40. US CAR MARKET: Are there any websites for buying cars and getting information about cars in the USA?

Like its UK counterpart, www.autotrader.com is a listing of both new and used cars. You'll need a zip code, the equivalent of the UK post code, to price vehicles locally but if you are seriously considering working or studying in the US you'll probably already have one. Alternatively, clone one to get the search working.

For make and model information, www.edmunds.com is a very interesting site devoted to new and used car reports. There is a massive amount of data here and certainly no bias towards local offerings. One thing to remember when looking at the prices is that they typically exclude tax, licence and registration fees which can add another 10 per cent

A final piece of advise is that the DMV, Department of Motor Vehicles (www.dmv.ca.gov for California), is even more of a bureaucracy the DVLA so if you intend to do anything other than what's super straightforward then be prepared for a very long wait and possible additional expense. It took Andy Kearl 6 months to be issued a driving licence despite passing the test first time.

Massive thanks to Andy Kearl for these useful links.

Also:

www.cars.com

www.gridwatch.com

Importing from the USA www.importmyvehicle.com