The short answer: Cars.com sells dealers packages built around its marketplace, and it earned $2,500 a month on average per dealer in the second quarter of 2026. Google vehicle ads charge for clicks, on a budget you set, and send the shopper to that car’s page on your own website. Which one costs less per lead depends on your market and your numbers, so measure both.
Side by side
| Cars.com | Google Vehicle Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A package built around the Cars.com marketplace. Higher tiers add media and other products | For clicks, on a daily budget you set |
| What dealers spend | $2,500 a month on average per dealer in Q2 2026, across 19,343 dealer customers | No average: it is your budget. Google search ads for used-car dealers had a median cost of $1.73 per click |
| Where the shopper lands | Your listing on Cars.com | That car’s page on your website |
| What else is in the package | Reputation management and digital financing tools, according to Cars.com | Ads only. Your website, reviews and financing stay where they are |
| What you need | Your inventory sent to Cars.com | An inventory feed in Google Merchant Center, a Google Business Profile, and car pages that show price, VIN, mileage and availability |
Sources: Cars.com Q2 2026 results, Cars.com 2025 annual report, LocaliQ 2026 benchmarks.
What the Cars.com average means
Cars.com reports ARPD, its average monthly revenue per dealer: $2,500 in the second quarter of 2026, up from $2,435 a year earlier. Cars.com defines it as dealer revenue, excluding digital advertising services and DealerClub, divided by the average number of dealer customers in the period. That revenue covers every Cars.com dealer product, not only listings, and the average includes large franchise stores.
In its 2025 annual report, Cars.com describes about 19,500 franchise and independent dealer customers across the US and Canada, and says that about 80% of them subscribe to the marketplace. It offers “packages that include reputation management technology and digital financing tools,” and upper-tier packages add media products.
What Cars.com does well
- A known brand with shoppers on it. Leads can come in without you running ads.
- More than listings. Packages bundle reputation and financing tools some dealers would otherwise buy separately.
- Little to manage. Send the inventory and the listings stay up to date.
Where Google vehicle ads are different
Google says a click on a vehicle ad “will take the customer to the vehicle description page (VDP) on your website” (Google).
- The shopper is on your website, not on a marketplace page that also shows other dealers’ cars.
- The shopper chose that car after seeing its photo, price and mileage in Google.
- You set the budget and can change it any day.
- You own the account and the data, down to the search behind each click.
Google vehicle ads need setup and ongoing management, and a click is not a lead: your car pages have to turn visits into calls and forms. Our technical guide lists every requirement.
How to compare them with your own numbers
- Cars.com cost per lead: your monthly Cars.com bill divided by the leads Cars.com sent you that month.
- Google cost per lead: run a test budget for 30 to 60 days with call and form tracking, then divide the ad spend by the leads.
- Cost per sale: if your CRM records the lead source, compare the cost per car sold too.
Our cost-per-lead calculator does the math for you.
Do you have to choose?
No. You can keep Cars.com and add Google. Track both for a month or two, and your own numbers will show which one earns its budget.
Driviam sets up and manages Google vehicle ads for independent dealers in your own accounts, with the cost of every lead in the monthly report. Get a free inventory audit to see which of your cars show up on Google today.