LOS ANGELES -

Online automotive shopping service and research portal CarsDirect announced Wednesday the launch of a new tool — Expert Buying Outlooks, which aims to give consumers a better idea of what is on a dealer’s lots today.

This provides buying overviews and pricing information for individual vehicle models, as well as guidance from pricing experts that may potentially help gauge the best time to buy a used or new vehicle.

Also, this tool provides a graph of recent pricing trends for each model, as well as a summary and prediction of where prices appear to be headed.

The company noted that "the team of CarsDirect vehicle experts creates each Outlook using CarsDirect’s vast database of exclusive vehicle buying and pricing data.”

"Our team of experts is constantly interacting with auto manufacturers and dealerships around the country, so our fingers are always on the pulse of pricing and incentive trends in the industry," said Mark McCready, vice president of market planning and pricing at CarsDirect and leader of the vehicle expert team.

"The Expert Buying Outlooks enable us to efficiently package this insight and share it with car shoppers in one place,” he added.

Moreover, the Expert Buying Outlooks will be updated by the company in response to changes in the market and how those changes will affect individual units, management asserted.

"The fact that there’s a living, breathing team of experienced experts behind each Outlook is key," stressed McCready.

"We’re not an algorithm throwing out suggestions as you search for a new car. We’re closely monitoring the market and updating Outlooks on the fly with information that could make or break getting a great deal on a new car,” he concluded.

Also of note, Outlooks are currently available for the top 160 vehicle models, with more to be added in the coming weeks, according to management.

For more information on CarsDirect’s new Expert Buying Outlooks, visit here.