To sell a car through CarGurus, you describe it on the Sell My Car page and local dealers bid; CarGurus is not a party to the sale. You take the car to the dealer you pick, which inspects it, can change the offer and pays you. Home pickup ended in 2025, when CarGurus wound down the Instant Max Cash Offer.
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CarGurus runs the website; in its Sell My Car program the buyer is always a dealer. Its help center says that when you sell through CarGurus, “your vehicle will be purchased by a participating dealership that you interact with directly to complete your sale” (CarGurus help center). The terms of use put it in legal form: “any Offer is made by a Participating Dealer (and not CarGurus) and any vehicle sale transaction in connection with the CarGurus Offer Services is between a Participating Dealer and you (and CarGurus is not party to any such transaction)” (CarGurus terms of use, as archived on October 17, 2026).
The same terms say participating dealers “are not owned or operated by, or affiliated with or acting on behalf of” CarGurus, and that they “will pay CarGurus a fee to participate in the Offer Services.” CarGurus’ annual report for 2025 describes the program from the dealer’s side: Sell My Car “allows consumers to sell their cars and dealers to make tailored trade-in offers on CarGurus consumer vehicles,” and “CarGurus dealers have control over their bidding” (CarGurus 2025 Form 10-K).
Four steps, from CarGurus’ help center and its sell page (as archived on September 14, 2026):
Not every area is covered. The sell page notes the service is “Available in select markets,” and the terms say the Offer Services “are not available in all areas and not all vehicles are eligible for Offers.” How long an offer lasts depends on where you look. The sell page, as archived, said “Local dealer offers are valid for seven days or after driving an additional 250 miles, whichever comes first,” while the current help center says dealer offers “can vary by location” and tells you to ask the dealer (help center). Read the expiry on your own offer.
The inspection can move the number. CarGurus’ terms are direct: “Any Offer from a Participating Dealer is subject to a verification inspection and may be changed upon such inspection.” They add that the dealer is not bound to buy “if and until you have provided all requested information and completed all applicable transaction documentation to the satisfaction of the buyer.” A loan doesn’t block a sale: the help center says the dealer “will guide you through the loan settling process” (help center).
If you remember CarGurus sending a truck for a car, that was the Instant Max Cash Offer, and it has ended. As archived in June 2025, CarGurus’ help center said a car sold through that program was bought “by either CarOffer, a subsidiary of CarGurus, or a participating dealership,” and that a car sold to CarOffer “will be collected by a transportation provider at a location of your choosing, typically your home” (archived copy, June 1, 2025).
CarGurus’ 2025 annual report records the end. On August 6, 2025, its board decided “to wind down CarOffer, LLC, or CarOffer, including the CarOffer Dealer-to-Dealer and Instant Max Cash Offer products,” and the report states: “The wind-down of CarOffer was completed and the business was considered abandoned for accounting purposes as of December 31, 2025” (Form 10-K, filed February 19, 2026). The same help article now names only participating dealerships as buyers and says “you will bring the vehicle to their physical location to complete the sale in person.” The sell page still uses the phrase “instant cash offer,” but the bid now comes from a local dealer, and you deliver the car.
CarGurus’ car values tool gives an estimated price range, which it builds from more than 4 million listings (car values page, as archived on October 13, 2026). It separates three numbers. Trade-in value is “the amount a dealership is likely to offer when you trade in your car,” and it is “often lower because dealers need to cover their business costs.” A private sale should bring more but “requires a good amount more work on your part.” The third is CarGurus’ Instant Market Value, or IMV, which it calls “an estimated retail price for your car based on real-time data from millions of cars listed for sale.”
CarGurus is open about the limits: its valuations “may not capture every nuance of a given vehicle, such as condition or maintenance history,” which is the gap a dealer’s inspection prices. A Sell My Car offer can also become a trade-in: the help center says you can use it to sell outright or to trade in toward a newer car, that offers and trade-in values vary by dealership, and that the dealer confirms the final trade-in value and purchase terms (help center). Depending on your state’s tax laws, CarGurus notes, a trade-in can lower the sales tax on your next car; trade-in vs. selling privately shows where.
CarGurus itself buys no cars. Its help center lists “non-drivable condition” among the reasons a car may get no offer at all (help center). With an offer, the car still has to reach the dealer: the terms say that after an offer “you will need to deliver the vehicle and any supporting documentation as required by the Participating Dealer.”
For a car that won’t move, look for a buyer who comes to it. Our guide to selling a car that doesn’t run walks through who takes non-runners and how to price one, and what a junk car is worth gives you the scrap floor.
CarGurus’ answer to “Can I sell a car without a title?” begins, “In most states, no.” It points you to your state’s DMV for a replacement and notes that “obtaining a new title invalidates a car’s old title” (help center). Its document list asks for proof of ownership, naming “registration or title,” so ask the dealer which one it will accept before you drive over.
A duplicate title costs a state fee; duplicate title costs by state lists them all. If a duplicate isn’t possible, how to sell a car without a title explains what still works, and scrapping a car without a title covers the yard route. Our buying partner, Peddle, doesn’t make the title a condition of an offer: it says it has “many buyers that buy cars without a title,” and its offer form recalculates when you say you can’t find yours (Peddle help center). You can get an offer from Peddle with no title on hand.
Both head CarGurus’ list of reasons for no offer: “branded vehicle titles” and “extensive damage” come first. Its terms also let the Offer Services turn away whole classes of car: they “may not be used to sell or trade in certain categories of vehicles at CarGurus’ and Participating Dealers’ sole discretion.” CarGurus doesn’t say where “extensive” starts, so on a car with lighter damage the dealer’s inspection sets the price. Its car values page notes: “Major accidents or frame damage usually cause the biggest drops in value.”
Branded titles have their own buyers; selling a salvage or rebuilt title car explains the difference between the two brands and what a buyer must be told. For a damaged car, how to sell a damaged car helps you weigh repair against an as-is sale, and selling a totaled car covers the insurance payout decision.
CarGurus’ help center suggests two moves when no offer appears. One is patience: “You are welcome to try back at a later date, as market needs are always changing.” The other is its partners: “you should also see options to move forward with one of our third-party partners, Private Auto or Peddle.”
If a dealer lowers the offer after its inspection, ask which finding moved it and check that against what you entered. CarGurus disclaims liability for “an adjustment of a Participating Dealer’s Offer or refusal to accept the vehicle,” so that conversation is with the dealer. The other offers in your list are your leverage, and so is a written offer from outside CarGurus.
Peddle, one of the two partners CarGurus names, makes an offer that is free with no obligation; you get a week to accept, pickup is free at a time that suits you, and the driver pays by check once the car checks out against your description. Get a competing offer before you accept a dealer’s revised number. Two limits apply: any loan must be paid off before Peddle buys, and it doesn’t take motorcycles, RVs or boats.
To be fair to CarGurus: for a clean, late-model car in a market where several dealers bid, its dealer offers may well beat a buyer that also takes wrecks, and you see the bids side by side. Compare before you choose. We are not affiliated with CarGurus.
CarGurus’ own guide to selling a leased car says you can, and points you to Sell My Car for “multiple offers from local dealers.” It says to check the buyout price and residual value in your lease contract first and to ask the buyer how it handles a leased car; whether a dealer bids is up to the dealer. Our leased-car guide explains the buyout math.
Dealers may pass on them: CarGurus lists high mileage and old age among the reasons a car gets no offer, without giving a cutoff for either. If no dealer bids, it suggests checking back later; our old-car guide compares the other routes.
No. CarGurus’ help center says it “does not provide the option to list or sell your car privately on the site,” and points sellers to dealer offers instead.
CarGurus’ sell pages mention no fee for sellers. Its terms say participating dealers pay CarGurus to take part, and its 2025 annual report says Sell My Car earns mainly from dealers’ monthly subscription fees.
No. The Instant Max Cash Offer was a CarOffer product that could buy the car and collect it from your home, and CarGurus wound it down in 2025. The offers on the current Sell My Car page come from local dealers, and you take the car to the one you choose.