If this is your first time here – here’s the backstory!
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NOTE: This looks, at first glance, to be a pretty cool concept. The Common Problems section for each make and model is very useful and can certainly make you aware of some things you might not have otherwise known about.
And, if you’re even the slightest bit interested or curious, the Auto Repair Encyclopedia is very helpful. I couldn’t quickly ascertain the source of all that helpful information but it looks and sounds believable. It will most certainly help you talk more intelligently to the repair shop wizards and provide a least a temporary shot of…confidence?
Looks like they’ve populated the site with 286,000 car repair shops which is nifty. At least you can get an idea of what shops in and around where you live/work can work on your car. I put my car in there to get an estimate for scheduled maintenance options.
Finger tap…tap…tap…please wait…p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e….COMING IN AUGUST. <<GROAN>>
Having just launched there are very, very few reviews and ratings so you’re on your own until the site gets some exposure and use. That, of course, assumes there’s a mechanism in place to get users to post reviews and ratings…
I’d like to see some repair shop skin in the game and get them all to put up some info about themselves BEFORE their profile goes live. Right now the information you see looks very similar to all the online yellow pages info: shop name, address, phone, map, specialties…BIG…Y-A-W-N…HO-HUM.
The one shop I’m looking at right now that can work on my car shows the following specialties: Service & Repair. No Sh*t Sherlock. Oh yeah…and it’s going to get dark tonight.
I guess my point is these profiles don’t do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g to 1) motivate me to choose one shop over another and 2) use any of these shops at all. I’m likely to get as much or more information doing a Yellow Pages search in any of the four print books that have been delivered to my front doorstep over the past few weeks or rummaging through the online Yellow Pages.
Yes, I get a phone number and an address and, in case I don’t know my way around town, a cool map. Great. That’s all pretty helpful. So is the fact that their specialties are service and repair. At least I know they’re not going to try and sell me a washer/dryer or timeshare or a new set of encyclopedias that I don’t need nor want.
