Shopping for Used Cars Through Craigslist Just Got Easier

If you've ever been shopping for a used car through craigslist, this extension for firefox may be just the tool you need to get by (found via Lifehacker).

Let's face it, shopping through the web is a pain.  This add-on cuts way down on the number of searches you need to make before you decide to contact the seller.  Just look at the 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.
• 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.

You can see in the image just some of the results.  It quickly gave me estimates you should be seeing for a 2001 Prius, plus a bunch of reviews of used Prius, plus the recall notices you might want to ask the buyer about.

If that doesn't get you excited, then you've never shopped for a used car. This is almost all the information you need when you start looking for a used car.

The only bad part is this is an add-on for firefox.  It won't work on Internet Explorer or Chrome (or other web browsers).