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Show HN: CarCheck – Car Buying Checklist App

164 points by thorlon 2y ago

Hey HN! A few years ago my brother in-law was looking to purchase his first car. He was struggling to know what to look for when going to car dealerships and felt quite overwhelmed with the financial and practical decisions required. Not that I have any particular expertise with cars or the engineering involved, but through my own experiences purchasing cars and owning them I gave him some advice and "tips". As anyone would. Things only morphed from there, I spent the next couple of years in my spare time learning to code, researching, and developing CarCheck. It's been a journey! Hindsight is 20/20 and some things I would have done differently, but that's part of the fun. I am proud to be sharing my (imperfect) first app with the world and excited to learn from you all for my next project :) I would love to hear your feedback!

sagasu007 2y ago
It would be even better if there was a pure web version
- GJim 2y ago
  Agreed, though that would make it harder for OP to track his customers. As pointed out by user 'Sneak' below app phones home with a bunch of unique identifiers and the app privacy label says those are used to track you across other apps and services as well. Hard pass from me thanks. (And a reminder that not everything needs to be a bloody phone app!)
  - prmoustache 2y ago
    And I am pretty sure this App doesn't mention the carmaker position regarding tracking of its users and the possibilities if any of disabling tracking on said cars.
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mg 2y ago
I like this approach you do with UsefulChecklists - building very generic software projects and then applying them to different topics. So my feature request is a way to follow your journey with this project. An RSS, ActivityPub, Nostr, Bluesky or Twitter feed.
- thorlon 2y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion! Will look at other ways to share updates! You are welcome to sign up to the mailing list https://usefulchecklists.com/signup https://usefulchecklists.com/signup or follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/UsefulChecklist https://twitter.com/UsefulChecklist in the meantime!
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Gerlo 2y ago
I subscribed to the mailing list and look forward to the unified app! I was going to put together a personal checklist for a house and car, but I never got around to it. So thanks for saving me the time! I haven't looked at the app too closely yet, but is it possible to add my own custom criteria, too?
- thorlon 2y ago
  You are able to add custom questions yes. Currently it's a paid feature but happy to hear feedback!
rrr_oh_man 2y ago
That’s really neat! How do you tackle the issue that it’s a high intensity, but low frequency problem?
- noduerme 2y ago
  Some people trade used cars pretty frequently and already have a mental checklist. I could see this still being useful because it's easy to get focused on one thing and miss something else.
hnlmorg 2y ago
Personally I’d remove the roadmap from your landing page. The project is either ready for consumption or it isn’t. Either way, you can still have a mail sign up with a massage like “more features are on our way, sign up to keep up to date” (or similar). By all means have a roadmap elsewhere, but the landing my page is for selling your project rather then telling people what your project currently cannot do.
- szundi 2y ago
  Seconded, feels unready
mplewis 2y ago
Can you show me some sample pre-buy questions before I install the app?
aspyct 2y ago
Nice! Might need to buy a car soon, so that's handy! A few comments: - maybe add somes weights to the questions? For example it's more important that the rear view mirrors are properly attached than having no stain on the upholstery. - some questions deserve more details. "After revving the vehicle in neutral...", am I supposed to rev it for long? Other than that... Thanks! Looks pretty good :) Nitpick on the price: I would be ready to pay to remove ads, but not for the current price.
- thorlon 2y ago
  Amazing feedback! Thanks so much. I will adjust the prices. It was a guess :)
  - aspyct 2y ago
    Not saying you _have_ to lower the price, maybe I'm just a cheap bastard ;) You know what you need out of it. EDIT: actually I just noticed it was cheaper through the "unlimited" option. Maybe a simpler/clearer pricing would do :)
- noduerme 2y ago
  I hang out with a lot of car guys. I have a friend who swears by the idea that whenever he wants to buy a used car, after a test drive he'll just leave it idling for an hour. If nothing goes wrong by that point he'll buy it.
  - aspyct 2y ago
    Interesting! Not sure a lot of pro sellers would allow that, but I can see an individual accepting the idea if it means quick cashout
  - nathancahill 2y ago
    The better tip is to test with a cold start. Lots of used car problems are masked with a warm engine. Sellers will often pre-warm the car, so note the engine temperature when you start it the first time.
gnicholas 2y ago
For the roadmap, maybe make it a separate page where people can vote on what feature enhancements they want. That way you don’t broadcast that the app isn’t fully built, and you gather feedback regarding which features are most popular.
Onavo 2y ago
Very cool, if you own a tesla, there's also https://teslaprep.glideapp.io https://teslaprep.glideapp.io
- aetherspawn 2y ago
  Thank you, about to take delivery so this was perfectly timed for us. List is super detailed and M3 specific.
  - xyst 2y ago
    wild that people are still buying Teslas given how poor the build quality can be, high service times from Tesla, and just how locked down the vehicle can be. Manufacture can also be very hostile at times.
    - natch 2y ago
      It's wild indeed. It's almost as those things are not the case, or are dramatically overblown when they do occur for Tesla (as they do for all companies but don't get overblown), and gullible people repeat them with fully good intentions.
lnsru 2y ago
I didn’t check the proposition. But is there a problem for this solution? Every car brand has an online community for every model. Every community has a forum and checklist with all the possible problems. Also most people know some car guy to ask the basics.
- jiehong 2y ago
  I think it’s fair to have generic points to check for a car. Maybe later they’ll add sub lists for each car model/make? From my experience, not knowing anything about cars and what basic things to look for, forums seemed not that great and the “top 10 things to look for” kind of articles either. I ended up asking chatGPT, and turns out it seems to know exactly about the model I was looking at and I then crossed check if the commons problems were real online.
- xyst 2y ago
  yes, it’s called getting an independent opinion from your trusted mechanic. Some used cars can appear “fine” on the surface, but once a mechanic looks under the hood (ie, under carriage inspection, checking for recalls, oil check). A used car I found online in Ohio looked perfect but paid a mechanic to check it out. Turns out the under carriage was rotted to hell. Which is honestly typical for cars in the rust belt (ie, due to salt from roads)
  - auxym 2y ago
    Yep, I live in eastern Canada, and cars here typically don't reach end-of-life due to engine mileage, but due to the frame eventually being too rusted.
  - FireBeyond 2y ago
    > checking for recalls Why would that be a problem? A manufacturer is obligated to fix an open recall at no cost to you.
- cpwright 2y ago
  You might not actually care about any particular brand or model. When I bought a new car in September 2023 (probably one of the worst times to do it), I was pretty much content with any AWD sedan or small SUV new or used that was not too old or too high mileage and had Carplay. I would have liked a power driver seat, but ended up compromising on that. Even reminding yourself of the list of features you want at each point. There is a lot to think of with a car transaction that goes beyond mechnical function. The basic four boxes of finance or leasing/trade-in/price/"extras" are a lot to keep in your head all at once when you only rarely buy a car. I ended up going to about 6 or 7 dealerships to get what I wanted at a good enough price taking into consideration the trade value on my truck and what they had in stock.
jiehong 2y ago
First of all, congrats on the launch and idea! The UI of the app reminds me a bit of CheckYourLists [0], and I could imagine being able to import lists in the app from a static web server could work nicely. [0]: https://checkyourlist.app/ https://checkyourlist.app/
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p0w3n3d 2y ago
one check missing: check if it is a new car. if it is new, you won't be able to fix it in your local garage (or will require to login to manufacturer's cloud to setup new brake pads etc).
sokoloff 2y ago
Downloaded the app and tried it out, having just picked up a used car last week. As a 5/7 “car guy” I think of car buying in two phases: winnow the range of all possible cars into a few models (possibly one) and a few year ranges per model (also possibly one), then shop for cars in that set. This app is exclusively useful in the second of those steps, though creating a decision matrix and scoring could be done similarly for the first step. In terms of utility in the second step, I have weights in mind for different questions (“no significant bodywork” has vastly higher rating than “no stains on floor mats”), and many are subjective (no used car is completely free of wear marks, but different used cars present very differently and I probably want to record a 1-5 or similar rating for some categories). Scraping AutoTempest (or Edmunds) and other sites to show me the function of asking prices vs miles and years would be worth something. I started creating that for my own shopping to try to augment my gut feel. Certified pre-owned is a high-value checkmark for individual cars, typically being worth a few thousand dollars. Where the car is is another large factor in terms of being able to consider it, from a time and money standpoint. I was shopping nationwide for two models, each with one series (a range of years where models were similarly designed/optioned), and keeping track of which cars I’d already ruled out was a drag. (For this, what I really want is a browser plug-in to change the CSS to grey out cars that I’ve already blocked [previous crash damage, missing option that I want, etc.].) With multiple cars and the scraped pricing curves, you could do some visualizations (price on Y, miles on X as an example) of the cars vs the curves. (Or cars only, vs curves as premium feature.) Absent data to show otherwise, I’d open the free version to at least 4 cars (probably 5) and provide a soft-delete (“I’m not ever buying this car.”) where those cars don’t count against the 5, in order to get more data on how people use the app, how they sort/filter, and to get more users. (If I’m only comparing two cars, I can keep that in my head.) Overall, as-is I couldn’t/wouldn’t use it, mostly because of the fixed questions and lack of weights as above. Other ideas: incorporate OBD2 scanning (perhaps with a rev share or affiliate marketing angle for the device). People will pay $25 for a device and $4.99 for your app long before they’ll pay $4.99 for your app alone. Or to find hidden bodywork, affiliate links to paint thickness meter could bring in revenue. Provide an “import details” button in pro version where you type in a VIN and scrape the web or find other sources for options, color, links, etc. Provide a barcode scanner to scan the VIN sticker on the door. This could be an easy pro upgrade upsell. I just went through this and spent 10 months of half-effort buying our car and there were definitely parts that could have been improved. Sites like AutoTempest (my primary) and cargurus* were helpful but still incomplete. When I got to the point of traveling to inspect a car, I was much more in the mindset of “buy or pass” at that moment (the 37% [1/e] dating approach to finding the optimal mate via serial dating) than I was of score a checklist and compare overall. This app could pivot towards that by helping people declare how many cars they’re willing to go see, then frame each car in relation to this optimal stopping math problem. Good luck! * Small disclaimer: I know the cargurus founder and several people working in tech there. I think I’m unbiased in saying I used it consistently (and second to AutoTempest), but it’s impossible to tell with perfect certainty.
amne 2y ago
I'm wondering who is this for? Buying cars frequently is very niche and those people just remmeber what to look for. That's called experience. And then there's people buying every couple of years. I think an app should be something that either helps you continuously (health tracking apps, home automation, etc.) but you don't access that much and apps that you access a lot (media, chat, calendar, a game or two). This is neither.
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sneak 2y ago
This app phones home with a bunch of unique identifiers and the app privacy label says those are used to track you across other apps and services as well. Hard pass on all apps of this type. Seems to me this app would be more useful as a short webpage, or perhaps single pdf.
keepamovin 2y ago
This does look cool. I think it's valid to have an app for a normally infrequent activity that is high cost and hard to undo. Thanks for making! Tangentially, does anyone have advice on a good medium capacity, medium price utility vehicle? I'm thinking F150, because it seems like the Levi's of trucks (common, reliable, not particularly fancy, old brand, big), but I don't know much.
- xyst 2y ago
  A Ford is considered “reliable” now? I suppose the Ford psyops are working. Buddy in the independent repair shop business cites Fords as his most profitable vehicle manufacture. He knows when a Ford rolls into his shop, it’s usually going to be a ton of work to keep his boys busy. Or the customer ends up declining all repairs. Expect to replace Ford vehicles on a regular interval (4-5 years?) or pay up on costly repair items. For alternatives, if you are entering a trade honestly consider a work van or “sprinter”. Much better at storing and transporting your equipment. If this is a vehicle that will just be hauling groceries around, honestly reconsider why you are buying a truck in the first place.
  - keepamovin 2y ago
    This is good to know, thank you! But not very useful advice hahaha! :)
    - relaxing 2y ago
      What’s not useful? You didn’t say what kind of utility you’re looking to get out your vehicle. Do you need to haul a bunch of equipment, or loads of mulch, or go off-road in the weekends?
      - keepamovin 2y ago
        I guess that’s fair enough, I didn’t say that. I suppose I was looking more for something like: I bought this, I like it because that, but it is bad because of some other thing. I haven’t really specced it out, I just like the aesthetic. But I suppose: off road, some equipment (bikes, etc), can sleep in it. Btw cool username !!! Haha :)
kingkongjaffa 2y ago
If im going to use something like this it needs to be hooked into hard to get data such as reliability statistics, parts availability, servicing costs in my area, part wear intervals and how soon a car will reach them (timing belt needs changing at 90,000 miles and your used car is at 70,000 miles, so get ready to spend £xxx amount relatively soon) for specific models and years.
- kingkongjaffa 2y ago
  A better idea is a car play compatible app that you can type your car into and the mileage and it can send you reminders when you reach a certain mileage that things need doing. Make it easy to know if my next service is a minor service or major service, or if i need to renew some thing that only needs changing every 3 services or that my tyres need checking or changing over to summer/winter tyres.
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago
    CarPlay protocol (at least the existing one that exists in almost all vehicles today) does not provide the phone access to that kind of information. It just allows your phone to use a screen in your car as a second monitor, and output/input for audio. The only other input I think is whether or not headlights get turned on (to dim the display at night).
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rafamvc 2y ago
I love the idea, nice website. I actually would love to hear more about the journey you briefly touched on the description. Like how you learned to code, what tech stack you choose, what was hard, what resources helped you, etc And what you would do the same and different if you had to do it again.
julienreszka 2y ago
I wish there was a light theme. Dark theme is so hard to read
londons_explore 2y ago
I kinda wish this was a webpage not an app, and that it would require no sign in. Sure, have a sign in feature if you want to save your checklist for later, but the vast majority of people will use this for just a few minutes/hours and the state can be stored in a cookie.
- qmarchi 2y ago
  Well, "cookie" but LocalStorage. Definitely could be made into an offline PWA as well so it's not reliant on a data connection.
r00fus 2y ago
I'm actually about to buy a car (having thoroughly examined various models by renting on Turo) so this is very timely! For EVs, it seems the largest question is with the EV battery. Is there any way that anyone knows how to determine the health of the EV battery consistently across make/models?
- natch 2y ago
  The charger network is the largest question. And who will give you 1% financing also helps. And which car has 320 miles range for $32,000 after EV tax credit and gas savings.
  - asynchronous 2y ago
    The current 0.99% financing offer is making me absolutely go insane compared to the interest I bought at.
  - addaon 2y ago
    What does "after … gas savings" mean? Is there some way to actually get spendable money here, or is this basically the same as saying my yacht was free because I saved so much money on not buying a bigger yacht?
    - sandworm101 2y ago
      There is/was an idea that lenders would be open to larger loans for EV cars as buyers would face reduced running costs, as opposed to a IC car. That largely hasn't materialized. Lifetime running costs of EVs just aren't as low as expected, particularly in the used car market. Getting anything fixed on a 10+yo EV is hit-or-miss in terms of cost.
      - natch 2y ago
        I think 0.99% fixed over 72 months is pretty darn good.
LeifCarrotson 2y ago
I'd prefer to buy this once, not as a subscription. A subscription for something I'm going to complete in a month and then have to remember to unsubscribe from feels scummy. It feels a little incomplete. There are two or three competing use cases that are currently commingled - choosing between models, choosing between offers, or choosing whether a particular unit you've gone to see is up-to-snuff. There's a certain set of data I need when want to decide whether I want a Highlander, a RAV4, a Prius, or a Crosstrek. All of this data is available to you as the app developer, but currently manually entered. I'm considering these options from my desk, and would prefer to do it on a web page, not on a phone. There's a completely different set of parameters when weighing the 2020 RAV4 with 60k miles at Joe's Auto in Hudsonville versus the 2018 Crosstrek with 80k sold by private party in Grandville. For this decision, I'd love if you could scrape a posting that I copied the URL for from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Auto trader, Carvana, or a dealer listing! For this decision, I particularly like a bubble chart: Price on the Y axis, mileage on the X axis, bubble diameter by year, and colors for different models or different vehicle types. You want the biggest one in the bottom left, and these can be all over, especially with older private party sales. And there's more opportunity for you to offer value with your much greater data set, comparing these bubbles to Edmunds/KBB/recent sales values. This is also trying to be a third thing, an app I bring along with me when I've found a particular unit that I want to test drive. There's definitely an opportunity to follow along and help at each of these three steps in the process, but it doesn't feel like a single workflow will work best for all three.
taoufix 2y ago
ChrisFix's handy guide: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvKbarVtwhUv6bjLhJSyaEOxaYy03j7QS https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvKbarVtwhUv6bjLhJSya... And the pdf checklist: https://www.chris-fix.com/upload/How%20to%20Inspect%20a%20Used%20Car%20Checklist%20%20FULL.pdf https://www.chris-fix.com/upload/How%20to%20Inspect%20a%20Us...
starbird3000 2y ago
Congrats on the app! If you want an example of an 'odd' case for your app, one thing I would never expect, is that my car dealer apparently recently titled my car in VA while I live in MD, although I bought the car six years ago (I discovered this when I tried renewing my MD tags and was told my car had been titled out of state). In effect, they have just stolen my car through sheer incompetence even though it's paid off and all the documentation show I owe it. Maryland MVA say there's nothing I can do until I get the dealer to sort it out. Needless to say trying to get through to anyone in their tags and title office, or getting a response from their manager has been difficult because I'm not buying a new car. So I think the app needs to call out bad dealers and those whose back office is incompetent (I'm never buying a car in Virginia again after this, no matter how cheap it is).

164 points by thorlon 2y ago

sagasu007 2y ago

It would be even better if there was a pure web version

GJim 2y ago
Agreed, though that would make it harder for OP to track his customers. As pointed out by user 'Sneak' below app phones home with a bunch of unique identifiers and the app privacy label says those are used to track you across other apps and services as well. Hard pass from me thanks. (And a reminder that not everything needs to be a bloody phone app!)
- prmoustache 2y ago
  And I am pretty sure this App doesn't mention the carmaker position regarding tracking of its users and the possibilities if any of disabling tracking on said cars.
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mg 2y ago

I like this approach you do with UsefulChecklists - building very generic software projects and then applying them to different topics. So my feature request is a way to follow your journey with this project. An RSS, ActivityPub, Nostr, Bluesky or Twitter feed.

thorlon 2y ago
Thanks for the suggestion! Will look at other ways to share updates! You are welcome to sign up to the mailing list https://usefulchecklists.com/signup https://usefulchecklists.com/signup or follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/UsefulChecklist https://twitter.com/UsefulChecklist in the meantime!
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Gerlo 2y ago

I subscribed to the mailing list and look forward to the unified app! I was going to put together a personal checklist for a house and car, but I never got around to it. So thanks for saving me the time! I haven't looked at the app too closely yet, but is it possible to add my own custom criteria, too?

thorlon 2y ago
You are able to add custom questions yes. Currently it's a paid feature but happy to hear feedback!

rrr_oh_man 2y ago

That’s really neat! How do you tackle the issue that it’s a high intensity, but low frequency problem?

noduerme 2y ago
Some people trade used cars pretty frequently and already have a mental checklist. I could see this still being useful because it's easy to get focused on one thing and miss something else.

hnlmorg 2y ago

Personally I’d remove the roadmap from your landing page. The project is either ready for consumption or it isn’t. Either way, you can still have a mail sign up with a massage like “more features are on our way, sign up to keep up to date” (or similar). By all means have a roadmap elsewhere, but the landing my page is for selling your project rather then telling people what your project currently cannot do.

szundi 2y ago
Seconded, feels unready

mplewis 2y ago

Can you show me some sample pre-buy questions before I install the app?

aspyct 2y ago

Nice! Might need to buy a car soon, so that's handy! A few comments: - maybe add somes weights to the questions? For example it's more important that the rear view mirrors are properly attached than having no stain on the upholstery. - some questions deserve more details. "After revving the vehicle in neutral...", am I supposed to rev it for long? Other than that... Thanks! Looks pretty good :) Nitpick on the price: I would be ready to pay to remove ads, but not for the current price.

thorlon 2y ago
Amazing feedback! Thanks so much. I will adjust the prices. It was a guess :)
- aspyct 2y ago
  Not saying you _have_ to lower the price, maybe I'm just a cheap bastard ;) You know what you need out of it. EDIT: actually I just noticed it was cheaper through the "unlimited" option. Maybe a simpler/clearer pricing would do :)
noduerme 2y ago
I hang out with a lot of car guys. I have a friend who swears by the idea that whenever he wants to buy a used car, after a test drive he'll just leave it idling for an hour. If nothing goes wrong by that point he'll buy it.
- aspyct 2y ago
  Interesting! Not sure a lot of pro sellers would allow that, but I can see an individual accepting the idea if it means quick cashout
- nathancahill 2y ago
  The better tip is to test with a cold start. Lots of used car problems are masked with a warm engine. Sellers will often pre-warm the car, so note the engine temperature when you start it the first time.

gnicholas 2y ago

For the roadmap, maybe make it a separate page where people can vote on what feature enhancements they want. That way you don’t broadcast that the app isn’t fully built, and you gather feedback regarding which features are most popular.

Onavo 2y ago

Very cool, if you own a tesla, there's also https://teslaprep.glideapp.io https://teslaprep.glideapp.io

aetherspawn 2y ago
Thank you, about to take delivery so this was perfectly timed for us. List is super detailed and M3 specific.
- xyst 2y ago
  wild that people are still buying Teslas given how poor the build quality can be, high service times from Tesla, and just how locked down the vehicle can be. Manufacture can also be very hostile at times.
  - natch 2y ago
    It's wild indeed. It's almost as those things are not the case, or are dramatically overblown when they do occur for Tesla (as they do for all companies but don't get overblown), and gullible people repeat them with fully good intentions.

lnsru 2y ago

I didn’t check the proposition. But is there a problem for this solution? Every car brand has an online community for every model. Every community has a forum and checklist with all the possible problems. Also most people know some car guy to ask the basics.

jiehong 2y ago
I think it’s fair to have generic points to check for a car. Maybe later they’ll add sub lists for each car model/make? From my experience, not knowing anything about cars and what basic things to look for, forums seemed not that great and the “top 10 things to look for” kind of articles either. I ended up asking chatGPT, and turns out it seems to know exactly about the model I was looking at and I then crossed check if the commons problems were real online.
xyst 2y ago
yes, it’s called getting an independent opinion from your trusted mechanic. Some used cars can appear “fine” on the surface, but once a mechanic looks under the hood (ie, under carriage inspection, checking for recalls, oil check). A used car I found online in Ohio looked perfect but paid a mechanic to check it out. Turns out the under carriage was rotted to hell. Which is honestly typical for cars in the rust belt (ie, due to salt from roads)
- auxym 2y ago
  Yep, I live in eastern Canada, and cars here typically don't reach end-of-life due to engine mileage, but due to the frame eventually being too rusted.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  > checking for recalls Why would that be a problem? A manufacturer is obligated to fix an open recall at no cost to you.
cpwright 2y ago
You might not actually care about any particular brand or model. When I bought a new car in September 2023 (probably one of the worst times to do it), I was pretty much content with any AWD sedan or small SUV new or used that was not too old or too high mileage and had Carplay. I would have liked a power driver seat, but ended up compromising on that. Even reminding yourself of the list of features you want at each point. There is a lot to think of with a car transaction that goes beyond mechnical function. The basic four boxes of finance or leasing/trade-in/price/"extras" are a lot to keep in your head all at once when you only rarely buy a car. I ended up going to about 6 or 7 dealerships to get what I wanted at a good enough price taking into consideration the trade value on my truck and what they had in stock.

jiehong 2y ago

First of all, congrats on the launch and idea! The UI of the app reminds me a bit of CheckYourLists [0], and I could imagine being able to import lists in the app from a static web server could work nicely. [0]: https://checkyourlist.app/ https://checkyourlist.app/

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p0w3n3d 2y ago

one check missing: check if it is a new car. if it is new, you won't be able to fix it in your local garage (or will require to login to manufacturer's cloud to setup new brake pads etc).

sokoloff 2y ago

Downloaded the app and tried it out, having just picked up a used car last week. As a 5/7 “car guy” I think of car buying in two phases: winnow the range of all possible cars into a few models (possibly one) and a few year ranges per model (also possibly one), then shop for cars in that set. This app is exclusively useful in the second of those steps, though creating a decision matrix and scoring could be done similarly for the first step. In terms of utility in the second step, I have weights in mind for different questions (“no significant bodywork” has vastly higher rating than “no stains on floor mats”), and many are subjective (no used car is completely free of wear marks, but different used cars present very differently and I probably want to record a 1-5 or similar rating for some categories). Scraping AutoTempest (or Edmunds) and other sites to show me the function of asking prices vs miles and years would be worth something. I started creating that for my own shopping to try to augment my gut feel. Certified pre-owned is a high-value checkmark for individual cars, typically being worth a few thousand dollars. Where the car is is another large factor in terms of being able to consider it, from a time and money standpoint. I was shopping nationwide for two models, each with one series (a range of years where models were similarly designed/optioned), and keeping track of which cars I’d already ruled out was a drag. (For this, what I really want is a browser plug-in to change the CSS to grey out cars that I’ve already blocked [previous crash damage, missing option that I want, etc.].) With multiple cars and the scraped pricing curves, you could do some visualizations (price on Y, miles on X as an example) of the cars vs the curves. (Or cars only, vs curves as premium feature.) Absent data to show otherwise, I’d open the free version to at least 4 cars (probably 5) and provide a soft-delete (“I’m not ever buying this car.”) where those cars don’t count against the 5, in order to get more data on how people use the app, how they sort/filter, and to get more users. (If I’m only comparing two cars, I can keep that in my head.) Overall, as-is I couldn’t/wouldn’t use it, mostly because of the fixed questions and lack of weights as above. Other ideas: incorporate OBD2 scanning (perhaps with a rev share or affiliate marketing angle for the device). People will pay $25 for a device and $4.99 for your app long before they’ll pay $4.99 for your app alone. Or to find hidden bodywork, affiliate links to paint thickness meter could bring in revenue. Provide an “import details” button in pro version where you type in a VIN and scrape the web or find other sources for options, color, links, etc. Provide a barcode scanner to scan the VIN sticker on the door. This could be an easy pro upgrade upsell. I just went through this and spent 10 months of half-effort buying our car and there were definitely parts that could have been improved. Sites like AutoTempest (my primary) and cargurus* were helpful but still incomplete. When I got to the point of traveling to inspect a car, I was much more in the mindset of “buy or pass” at that moment (the 37% [1/e] dating approach to finding the optimal mate via serial dating) than I was of score a checklist and compare overall. This app could pivot towards that by helping people declare how many cars they’re willing to go see, then frame each car in relation to this optimal stopping math problem. Good luck! * Small disclaimer: I know the cargurus founder and several people working in tech there. I think I’m unbiased in saying I used it consistently (and second to AutoTempest), but it’s impossible to tell with perfect certainty.

amne 2y ago

I'm wondering who is this for? Buying cars frequently is very niche and those people just remmeber what to look for. That's called experience. And then there's people buying every couple of years. I think an app should be something that either helps you continuously (health tracking apps, home automation, etc.) but you don't access that much and apps that you access a lot (media, chat, calendar, a game or two). This is neither.

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sneak 2y ago

This app phones home with a bunch of unique identifiers and the app privacy label says those are used to track you across other apps and services as well. Hard pass on all apps of this type. Seems to me this app would be more useful as a short webpage, or perhaps single pdf.

keepamovin 2y ago

This does look cool. I think it's valid to have an app for a normally infrequent activity that is high cost and hard to undo. Thanks for making! Tangentially, does anyone have advice on a good medium capacity, medium price utility vehicle? I'm thinking F150, because it seems like the Levi's of trucks (common, reliable, not particularly fancy, old brand, big), but I don't know much.

xyst 2y ago
A Ford is considered “reliable” now? I suppose the Ford psyops are working. Buddy in the independent repair shop business cites Fords as his most profitable vehicle manufacture. He knows when a Ford rolls into his shop, it’s usually going to be a ton of work to keep his boys busy. Or the customer ends up declining all repairs. Expect to replace Ford vehicles on a regular interval (4-5 years?) or pay up on costly repair items. For alternatives, if you are entering a trade honestly consider a work van or “sprinter”. Much better at storing and transporting your equipment. If this is a vehicle that will just be hauling groceries around, honestly reconsider why you are buying a truck in the first place.
- keepamovin 2y ago
  This is good to know, thank you! But not very useful advice hahaha! :)
  - relaxing 2y ago
    What’s not useful? You didn’t say what kind of utility you’re looking to get out your vehicle. Do you need to haul a bunch of equipment, or loads of mulch, or go off-road in the weekends?
    - keepamovin 2y ago
      I guess that’s fair enough, I didn’t say that. I suppose I was looking more for something like: I bought this, I like it because that, but it is bad because of some other thing. I haven’t really specced it out, I just like the aesthetic. But I suppose: off road, some equipment (bikes, etc), can sleep in it. Btw cool username !!! Haha :)

kingkongjaffa 2y ago

If im going to use something like this it needs to be hooked into hard to get data such as reliability statistics, parts availability, servicing costs in my area, part wear intervals and how soon a car will reach them (timing belt needs changing at 90,000 miles and your used car is at 70,000 miles, so get ready to spend £xxx amount relatively soon) for specific models and years.

kingkongjaffa 2y ago
A better idea is a car play compatible app that you can type your car into and the mileage and it can send you reminders when you reach a certain mileage that things need doing. Make it easy to know if my next service is a minor service or major service, or if i need to renew some thing that only needs changing every 3 services or that my tyres need checking or changing over to summer/winter tyres.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  CarPlay protocol (at least the existing one that exists in almost all vehicles today) does not provide the phone access to that kind of information. It just allows your phone to use a screen in your car as a second monitor, and output/input for audio. The only other input I think is whether or not headlights get turned on (to dim the display at night).
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rafamvc 2y ago

I love the idea, nice website. I actually would love to hear more about the journey you briefly touched on the description. Like how you learned to code, what tech stack you choose, what was hard, what resources helped you, etc And what you would do the same and different if you had to do it again.

julienreszka 2y ago

I wish there was a light theme. Dark theme is so hard to read

londons_explore 2y ago

I kinda wish this was a webpage not an app, and that it would require no sign in. Sure, have a sign in feature if you want to save your checklist for later, but the vast majority of people will use this for just a few minutes/hours and the state can be stored in a cookie.

qmarchi 2y ago
Well, "cookie" but LocalStorage. Definitely could be made into an offline PWA as well so it's not reliant on a data connection.

r00fus 2y ago

I'm actually about to buy a car (having thoroughly examined various models by renting on Turo) so this is very timely! For EVs, it seems the largest question is with the EV battery. Is there any way that anyone knows how to determine the health of the EV battery consistently across make/models?

natch 2y ago
The charger network is the largest question. And who will give you 1% financing also helps. And which car has 320 miles range for $32,000 after EV tax credit and gas savings.
- asynchronous 2y ago
  The current 0.99% financing offer is making me absolutely go insane compared to the interest I bought at.
- addaon 2y ago
  What does "after … gas savings" mean? Is there some way to actually get spendable money here, or is this basically the same as saying my yacht was free because I saved so much money on not buying a bigger yacht?
  - sandworm101 2y ago
    There is/was an idea that lenders would be open to larger loans for EV cars as buyers would face reduced running costs, as opposed to a IC car. That largely hasn't materialized. Lifetime running costs of EVs just aren't as low as expected, particularly in the used car market. Getting anything fixed on a 10+yo EV is hit-or-miss in terms of cost.
    - natch 2y ago
      I think 0.99% fixed over 72 months is pretty darn good.

LeifCarrotson 2y ago

I'd prefer to buy this once, not as a subscription. A subscription for something I'm going to complete in a month and then have to remember to unsubscribe from feels scummy. It feels a little incomplete. There are two or three competing use cases that are currently commingled - choosing between models, choosing between offers, or choosing whether a particular unit you've gone to see is up-to-snuff. There's a certain set of data I need when want to decide whether I want a Highlander, a RAV4, a Prius, or a Crosstrek. All of this data is available to you as the app developer, but currently manually entered. I'm considering these options from my desk, and would prefer to do it on a web page, not on a phone. There's a completely different set of parameters when weighing the 2020 RAV4 with 60k miles at Joe's Auto in Hudsonville versus the 2018 Crosstrek with 80k sold by private party in Grandville. For this decision, I'd love if you could scrape a posting that I copied the URL for from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Auto trader, Carvana, or a dealer listing! For this decision, I particularly like a bubble chart: Price on the Y axis, mileage on the X axis, bubble diameter by year, and colors for different models or different vehicle types. You want the biggest one in the bottom left, and these can be all over, especially with older private party sales. And there's more opportunity for you to offer value with your much greater data set, comparing these bubbles to Edmunds/KBB/recent sales values. This is also trying to be a third thing, an app I bring along with me when I've found a particular unit that I want to test drive. There's definitely an opportunity to follow along and help at each of these three steps in the process, but it doesn't feel like a single workflow will work best for all three.

taoufix 2y ago

ChrisFix's handy guide: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvKbarVtwhUv6bjLhJSyaEOxaYy03j7QS https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvKbarVtwhUv6bjLhJSya... And the pdf checklist: https://www.chris-fix.com/upload/How%20to%20Inspect%20a%20Used%20Car%20Checklist%20%20FULL.pdf https://www.chris-fix.com/upload/How%20to%20Inspect%20a%20Us...

starbird3000 2y ago

Congrats on the app! If you want an example of an 'odd' case for your app, one thing I would never expect, is that my car dealer apparently recently titled my car in VA while I live in MD, although I bought the car six years ago (I discovered this when I tried renewing my MD tags and was told my car had been titled out of state). In effect, they have just stolen my car through sheer incompetence even though it's paid off and all the documentation show I owe it. Maryland MVA say there's nothing I can do until I get the dealer to sort it out. Needless to say trying to get through to anyone in their tags and title office, or getting a response from their manager has been difficult because I'm not buying a new car. So I think the app needs to call out bad dealers and those whose back office is incompetent (I'm never buying a car in Virginia again after this, no matter how cheap it is).