{"id":377283,"date":"2026-10-19T21:50:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T21:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/377283\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T21:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T21:50:26","slug":"new-york-city-is-suing-a-popular-car-buying-website-alleging-it-deceives-consumers-about-the-prices-of-cars-sold-by-dealerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/377283\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Is Suing A Popular Car-Buying Website, Alleging It ‘Deceives Consumers’ About The Prices Of Cars Sold By Dealerships"},"content":{"rendered":"

CarGurus is a popular car shopping platform that allows users to find and research cars across the country. The platform seems especially useful in helping you gauge how much some dealerships want for a certain car. But New York City has found evidence that such isn\u2019t the case. In a bombshell of a lawsuit, the city is alleging that the CarGurus website\u2019s car pricing features \u201cdeceive consumers\u201d by hiding the potentially thousands of dollars in mandatory fees that some dealerships charge on top of asking prices. This, therefore, makes cars sold by some dealers look cheaper than they actually are.<\/p>\n

On October 5, the City of New York and Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine have filed suit against CarGurus, Inc., in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County<\/a>. In New York, a \u201cSupreme Court\u201d is actually the equivalent of a trial court elsewhere in America.<\/p>\n

\"Vidframe
\n\"Vidframe<\/p>\n

The city opens its suit by swinging hard, saying, \u201cDealerships are consistently one of the business categories about which DCWP receives the most consumer complaints, and they are among the businesses most commonly cited for deceptive practices.\u201d The city then continues, saying that one of the \u201cmost cited deceptive practices\u201d is car dealers advertising artificially low asking prices. Then, when the consumer gets to the dealership, they are faced with previously hidden and mandatory fees.<\/p>\n

\"Cargurus\"The CarGurus headquarters in Boston, MA. Credit: Ajay Suresh \u2013 CC BY 4.0<\/p>\n

In the past five years alone, DCWP says, it investigated more than 106 dealerships in the New York City region for violations of the city\u2019s consumer protection laws. In the process, DCWP says it has helped over 675 people, recovering $1.97 million for customer restitution and levying another $6.53 million in civil penalties. Apparently, one dealership alone was responsible for a whopping 9,500 violations and had to pay out $1.5 million in restitution and another $300,000 in civil penalties.<\/p>\n

Despite this work, DCWP says some dealerships still aren\u2019t being honest about the total prices of their cars. This is aggravating for a number of reasons. A consumer comparing a car sold by an honest dealer (and those certainly do exist) against a \u201ccheaper\u201d car sold by an allegedly dishonest dealer might go to the latter dealership, not knowing that the advertised price wasn\u2019t real. This hurts the consumer and the honest dealerships.<\/p>\n

DCWP says that by advertising an artificially low price and then calling that price a \u201cGreat Deal,\u201d CarGurus is perpetuating this problem. Allegedly, the city has worked with CarGurus for three years to bring it into compliance with the law, but that has failed. So, now, the city will be dragging CarGurus into the courtroom.<\/p>\n

How CarGurus Works
\n\"ScreenshotScreenshot: CarGurus<\/p>\n

CarGurus was founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert, who co-founded TripAdvisor, another famous comparison site. The mission behind CarGurus is, in its own words, \u201cto bring more trust and transparency to car shopping.\u201d One way CarGurus tries to make car buying more transparent is through its policies. In order for a dealership to list on CarGurus, the company sets a pricing requirement<\/a>:<\/p>\n

All prices displayed for vehicles on the CarGurus.com website, mobile and other applications, products, and services (the \u201cSite\u201d) must reflect the total price available to any shopper. The price must include all mandatory dealer-imposed fees and charges required to purchase the vehicle as advertised, except for tax, title, license, registration, and other mandatory government fees.<\/p>\n

\"CargurusCarGurus<\/p>\n

CarGurus then has a tool that tells you if the advertised price is a \u201cGreat Deal,\u201d a \u201cGood Deal,\u201d a \u201cFair Deal,\u201d \u201cHigh Priced,\u201d or \u201cOverpriced.\u201d The site does this by comparing the advertised price against the CarGurus Instant Market Value, or IMV. CarGurus calculates IMV by, per the company:<\/a><\/p>\n

[U]sing a complex algorithm that takes into account millions of data points including make, model, trim, year, mileage, options, and vehicle history.<\/p>\n

You as a consumer can go to CarGurus and should be able to use it as a car comparison tool. In fact, I have used CarGurus for this purpose for years. Whenever I want to see what the market looks like for a certain car, I scroll through CarGurus to see what dealers are asking.<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotScreenshot: CarGurus<\/p>\n

Again, in theory, the prices you see are the final prices, including fees. I have even used the prices I\u2019ve seen on CarGurus to determine how good of a deal I got on a car from Facebook. I have sometimes even linked out to CarGurus in some of my articles.<\/p>\n

The Allegations<\/p>\n

DCWP alleges CarGurus isn\u2019t honoring its own policy, as it allows dealerships to list a price that is far lower than the total price. Dealers may then add a disclaimer about the additional fees, but as DCWP alleges, these fees are \u201cin partially obscured text boxes that can only be fully viewed by clicking a button, leading to a separate webpage or pop-up screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit continues:<\/p>\n

Defendant, CarGurus, Inc. (\u201cCarGurus\u201d), has caused these deceptive business practices to further proliferate through its creation of an online shopping website where consumers believe they are comparison shopping for the best deal but are actually subjected to misleading pricing information by both the dealerships and CarGurus itself. Specifically, CarGurus creates \u201cDeal Ratings\u201d that deceive consumers. First, for each car listed by a dealership on the Website, CarGurus prominently posts what it refers to as the dealership\u2019s \u201cAsking Price,\u201d or total cost of the vehicle (\u201cAsking Price\u201d). In reality, the Asking Price may fail to include hundreds or thousands of dollars in additional fees, downpayments, and trade-in requirements, that are part of the dealership\u2019s offer.<\/p>\n

CarGurus then prominently labels the deals to consumers as a \u201cGreat Deal\u201d or a \u201cGood Deal.\u201d CarGurus awards these labels based on the difference between the Asking Price and the average price of a similar model, which it calls the Instant Market Value (\u201cIMV\u201d). However, as CarGurus knows, for many listings, if all additional required fees and costs were added to the Asking Price, the resulting true cost of the vehicle would greatly exceed the Instant Market Value. Despite this, CarGurus continues to deceptively label such listings as \u201cGreat\u201d or \u201cGood\u201d deals.<\/p>\n

CarGurus even goes so far as to identify the exact dollar amount by which the Asking Price is \u201cbelow market,\u201d highlighting the purported benefits the consumer stands to receive from a deal, despite the Department having provided CarGurus with notice of the presence of additional fees that render this dollar amount misleading. In many cases, the fees and disclaimers included by the dealerships render these representations untrue.<\/p>\n

The city then alleges that while CarGurus claims to delete listings with phony or misleading prices, it doesn\u2019t always do so in practice.<\/p>\n

\"Nyccomplaint2\"This car ended up being thousands more expensive than listed. Credit: New York Department of Consumer and Worker Protection<\/p>\n

It goes deeper. The city says that, in April 2026, CarGurus updated its website to combat artificially low prices. This came after the Federal Trade Commission told 97 dealership groups<\/a> that it considered the practice of omitting mandatory dealership charges from listed prices to be illegal.<\/p>\n

Yet, when CarGurus changed its site, New York City alleges, it apparently made the issue worse. Listings began coming with badges<\/a> to inform shoppers when an asking price included fees or that fees hadn\u2019t been disclosed. However, as the city found in the summer of this year, listings with asking prices that claimed to have included all fees still included additional mandatory fees in the fine print, furthering the alleged deception.<\/p>\n

\"37bce39aThe new badge. Credit: CarGurus<\/p>\n

In its suit, the city admitted a list of alleged facts. Among them was evidence of the CarGurus site listing asking prices that weren\u2019t total prices. In one case, a 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport was priced at $16,699, and called a \u201cGood Deal\u201d because it was $1,702 below the market value as determined by the CarGurus IMV. However, the city found that when all concealed fees were added up, the Mitsubishi actually exceeded its estimated market value, and should therefore not have been called a \u201cGood Deal\u201d by CarGurus or advertised with the lower price.<\/p>\n

In another case, a 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 was listed with a price of $18,590, which was $3,413 \u201cbelow market,\u201d and therefore earned a \u201cGreat Deal\u201d rating from CarGurus. However, in a hidden textbox at the bottom of the listing was a disclaimer that said: \u201cthe advertised price [reflects] the balance after a 20% [downpayment]\u201d and \u201call quoted payment calculations are based on twenty percent down.\u201d Once the disclaimer was factored in, the car\u2019s price was $1,234.50 above market value, and therefore not a \u201cGreat Deal,\u201d as the CarGurus software claimed.<\/p>\n

\"Nyccomplaint1\"New York Department of Consumer and Worker Protection<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In one more example, a 2019 Audi Q5 quattro Premium Plus 45 TFSI was listed for $14,999, or $2,818 below market value, triggering another \u201cGreat Deal\u201d rating. However, in the disclaimer section of the listing, the dealership noted these fees: \u201c1. Prep & Destination \u2013 $1,995. 2. Conveyance Fee \u2013 $995.00. 3. Admin Fee $695.\u201d That\u2019s $3,685 in fees, for a total price $867 above market value.<\/p>\n

The city also notes that the CarGurus AI chatbot doesn\u2019t disclose the fees to car shoppers, even though the fees are on the listing. I have done some of my own research on this, and have noticed that some dealership listings do indeed list non-governmental fees that are not included in the listed price. One example is below:<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotDealer information redacted. Screenshot: CarGurus<\/p>\n

CarGurus says when you see the \u201cPrice includes fees\u201d badge, the price shown includes all mandatory dealer fees aside from tax, registration, and other governmental fees. In theory, then, the destination charge, preparation, and any pre-installed dealer accessories should also be a part of the listed price.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another one I found:<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotScreenshot: CarGurusThe Lawsuit<\/p>\n

In short, New York City\u2019s problem with CarGurus is that the city thinks CarGurus is not doing enough to enforce its own policies. In doing so, it is allegedly misleading car shoppers into thinking some cars are thousands cheaper than they actually are. The city cites NYC Code \u00a7 20-700<\/a>, which says:<\/p>\n

NYC Code \u00a7 20-701(a) defines a deceptive trade practice as: Any false, falsely disparaging, or misleading oral, written, digital, or electronic statement, visual description or other representation or omission of any kind . . . which has the capacity, tendency or effect of directly or indirectly deceiving or misleading consumers.<\/p>\n

Deceptive trade practices include but are not limited to:
\u2022 Representations that goods or services have \u2026 certification, accessories, characteristics, \u2026 benefits, or quantities that they do not have;
\u2022 The use, in any representation, of exaggeration, innuendo, or ambiguity as to a material fact, or the failure to state a material fact, if such use of, or failure to state, a material fact deceives ortends to deceive; and
\u2022 Making false or misleading representations of fact, or omitting material facts, concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions, or price in comparison to prices of competitors or one\u2019s own price at a past or future time.<\/p>\n

Under 6 RCNY \u00a7 5-01 et seq., \u201cSellers offering consumer goods or services in print advertising and promotional literature must disclose clearly and conspicuously all material exclusions, reservations, limitations, modifications or conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City is accusing CarGurus of \u201cKnowingly Publishing Misleading Deal Ratings and Fee Disclosure Badges in Violation of NYC Code \u00a7 20-700 (at least 1,360 violations),\u201d \u201cKnowingly Publishing Inaccurate Representations of Potential Consumer Savings, in Violation of NYC Code \u00a7 20-700 (at least 2,017 violations),\u201d and Knowingly Deceiving Consumers By Falsely Representing that It Adheres to Its Guidelines, in Violation of NYC Code \u00a7 20-700 (at least 2,218 violations).\u201d<\/p>\n

The city is seeking $3,500 per \u201cknowing\u201d violation of NYC Code \u00a7 20-700, or alternatively, between $350 and $2,500 for each violation. In addition, the city wants CarGurus to pay restitution to consumers and to pay the city for the costs of its investigation. The full 31-page lawsuit<\/a> can be viewed by clicking here.<\/p>\n

CarGurus Responds
\n\"Cargurusstatement\"Screenshot: CarGurus<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, CarGurus CEO Jason Trevisan has said:<\/p>\n

We are deeply disappointed that the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) is bringing claims against CarGurus. We\u2019re also surprised they\u2019re taking this step given our history of leading the market in information transparency, our open collaboration with them, and our repeated efforts to engage productively with them.<\/p>\n

Their claims don\u2019t reflect the facts: Since our founding in 2006, CarGurus has pioneered used car price transparency for consumers through tools and features that have since become industry standards. Over the last 20 years, we\u2019ve continued to raise the bar as the leading provider of automotive information, driving others to follow our example.<\/p>\n

Trust and transparency have been core to the CarGurus mission. We\u2019ve led the industry with tools that give shoppers more confidence when making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives \u2014 a responsibility we take seriously.<\/p>\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n

The allegations in the complaint ignore our decades-long track record of setting the standard for transparency in car buying and selling. They also overlook clear evidence of the value consumers find in our features. Shoppers have made CarGurus the most-visited car shopping site in the US3, and they choose to spend more than double the total time on our site than on our closest competitor\u2019s.<\/p>\n

We reject the DCWP\u2019s claims and will defend the company vigorously.<\/p>\n

Cases like this can take some time to meander their way through the court to a resolution.<\/p>\n

However, there are ways you can reduce your own car shopping frustrations right now. If you are a CarGurus user, click into each listing, scroll to the bottom, and check for undisclosed fees or other disclaimers. Honestly, you should be doing this with all car selling platforms. It\u2019ll add time to your car shopping journey, but it\u2019ll be less time than going through the steps to inquire about a car, just to find out that the dealership wants to assess so many fees that it\u2019s more expensive than a competing dealer.<\/p>\n

You also want to read the deal you\u2019re signing in full, and make sure you understand what you\u2019re getting into. If you don\u2019t like what\u2019s about to happen, don\u2019t ink that deal. Walk away and find the option that works better for you. Yes, that may mean more time burned, but since a car is likely to be the second-largest purchase you\u2019ll make, it pays to spend time to make sure you\u2019re getting a car that\u2019s right for your situation.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, I\u2019ll be watching this case unravel to see where it goes. Hopefully, it ends in a manner that benefits everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CarGurus is a popular car shopping platform that allows users to find and research cars across the country.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4311,138756,138757,620,2850,138758,9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-377283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-car-buying","tag-car-news","tag-cargurus","tag-featured","tag-lawsuits","tag-lawtopian","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}