buyer) are in another province, state or country. At least on another selling website I used some time ago they would list all the scams before posting a listing. Contacting Autotrader brings only silence. Its a website that is for dealer advertising only - its that simple. Dealer A has a vehicle to sell at price B. The veracity of all other information provided must be verified with the dealer in person (including all reports, photos etc etc).

I tried to sell my car on Autotrader, but the form did not accept my zip code, so I couldn't post an ad. I tried to contact them through the Help form and got only an error message. In Facebook Messenger, the bot gave me an email. When I sent a message to this address my email was blocked.
So, I can't post my car on the site, and I can't get assistance from site owners. It looks like a method to push away private sellers.

PS First issue was solved in several hours. I was able to put my car's ad on the site by now

Awful if you’re trying to sell your vehicle privately. There is no support, phone numbers go nowhere, absolute garbage. I paid for priority listing, and a day later they flagged my ad as fraudulent. Still waiting for a refund! Clearly dedicated to dealers and not private sellers.

Don't list your car here. You will only be targeted by scammers of different industries asking to pay for fake reports or for authorization to transfer the car or a notary agreement scam referrals by promising to pay your asking price