For buyers
Find it, ask about it, go see it.
Browse without an account. When a seller enters the VIN, the year, make, model, engine and drivetrain are decoded from it, not typed into a box. Ask your questions in the app, and your phone number stays private.
- No account to browse
- No buyer fees
- Your number stays private
Opens an email to support@throttlemarketplace.com. We’ll write back once, when the app is live.
Coming soon to iPhone and Android. For the whole US, launching first in Dallas–Fort Worth.
![Sample conversation about a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado LT at $28,400: phone numbers in two messages are replaced with “[number removed]”, a note says contact details stay in the app and a “Meeting up” card suggests meeting in daylight somewhere public.](/_next/static/immutable/media/message-thread.0v4zyfwx3xwvi.webp)
Sample listings and people. Pre-release app.
Browse
Search the way you shop.
Search by make, model or trim. Look near where you are, or near a city or ZIP code.
Filters
- Price
- Year
- Mileage
- Distance, 5 to 500 miles
- Make and model
- Body
- Drivetrain
- Transmission
- Fuel
- Clean title only
- Private or business seller
Sort
- Newest
- Price: low to high
- Price: high to low
- Mileage: low to high
- Distance
- Year: newest
Switch between cards and a list whenever you like.
Near you, or somewhere you choose
Type a city or a 5-digit ZIP code, or use your location while the app is open. Throttle never uses it in the background.Any distance from 5 to 500 miles
Slide it in 5-mile steps, or tap 25, 50, 100 or 250.Clean title only, if you want it
Branded titles aren’t hidden. They carry a badge, and one switch shows clean titles only.Private or business
See every seller, or only private sellers, or only dealers.When nothing’s nearby, Throttle widens the search and tells you.
Your filters stay put. The distance steps out to 50, 100 and then 250 miles, and the results say how far it went.
Showing pickups within 100 miles instead
Listings
The price is the price.
Every listing carries an asking price between $500 and $2,000,000, checked when it’s posted and whenever it’s edited. The community standards rule out “$1” and “call for price”. Here’s what else a listing tells you, and where each fact comes from.
$28,400
2019 Chevrolet Silverado LT
The seller’s entries
- 84,120 miMileage
- CleanTitle
Decoded from the VIN
- 4WDDrivetrain
- 5.3L V8Engine
- AutomaticTransmission
- GasFuel
From the manufacturer’s record
- Year
- 2019
- Make
- Chevrolet
- Model
- Silverado
- Body
- Pickup
- Doors
- 4
- VIN
- 1GCUYDED4K, last 7 characters hidden
Price, mileage, title status and trim are the seller’s entries. Sign in to see the full VIN.
Facts from the VIN
When a seller enters the VIN, year, make, model, engine and drivetrain are decoded from it using NHTSA’s public VIN decoder and locked on the listing. A listing says “From the manufacturer’s record” only when its details are that decode. A vehicle picked by year, make and model says “Entered by the seller”.The seller’s word, shown as theirs
Sellers state the title status and mileage; Throttle doesn’t check titles. Every listing shows its title status, and branded or financed titles get a badge.- Rebuilt
- Salvage
- Flood
- Lien
Price drops, marked
When a seller cuts the price, the listing carries a badge for 7 days. Listings with a deal in progress say so too.- Price dropped
- Sale pending
Sample listings and people. Pre-release app.
Who’s selling
Every listing has a seller card. “Phone verified” means the seller confirmed their number with a text code. It confirms a number, not a person.
Business sellers show “Declared dealer” and the license they gave. “Licence verified” appears only after Throttle staff check the license number, and it comes off if the dealer changes the license number or state. Dealers have to say they’re dealers. If a “private seller” looks like a dealer, report it.
- Phone verified
- Declared dealer
Before you pay, check the VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls and get a vehicle history report. Listings don’t include either.
Messages
Ask without giving out your number.
Conversations stay in the app, tied to the listing they’re about, and contact details come out automatically.
Ask the usual in a tap
“Message seller” opens a conversation with “Is it still available?” ready to send. Quick replies cover the next questions.
- Is it still available?
- Can I see service records?
- When can I see it?
Contact details come out
Phone numbers, emails, links and social handles are removed from messages and replaced with a note like “[number removed]”.
Photos in the conversation
Send up to 3 photos in a message. Ask for the tires, the odometer or that scratch on the tailgate.
Scams explained before you send
If a message you’re about to send mentions escrow, a wire transfer, a cashier’s check, an overpayment or shipping, Throttle explains how that scam works before it goes.
A card for meeting up
When a message suggests a time or place to meet, the conversation shows: “Meet in daylight, somewhere public. Bring someone. A lot of police stations have a marked exchange spot.”
Report and block
Report a listing, a profile or a single message. A person reads every report. We aim to look within one business day. Blocking stops someone from messaging you or starting a conversation with you, and their listings no longer show when you browse.
Sign in with a text code
Messaging needs an account: your phone number and a one-time code, no password. Message and data rates may apply. Accounts are for adults, so you confirm you’re 18 or older when you sign up. Browsing is open to everyone.
Saved
Save what you like.
Keep the cars you’re weighing and the searches you run in one place. Saving needs an account, and it’s free.
Saved vehicles
Tap the heart on any listing to keep it. Your saved list pulls out the ones whose price dropped and marks the ones that are no longer available.
Saved searches
Save a search with its filters and distance, and run it again in one tap. Each one shows a count of what’s new since you last opened it.
10saved searches per account
Meeting up
Meet, inspect, then pay.
Throttle is for local, in-person deals, and it isn’t a party to the sale. The last steps are yours. Take them in this order.
Meet in public
Daylight, somewhere busy. A lot of police stations have a marked exchange spot. Bring someone with you.
Inspect it and drive it
Check that the VIN on the car matches the listing, look it over in good light and take a test drive. A mechanic you choose can check the rest.
Pay in person
Pay face to face, ideally at a bank. Don’t send a deposit to hold a car, and don’t wire money to someone you haven’t met.
Do the paperwork together
Sign the title at the same time as the payment, and keep a copy of everything you sign.
A seller who offers to ship you a car you haven’t seen, or sends you to an escrow website, is almost always running a scam. Throttle doesn’t handle payments or offer escrow, and never asks you to use an escrow site.
Questions
What buyers ask.
Is it really free?
Yes. Listing, buying and messaging are free. No listing fees, no buyer fees, no subscriptions, no paid placement, no card needed.
Bumping a listing to the top is free too, once every 7 days. The only cost you might see is your carrier’s: sign-in codes come by text, and message and data rates may apply.
Do I need an account to browse?
No. Anyone can search and filter without an account. Sign in to save vehicles, message sellers or post your own.
Search near your location, a city or a ZIP code, from 5 to 500 miles. Filter by price, year, mileage, make and model, body, transmission, drivetrain, fuel, title and seller type.
Does Throttle check titles or inspect vehicles?
No. Listing details are the seller’s statements. Sellers state the title status and mileage, and Throttle doesn’t check titles or inspect vehicles.
Every listing shows its title status, and rebuilt, salvage, flood and lien titles carry a badge, so they aren’t hidden. Before you pay, see the vehicle in person, run the VIN through NHTSA’s free recall lookup and get a vehicle history report.
Can I save a search?
Yes. Save up to 10 searches, and each one shows how many vehicles are new since you last opened it. Tap the heart on any listing to keep it in Saved.
Can I buy a car from another state and have it shipped?
Throttle is for local, in-person sales. Offers to buy sight-unseen and ship are almost always fraud.
You can search up to 500 miles away, but plan to see the vehicle, meet the seller and pay in person.
What does Throttle do about scams?
If a message you’re about to send mentions escrow, a wire transfer, a cashier’s check, an overpayment or shipping, Throttle explains how that scam works before it goes. When a message mentions meeting up, the conversation shows a safety checklist.
New accounts without a verified phone number can start 3 conversations in their first 48 hours, and every listing, profile and message has a Report button.
The most common car-sale scam is the overpayment: a buyer sends too much and asks for the difference back. Never refund the difference.
How should we meet up and handle payment?
Throttle doesn’t handle payments, deposits or escrow, and it isn’t a party to any sale. Buyers and sellers deal directly and pay each other in person.
Meet in daylight, somewhere busy. Many police stations have a marked safe exchange zone. Take cash at a bank, or a cashier’s check verified at the issuing bank, and sign the title at the same time as the payment.
Never pay a deposit to hold a vehicle. Anyone who sends you to an escrow website is almost certainly running a scam.
Free to browse. Free to ask.
No buyer fees, and you don’t need an account to look around.
Opens an email to support@throttlemarketplace.com. We’ll write back once, when the app is live.
Coming soon to iPhone and Android.