This article has been updated.
CarGurus, the No. 1 visited autos site in the U.S., has released a conversation search experience based on OpenAI’s generative AI.
The new interface provides “a more personalized and intuitive car shopping experience,” the company announced.
Available on desktop and mobile, it’s been introduced as an optional way to search for cars; on desktop, users can find it by clicking the “discover” tab at the top of CarGurus’s homepage. Structured search remains the default.
“We recognize that AI-powered search may not be the ideal method for everyone,” Maggie Meluzio, CarGurus director of public relations and external communications, told the AIM Group by email.
“With that in mind, the experience can be found easily in our desktop and mobile navigation, along with placement on our homepage alongside our traditional search experience in a growing number of markets. We believe this approach gives us more flexibility as this technology — and consumer use cases — continue to evolve.”
In pre-release testing that started in January, “AI search users spent more time on the site compared to typical site traffic,” CarGurus VP of product Ben Kasdon said in the announcement.
By typing in prompts in everyday language, users can search cars based on their needs, compare models and refine listing results with follow-up questions. The experience is designed to help car shoppers at any stage, from early research to final selection. If a search stretches out over a long period, users can revisit their unique URL to continue the conversation.
CarGurus said shoppers can begin by using such prompts as:
- “I have three kids under three. Help me find a car with high safety and reliability ratings.”
- “Show me the best cars with plenty of space for tall drivers.”
- “Show me reliable SUVs with blind spot monitoring under $30,000.”
- “Compare the best all-wheel drive vehicles for any terrain.”
I gave the tool a quick test drive, and found it was, indeed, more intuitive than conventional structured search with a given set of filters.
A struggle did arise, however, in nailing down the location of my search. I looked for “affordable used cars for a new teen driver” from my home in Louisville, Kentucky, but CarGurus’s AI search tool defaulted, for reasons unknown, to a suburb of Chicago more than 300 miles away.
I told it to search again, for cars within 50 miles of my postal code, 40208. Again it returned inventory in and around Illinois.
Finally, I realized I needed to change the postal code in a separate location field at the top of the page. You apparently cannot override the location field with prompts in the search window.
To try the tool, you can visit: www.cargurus.com/discover.
With 41.6 million visits in April, CarGurus was the No. 1 autos site in the U.S. by traffic (per SimilarWeb). In Q1 2025, it reported sales of $225 million, up 4% year on year, keeping its No.1 spot by revenue, as well.
Updated with additional information from CarGurus’s public relations.
