Craigslist car research extension is now available as a Firefox Addon, Greasemonkey userscript and Google Chrome extension. Pretty useful for anyone looking for a car.
Articles about it
CNET news : Make car shopping on Craigslist less cumbersome .. read
Lifehacker : Craigslist Car Research Extension Makes Used-Car Shopping Easier .. read
Sites this extension works on: craigslist, ebay, kijiji, autotrader, cars.com, vehix, aol and yahoo autos
Used car listings supported by this extension:
- craigslist
- eBay motors
- eBayClassifieds
- kijiji
- yahoo autos
- AutoTrader
- AOL Autos
- vehix
- pickuptrucks
- freebo
- cars.com
The Google Chrome version of Craigslist Car extension was one of the top 50 featured extension on the launch of Google Chrome Extension Gallery.
Download
1. Craigslist Car – Google Web Store (new features and issue-fixes first come here in Chrome and then in Firefox after month or so) + 2. Craigslist Peek
1. Craigslist Car – Firefox Extension + 2. Craigslist Peek- Craigslist car greasemonkey (old) script
Other extension that works well with this one:
– Craigslist car listing filter
Also created a related userscript that gives estimated cost of Importing US car or motorcycle to Canada.
Now this mashup is heavy but adding the enable/disable feature buttons is handy to manage the clutter and speedup browser load.
If the listing is in correct format then it will get that car’s model’s information from sites like MSN Autos, Edmunds.com, Automotive.com, motortrend.com, etc.
Features:
- Gives estimated price from multiple sources. Also provides links for further research.
- Factory car recalls for the car model.
- Consumer reviews, this is the real gem.
- Car reliability information. It shows the msn autos page focused at reliability section. This shows what kinda engine problems occur in that particular car. Other info is also there but reliability info is most useful on that page. Takes like 2 sec to get idea of how reliable that car model is.
- Scans the posting and shows a highlighted message on top informing about:- accident car, rebuilt car, moving sale, one owner, suggests buyer to ask if the car was involved in an accident.
- Lists similar (year/make/model) ads from craigslist on top. This gives the idea of going price and the supply/demand.
- Aggregates car listing.
- Shows thumbnails from Flickr (Gives idea of what the vehicle looks like and the appeal factor)
- Recently viewed Ads.
- Add your Notes to the ads using Recently Viewed list.
- If there is a phone number in the post then it makes it easy to do a search of the phone number on Craigslist to find out if the ad poster has posted any other ads. This sometimes help in determining if its moving sale or a ad by a reseller etc.
- Firefox Addons:
- Car research
- Motorcycle reviews
- Craigslist Car listing filter
- Car reviews (old)
- Forum Preview
- Craigslist Peek
- Google Chrome Extension:
- Car research
- Motorcycle shopping
- craigslist phone search
- Forum Preview
- Craigslist Peek
- Greasemonkey userscript:
- Car research
- Craigslist Car listing filter
- craigslist-phone-search
suggestions on craigslist car post
craigslist car price estimate from various sources
Disabled / collapsed state of features in Craigslist Car Research
craigslist car research showing consumer car reviews
Craigslist Car Research showing relevant discussion from Edmunds
car reliablility, KBB Kelly Blue Book value, msn autos
craigslist car extension works on Kijiji too
Updates
Version : 0.945
Jan 20, 2009
- Now the extension also works on Cars.com, AOL autos, Vehix, freebo.com and pickuptrucks.com.
Version : 0.935
Jan 15, 2009
- Now the extension works on eBay motors (US) and Yahoo Autos also.
- Makes it easy to do search on VIN number.
Version : 0.925
Jan 10, 2009
- Now it works on Kijiji (US) too beside Craigslist.
- Lists similar matches from Yahoo Autos, Oodle. This gives idea of pricing and availability.
- Now it lets user specify ‘Year’ or ‘Model’ if either one is missing or is not recognized from the listing title.
- Flickr thumbnail gallery.
- Improved feature collapse/expand functionality.
Version : 0.910
Dec 05, 2009
- Fixed ‘turn car-research On’ link.
- Added reviews from ReviewCentre?. This is experimental for now as sometimes it returns wrong results.
- Added Epinion reviews. This is also experimental feature as it sometimes fail to work in Google Chrome.
- Added AboutAutomobile? TSB (Technical Service Bulletin).
- Added Google Videos of relevant car.
Version : 0.909
Nov 24, 2009
- Similar car ads listing is now sorted by price
- Clicking on main category blocks (Price, Reviews, Reliability) toggles subcategory blocks.
- Added icon to suggestion box at top, to indicate that its part of extension and not from craigslist.
- Minor changes to color scheme.
Version : 0.905
Nov 12, 2009
- totally changed layout
- created main category blocks Price, Reviews, Reliability.
- moved some of the features from top of page to bottom so that the screen looks more clean and less busy.
- added +/x buttons to enable/disable features. Removed old enable/disable buttons from top.
- added background to indicate this is separate content then the original craigslist post.
- now using safe `JSON` method to parse data instead of `eval` or `return new Function`
- changed the search engine for finding Similar car ads on craigslist. Now it returns more recent listings.
- re-enabled MSN Autos frame.
- web annotations links (twitter, facebook,..) feature is removed for now.
- re-designed the car-research on/off button and functionality.
- now ‘Home of this utility (feedback)’ is minimized at first run.
Version: 0.501
- Added Edmunds TMV price.
- Fixed Enable/Disable buttons. They were not working properly in Firefox 3.6b1pre and Minefield 3.7a1pre.
- Fixed code. Now Edmunds (discussion/reviews), Motortrend pricing, etc are working in Firefox 3.6b1pre and Minefield 3.7a1pre also.
- Cosmetic change to the bottom block (‘Home of this utility’ block).
- Added my icon
Version: 0.312
- Added a feature that makes it easier to search all craigslist for other ads posted by the poster. Basically searches craigslist for matching phone number listed in the ad.
Car reviews etc
Added a new firefox extension “Car reviews etc“. Its a port of the above extension and works on any webpage not just craigslist. Its a strip down version of above extension and works by selecting text (in format “year model”, e.g. “2007 civic” or “2006 toyota camry”) on webpage and right-click to get context-menu. From context-menu select “car reviews etc”. This will show reviews, pricing, recall info etc.
firefox context-menu with car reviews etc extension
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