You have an algorithm that can classify cars from best to worse depending on a lot of input. That is the money, not the visualization (although very cool). The best to display ranking is a numbered list. Although not super cool, that is very valuable.
Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
51–60 of 71 posts
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#52Amazing work. I can only say I wish I had this a month ago when I was searching for a used car. (ended up with a 2005 A4 Special Edition w/ 95k miles for 9k USD)
EDIT:
Would be great if we can add another dimension or at least switch one of the axises to a different dataset - in particular, the year.
EDIT2:
I now realize the colors are the year. This addresses my previous concern, but you need a legend for that.
EDIT3:
Scratch that - Colors are not year. I don't know what's going on.. but colors as years would have been nice.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's also several cars for $299, but in the description are $2990 down...
Thats cause thats how they are classified on cars.com. Can't blame the developer. He scrapped the data correctly just some smart ass marketing guy who put up the ads cheated...
Dealing with bad data sources is like product development 101. You're not supposed to "blame" the developer, but pointing it out and expecting a fix is fair.
It's a weekend project, but even weekend projects evolve with free time.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#54There's a 2005 Bentley Continental GT for $29,800. Seems like a good buy. I think someone forgot a zero? http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc... Your app made it easy enough to find an exception like this.
There's also several cars for $299, but in the description are $2990 down...
Maybe a price filter? Let us manually set the minimum to $1k.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#55I 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.
Nice demo - I like it.
I had the same comment - adding a key with this info would be really useful (especially if you could also use it as a filter). It would also be great if you could draw a line across the graph (optionally applying a curve) to allow the results to be filtered and the section beneath the curve zoomed in on (potentially two curves if you want to cut out anything suspiciously low priced also). You could also allow this selected section to then be displayed on different axes; i.e. these are the cars with a mileage and price I'm happy with, now plot my selection as price against age. Further user customisation would also be good - e.g. allowing users to change the meaning of the colours (colors) / dot size.
Nice work though - much better way to represent & search this data than the standard fixed range filters. I'd love to see something like this done for computers; when custom building & selecting processors for example, rather than getting a load of codes, plot serial task performance against price, filter it down, plot parallel task against price & further reduce the data set until you find the ones which meet your requirement.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Heh. My company provides cars.com with most of its data, so I have direct access to their db. ;) However, because our business model is predicated on aggregating and then reselling automotive data, it's unlikely you could get access for free. Still, if you think you'll ever want to go commercial, you might contact us: (DMI) Digital Motorworks Inc.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#57There's a 2005 Bentley Continental GT for $29,800. Seems like a good buy. I think someone forgot a zero? http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc... Your app made it easy enough to find an exception like this.
Another factor, related to bad data, would be price fraud. Fraudsters deliberately price a "vehicle" low (relative to mileage) in order to attract a high number of people. They know that only a small percentage will take the bait and send cash up front for a vehicle that he doesn't intend to sell, so he wants to make sure to get the highest number of people to respond to the listing. It's a classic buyer-beware scenario, so just keep that in mind as you see good deals in the "better" zone.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#58I 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.
Oleg, I've been kicking around some similar ideas and would like to talk to you about this project sometime. My email is in my profile.
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#59How do I click the "Link" for a car in the middle of the dot-cloud?
Re: Show HN: New way to search for used cars (my weekend project)
#60I 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.
Most excellent! I had dreamed up a similar idea years ago, but would compare listed price against KBB or edmunds valuations.