Paleo diets, polyphasic sleep, jail-broken kindles – if you recognize these you’re probably a hacker, and we’d like to share some tricks to do with automotive purchasing that we’ve gleaned from looking at about 20,000 dealership and classified car listings daily.

Even assuming you don’t habitually optimize (hack) what other people take for granted, car hunting is important enough to be worth serious attention. We’ve used our search database to come up with five hacks that should save you both money and sanity on your next purchase.

Hack #1: Buy From Craigslist

Shopping on Craigslist ...

A CIA Prius famously bore the bumpersticker “bin Laden hates this car”. There’s an undeniable potential for making a statement by driving hybrid, however, when it comes to time to buy it may be worth looking at utility as well. What is the actual benefit to the environment from a hybrid-electric, and how much money will it actually save? We weren’t actually sure, so we cranked the numbers. Hope you enjoy.

Results
A number of variables such as electrical and petroleum prices, regional electricity sources, and typical commute distance go into these calculations. We used national averages where ...

Choices matching your personal style have always mattered: spouses, careers, and geographic locations can be either great or terrible depending on unique preference and requirements. Electric vehicles may have also just joined that category - because many electric vehicles now have multiple modes of operation, the five cars below have tremendously different performance depending on the type and length of your driving needs. Read on for the skinny on America’s top hybrids.

Chevy Volt: Electric Cross-Trainer The Volt delivers rock solid engineering and economy for almost all use cases. The car packs a 40 mile electric range sufficient for all ...