In June 1998, the largest auto advertising website Cars.com was launched in the country. This website provides automotive marketing services and is considered to be the second-largest automotive advertising website across the world. The headquarters of Cars.com is situated in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Cars.com Inc., which was founded by William Swislow, Mitch Golub, and Alex Vetter, the latter who is presently the President and CEO. Previously, Cars.com was owned by Classified Ventures, LLC, which is a joint venture between McClatchy Company, Gannett, Tribune, A.H. Below, and Graham Holdings. On August 5, 2014, Gannett announced that they would buy the rest of the shares that they did not own in Classified Ventures, LLC for $2.5 billion.

In 2003, Library Journal conducted a survey on websites related to automobiles marketing services and suggested that Cars.com is a website that is completely dedicated to providing marketing services for automobiles.

In 2004, a partnership announcement was made by Cars.com with Kelley Blue Book, which began advertising nationally. In 2007, Cars.com announced that they were planning their largest campaign in marketing yet to take place at the onset of 2008. In that very year, Yahoo announced that they would be receiving the Cars.com listings for their auto services.

In the Gannett spin off of the broadcasted properties such as Tegna, Inc., Cars.com was also included. On May 4, 2017, the shareholders of Tegna gave their approval for the spinoff of Cars.com as a new public trading company and they acquired a portion of the new company for every three Tegna shares that they owned. The new company commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange from June 1, 2017.

Today the properties that are owned by Cars.com are Auto.Com, DealerRater, DealerInspire, PickupTrucks.com, and NewCars.com. Cars.com has not just been a digital leader in the automotive classifieds segment but has also provided a strong connection between the purchaser and seller. The website offers the customers the required data and resources needed for making a wise purchasing decision considering the place, price, and product. This task is managed by Cars.com efficiently by connecting the in-market vehicle buyers to their partners in advertising.

Since June 1998, Cars.com has evolved into the largest and the pioneer of the digital platform of automotive classifieds that has connected customers with various dealers who are located and spread over all 50 states.

With its expert content that is trusted by millions, numerous listings of used and new vehicles, expansive tools for research and pricing and a huge database of the reviews provided by the consumers, Cars.com has indeed transformed the experience of vehicle shopping.