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Affiliate Disclosure

How Car Guides earns affiliate commissions. Full disclosure compliant with FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255).

Last updated: May 24, 2026

The short version

Car Guides earns commissions on some links. When you click certain links and make a purchase, get a quote, or sign up for a service, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. None of these partnerships influence our rankings, scoring, or editorial recommendations.

Why we disclose

This disclosure is provided in compliance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255). We believe in radical transparency about how we make money — both because the law requires it, and because trust is the only thing that matters in independent publishing.

Affiliate programs we participate in

Car Guides is a participant in the following affiliate programs:

  • Amazon Associates Program — accessories, books, tools, and parts. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Insurance lead generation networks — including (but not limited to) QuoteWizard, EverQuote, SmartFinancial, and Compare.com. When you request a quote through our site, we may receive a referral fee.
  • Auto loan and refinancing networks — including Auto Credit Express, MyAutoLoan, and similar.
  • Parts and maintenance retailers — RockAuto, AutoZone, CarParts.com, and others via direct programs or affiliate networks (Impact, CJ Affiliate, Skimlinks).
  • Other relevant retailers and services — added as appropriate. We try to keep this list up to date.

How affiliate links work on Car Guides

Affiliate links on our site may be marked with an icon, a "(affiliate)" label, or a footnote on the page where they appear. Even when not individually marked, every page that contains affiliate links displays a clear disclosure banner.

Editorial independence

This is the most important part of this page: affiliate partnerships never influence what we recommend. Specifically:

  • Our scoring model for "Best Of" rankings uses the same weights regardless of which products earn us a commission.
  • We will recommend a non-affiliate product over an affiliate product if it is better for the reader.
  • We do not adjust rankings, scores, or editorial content in exchange for higher commissions.
  • We do not accept paid placements disguised as editorial. If we ever publish sponsored content, it will be clearly labeled "Sponsored" at the top of the page.

Sponsored content

We currently do not publish sponsored content on Car Guides. If this changes in the future, any sponsored content will be clearly labeled "Sponsored" at the top of the page, and this disclosure will be updated.

Press samples and review units

We do not currently accept loaner vehicles, press samples, or review units from manufacturers. All vehicles discussed on Car Guides are evaluated based on publicly available data, official manufacturer specifications, and third-party tests (NHTSA, IIHS, EPA).

Questions?

If you have questions about how we earn money, want to flag a missing disclosure, or want to discuss a partnership opportunity, reach out at affiliate@car-guides.com.

This Affiliate Disclosure is reviewed at least annually and updated whenever our partnerships change materially.