Our Story
Why we built this
Buying a car is one of the largest financial decisions most people make — second only to buying a home. Yet the information available to buyers at the moment of decision has never matched the information available to dealers. Dealers know their cost, their margin, what financing options exist, and what the buyer can be stretched to pay. Buyers know the sticker price and not much else.
The sticker price — the number dealers spend billions of dollars marketing — is one of the least useful numbers in the car buying process. It doesn't tell you what you'll pay per month. It doesn't tell you what insurance will cost on that specific vehicle. It doesn't tell you which cars are expensive to maintain or which ones have better fuel economy for your commute.
"The sticker price is what dealers want you to focus on. The monthly cost is what actually affects your life for the next five years."
CarCostCX was built to fix this. We take the four real costs of owning a car — the loan payment, the insurance premium, the maintenance costs, and the fuel bill — and we calculate them into a single, honest number. We personalize it to your credit score, your driving record, your location, and your driving habits. And we show it to you on every vehicle, so you can compare cars the way you actually should.
The platform is free for car buyers because we believe the value we create for buyers is what makes everything else work. When buyers trust CarCostCX, they use it. When they use it, they find the right vehicle for their actual budget. When they find the right vehicle, they show up at dealerships ready to buy. That is good for everyone.
Our revenue comes from insurance companies and financial institutions who pay to be part of the cost calculation — to be the rate that buyers see when they're deciding whether a car fits their life. That's a partnership built on showing buyers accurate, competitive options — not on maximizing our margin at the buyer's expense.