Looking to buy a car? Try my new site Carspy.co.nz to find the best deal for you

AssociatedLkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 09/09/2026 - 21:03
Last edited 09/09/2026 - 21:16

Full disclosure: This is my own website, I am the sole developer and founder.

I’ve been working on a side project called CarSpy that helps people find good deals on cars and get a better idea of what different vehicles are actually worth based on things like mileage.

I’d really appreciate some feedback, so if you have a few minutes, check it out and let me know what you think!

You can search across car dealer listings throughout NZ, compare purchase, running and finance costs, see where cars are located on a map, and set alerts for specific vehicles or get notified when a watchlisted car drops in price.

It currently searches most NZ dealers and has over 22,000 cars for sale across the country. The listings are updated every night with new and removed vehicles.

No ads, paywall, subscription, sponsored posts, etc.

Thanks!

Free Software/Websites

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  • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 18/09/2026 - 23:53
    Merged from New Updates at Carspy.co.nz - Get Alerts, Save Searches, and More!

    A while back I posted CarSpy here — a free site that tracks every car listed on NZ dealer websites (about 31,000 right now), showing what each one is listed at currently, any price drops they've had, and what they'll actually cost to own.

    I got some really great feedback. Here's some of what's changed since:

    Alerts without an account. Watchlist a car, or get emailed when a new listing matches your search. No signup — just an email address.

    Search that knows how NZ names cars. "Mazda Axela" now also returns Mazda 3s, so imports and NZ-new stop being two separate searches. "Golf GTI" returns GTIs rather than every Golf on the lot.

    Realistic Running costs. Insurance estimates now reflect what high-theft cars really cost to insure — the Aqua and Demio were badly wrong before. EV listings show battery capacity and health where the dealer publishes it, and charging and finance costs have been redone.

    Also: filters for engine size, seat count and mileage, saved searches, a much faster mobile site, and proper keyboard navigation.

    CarSpy.co.nz

    I also run an instagram account @carspynz where I post the best deal of the day and week so definitely check that out if you are interested in cars or wanting to buy one soon.

    I'd love for anyone to give the site another go and give me some feedback on the changes and the rest of the site.
    One thing I'd especially like a second opinion on: if you've bought an import recently, do the insurance and maintenance numbers look right to you? That's the part I'm least sure of.

    Thanks!

    • 2
    • Drcspy on 19/09/2026 - 07:19

      Quick thought after a quick glance - WELL Done !

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  • CheapAzChips on 10/09/2026 - 00:20

    Nice! Some feedback:

    • Good range of features and dealers. I like the map option.
    • I also like the grid view, but list view I think the pictures are a little too small and the overall tile size is too big? You can probably make each tile a bit tighter to make better use of space and enlarge photos slightly
    • Some of the model descriptions are getting split incorrectly between the title and subtitle. If you look through Tesla vehicles you might see:
    2021 Tesla Model

    3 Standard Range Plus

    • I find the Search button is a little annoying to have to scroll down to. I'd put it and the Clear Filters button together and collapse the insurance/charging/distance options into "Running cost options" or something.

    Overall, good work! Something I'll almost certainly use in coming months.

    • 1
    • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 10/09/2026 - 00:32

      Thank you so much for the great feedback. I'll do some thinking on it and make changes, I agree with you on the grid view, that was actually something I created today so definitely needs some work.

      Will have a look at the main search page too as well and think about how that could be laid out better.

      Would be glad to have you as a recurring user and definitely feel free to use the feedback form in the app as much as you want if there's anything you think it could use or need changed.

      • 0
    • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 10/09/2026 - 02:26

      I've also made some changes based on your feedback, when you have time take another look and let me know what you think! The Tesla issue should be fixed.

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      • CheapAzChips on 10/09/2026 - 07:10

        Yep, that's looking better, thanks!

        I'll tell you a feature I wish TM cars had, not sure if you'd like to add as an advanced filter option: exclude keywords. For example I'd like to be able to search for EVs but exclude Nissan: there are so many Leafs (leaves?) and e-NV200s on the market but I'm not interested in any of them.

        • 2
        • Naimady on 10/09/2026 - 07:30

          You can do this in trade me search. It uses Boolean search so you can type "NOT MG NOT LDV NOT Nissan NOT MITSUBISHI, NOT leaf". I had the same issue lol

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          • CheapAzChips on 10/09/2026 - 08:31

            @Naimady: Amazing, thank you! I tried !Nissan and -Nissan, didn't think to try NOT 😅

            • 0
        • Moodkiller on 10/09/2026 - 07:30

          HEH, I wish one could multi-select the all the brands you want like you could do with Fuel type. Anyways, pro tip, TM does allow to do this: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/electric/search?sear…

          in the search just say "NOT and then the brands you dont want"

          Here is the cheat sheet https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/AdvancedSearch.aspx

          • 1
          • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 10/09/2026 - 11:10

            @Moodkiller: Looks like some valuable info for me to implement on the search 😁

            • 1
            • FiveFeetUnder on 10/09/2026 - 12:27

              @kianjz2: The other suggestion I had was to include a "select all" for the "Make" drop down. That way you could then untick Nissan but keep all the other makes.

              • 1
              • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 10/09/2026 - 12:32

                @FiveFeetUnder: Yep that's a great idea. Thanks for checking out the site, new updates will be coming soon 😍

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              • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 08/10/2026 - 17:41

                @FiveFeetUnder: Hi again! You can now exclude makes and models from the search, and there's also heaps of other new features. Let me know what you think!

                • 0
  • Cole on 12/09/2026 - 19:48

    Seems good, but the UI seem like all other generic vibe coded website out there.

    • 1
    • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 08/10/2026 - 17:42

      Hi there! We've done a full redesign so let me know what you think!

      • 0
  • kiwical on 10/09/2026 - 10:39

    I quite like a North Island / South Island filter for location.
    But I do get that it can get messy adding near infinite locations.

    EDIT: Ignore that. I see you can tick multiple regions, so North / South is unnecessary.

    • 0
    • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 10/09/2026 - 10:45

      Thanks for trying it out! Any other feedback 😁

      • 0
  • Senior Mouse on 10/09/2026 - 10:55

    Post this on reddit nzcarfix

    • 0
    • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 10/09/2026 - 11:10

      Have done so. Hopefully not removed!

      • 1
  • Moodkiller on 12/09/2026 - 20:11

    Have you had any luck with scanning TM? I know they have their API / Dev programme but good luck getting a key - more chance of finding someone to share theirs with you. The reason I ask is I looked at the Cupra USED listings - 68 on TM vs 12 on Carspy.

    Individual links are scannable by AI, but the category's are not

    • 0
  • Associatedkianjz2 @ carspy.co.nz on 31/10/2026 - 17:46
    Merged from Buying or Bought a Nissan Leaf? Read My Guide and Give Me Some Feedback!

    Hey guys! I've been in the car space for a while and recently started the platform CarSpy.
    Today I thought I would try writing some guides for car buying and ownership, and started with something I know a decent amount about which is the Nissan Leaf EV.
    I wrote a guide which you can find below stating all of the different options available today, as well as what you should be looking out for when buying a Leaf.

    Would love to hear if you guys find it useful and any feedback you might have!

    Here's the link:
    https://www.carspy.co.nz/guides/nissan-leaf-price-by-battery

    • 0
    • Alan6984 on 01/11/2026 - 12:33

      I'm not in the market for a Leaf - we already have an EV which is about a year old.

      However, I read through your guide, and whilst I am no expert (I suspect an expert would not even be reading your guide anyway), I found it to be excellent information for a prospective buyer who might be something like me.

      For what its worth, and perhaps because I'm not actually in the market for a Leaf, I found the info on how to check battery health the most interesting / useful thing in there.

      Made me wonder how general that information about battery health might be (obviously the Leaf App you reference would only apply to that car), and it would make me research that topic for any used EV I might be looking at in the future.

      Great work!

      • 0
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