I built a private car sales search engine

[porsche959]

Thanks for the ongoing feedback.

Just wanted to share that I am a proud new owner of a 2006 325i 6 speed

Unfortunately, I didn't find it on Hidden Rides, but used the tool to check comp prices etc

[IllSic_Design]

Awesome site, thanks!

[Never_Enough]

Originally Posted by pcohen15

Nicely done. It would be a good addition if there were a few more search parameters to get a little more detailed. Like searching for a specific model within a brand, for example.

This

[seis-speed]

Originally Posted by porsche959

Hi all, so I wanted to share: https://hiddenrides.com/.

This is a side project/hobby for me - mainly because I enjoy browsing various car forums to see what cars I can afford at any given time.

Shared this on a few other forums and got positive feedback so thought i should spread the love.

The inspiration for this project was a clean green/caramel e46 6spd i missed out on years ago - but the V8 m3 has always been tempting as well.

Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated!

I love it!! On IPad the price could be a little bigger font. As someone that looks at Rennlist Marketplace all the time, the transmission/price/picture/year graphic is fantastic, for quickly going through listings. Is there anyway to incorporate Craigslist?

[gpraceman]

Nice search engine. I do notice that there can be duplicate listings in the search results. When clicking on a car it takes to the newest forum post. I'd rather go to the first post, which generally has the car's details and photos.

[Ickdeep]

That's awesome! I was able to find my own car that I have for sale. Now to use it to find the next car. Thank you

[86Zed]

Solid work - came up with some examples that were not previously on my radar!

[FD3S]

We need a similar site for the parts

[Who?]

put some adds on there and monetise

[Freiheit]

I think one of the biggest drawbacks of any ride search is, as it was said above, how uninformed the various dealers are. They list colors by the wrong names, or invent their own names. They list wrapped vehicles by the vinyl color not the paint color. They never know the names of the interior leather colors. I've seen Bamboo called Saddle, Tan, Beige, Brown, and a few other things. I've seen a growing trend of listings that call any interior trim color "blue/black brushed aluminum", a trim option that I don't believe BMW ever offered in the E92. Because of this, it does me no good to search for cars with any color box checked. Ditto for the transmission because as was mentioned earlier, many dealers consider DCT a manual. Technically correct (no torque converter, no valve body), but not accurate (the damn thing can shift without being told to).

I can't think of how many times I've been frustrated in my search when I would see a perfect color, CF roof, heated seats - and then in later pics I see those seats have the dreaded black/red two tone. Or I get my exact spec but then see a sunroof. I think it would really shorten my search efforts if I could search by option, along with color code, and a mileage and price threshold.

What would be really awesome is if the ride search gleaned the VIN from the sale posting, and ran it through any of the decoder databases. Then I could check/uncheck whatever I wanted to look for. I'd like to do a search for nothing but cloth seats, or individual colors - just to see whats out there. Maybe I could use the VIN to allow me to specifically exclude cars with options I don't like? If I could check a box that eliminated two tone interiors from the results, I'd be thrilled. I'd really like to never again have to see "S403A - Roof, glass electric" or whatever BMW calls it.

[corbs09]

Does this only crawl certain forums? I searched keyword "swap" and got about 22 results, but figured there would be more. This is an awesome idea. If you ever want to sell the site let me know.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by Freiheit

I think one of the biggest drawbacks of any ride search is, as it was said above, how uninformed the various dealers are. They list colors by the wrong names, or invent their own names. They list wrapped vehicles by the vinyl color not the paint color. They never know the names of the interior leather colors. I've seen Bamboo called Saddle, Tan, Beige, Brown, and a few other things. I've seen a growing trend of listings that call any interior trim color "blue/black brushed aluminum", a trim option that I don't believe BMW ever offered in the E92. Because of this, it does me no good to search for cars with any color box checked. Ditto for the transmission because as was mentioned earlier, many dealers consider DCT a manual. Technically correct (no torque converter, no valve body), but not accurate (the damn thing can shift without being told to).

I can't think of how many times I've been frustrated in my search when I would see a perfect color, CF roof, heated seats - and then in later pics I see those seats have the dreaded black/red two tone. Or I get my exact spec but then see a sunroof. I think it would really shorten my search efforts if I could search by option, along with color code, and a mileage and price threshold.

What would be really awesome is if the ride search gleaned the VIN from the sale posting, and ran it through any of the decoder databases. Then I could check/uncheck whatever I wanted to look for. I'd like to do a search for nothing but cloth seats, or individual colors - just to see whats out there. Maybe I could use the VIN to allow me to specifically exclude cars with options I don't like? If I could check a box that eliminated two tone interiors from the results, I'd be thrilled. I'd really like to never again have to see "S403A - Roof, glass electric" or whatever BMW calls it.

wow, thats next level stuff.

great ideas, not sure if we could reliability build out a VIN connection since many people dont post their VIN on the forums. but good to keep in mind for the future.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by corbs09

Does this only crawl certain forums? I searched keyword "swap" and got about 22 results, but figured there would be more. This is an awesome idea. If you ever want to sell the site let me know.

yeah - its crawling a couple hundred forums at the moment. we are adding new sources every day.

let me know if there are any forums you want to add to the scraper.

[wdb]

Heck -- a reliable VIN decoder would be great all by itself. I have to keep changing which I use, and some are clearly better than others at obtaining meaningful results.

I love this tool though, well done. Unfortunately it was not much help in my particular search, but that's not the tool's fault.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by wdb

Heck -- a reliable VIN decoder would be great all by itself. I have to keep changing which I use, and some are clearly better than others at obtaining meaningful results.

I love this tool though, well done. Unfortunately it was not much help in my particular search, but that's not the tool's fault.

Thanks, could i ask why its not helpful for your search? any other features we should think about building out?

[Freiheit]

Originally Posted by porsche959

wow, thats next level stuff.

great ideas, not sure if we could reliability build out a VIN connection since many people dont post their VIN on the forums. but good to keep in mind for the future.

I know a lot of folks wouldn't list their VIN online for privacy reasons, but if a person opts-in by posting the VIN, and you have a little hook looking for that kind of fish - perhaps by searching for any alpha-numeric string of 17 characters - you could parse that through a VIN database. If the string isn't there, your crawler slinks away looking for the next car.

So yeah, next level stuff. If you are able to make this happen, you'll build a brand faster than you could imagine. This is what the used car market lacks right now, and with this one simple innovation you could rebuild it from the ground up. You'd end up being like a real estate MLS guide but for vehicles.

I hope you do it before a certain online search behemoth makes it happen.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by porsche959

Thanks, could i ask why its not helpful for your search? any other features we should think about building out?

I doubt it's your tool. I expect that nobody is selling the car I'm looking for in the places you search. 328i convertible, 2007-2013.