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Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)

olegkikin.com

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Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)

#12

Post by irfn »

keyle wrote: post #7

Pretty cool, would be nice to be able to click right on the spot to the open a new tab with the cars.com page. Would also be useful to change location. Also to drill down by model / year. etc. But for a week-end project, congrats.

Indeed. search features/ drill down would be useful

Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)

#13

Post by fuzzythinker »

Very nice! To make it even better, draw an imaginary arc from upper left corner to lower right corner and filter out all the "noise" ("Worst" data) from the graph, then stretch the data within the arc to fill the filtered empty space. That way, the dots won't be cluttered and thus more user friendly. You can put a foot note about the avg & "worst" data point filtered.

Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)

#14

Post by b2spirit »

oleg_kikin wrote: post #6
jackpirate wrote: post #4

I like the visualization. This could be a great way to visualize if you're getting a good deal or getting ripped off. Four things: 1. I don't see a way to change my location. Without that, the tool is essentially useless to anyone but you. 2. It's not obvious what the colors or sizes of the dots represent. 3. Have you considered superimposing Kelly Blue Book info? That could add some interesting trend lines. 4. A blo…

Each dot on the chart is a car. Horizontal scale = mileage. Vertical scale = price. The size of a dot = year (newer = larger), plus I colored 2007 .. 2011 in different colors to find "fresh" cars quicker. This is just some sample data from the last 24 hours, relatively cheap cars under $32,000 within 500 mile radius of NYC.

Where did you find the used car data?

Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)

#16

Post by oleg_kikin »

b2spirit wrote: post #14
oleg_kikin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each dot on the chart is a car. Horizontal scale = mileage. Vertical scale = price. The size of a dot = year (newer = larger), plus I colored 2007 .. 2011 in different colors to find "fresh" cars quicker. This is just some sample data from the last 24 hours, relatively cheap cars under $32,000 within 500 mile radius of NYC.

Where did you find the used car data?

Downloaded 20 search results pages from cars.com. I wish I had direct access to their DB.

Craigslist has a ton of car postings, but it's not structured in any way, will be very hard to parse.

Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)

#19

Post by oleg_kikin »

bluehat wrote: post #17

Pretty serious bug, I can't click any of the links because once I mouse off the circle the link is gone and I'm focused on a different car. (Firefox and Chrome on Linux)

Yeah, it looks like I will have to make the circles clickable.
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