Have you recently looked for a new or used car? Demand and prices are exploding. Microsoft has just made finding a new car a little easier: Microsoft, MSN and the Bing search engine have launched what they call Autos Marketplace.
Naturally, the Autos Marketplace site lets you filter by make, model, price, and more, including proximity. Microsoft promises that you’ll be able to find general information about available cars, reviews, and even videos, as long as they’re available.
Autos Marketplace allows you to search for new or used cars. In this last category, it is important to know what you can about the history of the vehicle. Bing‘s Auto Marketplace site links to the free CARFAX report, which can show if the car has been in an accident and what the repair history might be. Finally, the Bing Autos Marketplace lets you compare car prices with similar listings, so you can try to figure out if you’re paying too much.
Users can also use the new Autos Marketplace to sell a car, although the process is more like simply putting a car up for sale. The Sell Your Car feature allows you to fill out online forms attesting to make, mileage, color, etc., as well as features. It should be noted that adding the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is an optional feature, so listing (and buying) a car via this method might be closer to listing a car. a used car on Craigslist than having Microsoft back the deal.
Interestingly, if you’re looking for a car or have searched for one before, Google Chrome also announced a feature on Monday called Journeys that will allow you to revisit an old search rather than start a new one. It’s not quite like a bookmark in that you save your search; it’s more like a targeted search of your own search history, so you can find out what you were looking at before. It also looks like this feature will show up in your search history, not your toolbar, once enabled.
If you are looking for a new car, why not use both the new Google and Bing tools to help you?
As editor of PCWorld, Mark focuses on, among other things, Microsoft news and chip technology. He has previously written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK and ReadWrite.
