Be sure you review this important

[69mach1]

On Dealers Edge main page these two sites are listed you should check them out this coud be good and bad both




The sites are www.driverside.com and www.repairpal.com.

[mbowers]

The websites are mentioned in one of the news items on the homepage.

[robc]

I looked at both sites as well ... repairpal contains much more useful data than the Driverside. From nearly day one in the internet craze there has been some sites, even MSN auto for a time, that have tried to draw traffic by feeding off consumer's fear of auto repairs. The range is so large on most jobs - a waterpump replacement for my area ranged from $250 - $650 (my dealer charged me $325) that they don't seem to provide viable or useful information.

Here is the problem with these sites and while they are likely to vaporize within a year or so. First, we can barely keep up with price changes, watching our local market for competitive pricing and the like. These sites trying to do it on a national scale aren't doing anything but taking a Mitchell or like estimating guide and putting it online. The task of maintaining a site like this is practically overwhelming without huge resources.

Second, how will people know about these sites without a ton of promotion (ala the Superbowl kind). If you are a normal consumer, you'd google something like, "How much should a water pump cost?" You'd get a bazillion results from forums like this and dodge_trucks_are_lemons.com before you'd ever find these guys. It would take huge resources to make a dent in that - even if they pay 50 cents a click on google.

Third, since we established it will take a tremendous amount of greenbacks to move forward, who is going to pay that? Consumers? Good luck. Carfax is still struggling to capture consumer interest and they have been at it for years. There would not be enough people willing to pay for an estimate, which is nothing more than a rough guess. So they would have to turn to advertisers and lead selling to shops. But what shop/dealership is going to pay for a site to trash them and set prices (which is what happened with MSN).

So while I find the information novel, I don't see how it would be anything more.

On the plus side ... here are repairpal's comments related to an LOF -

Recommendations

*Replacing the engine oil every 3,000 to 4,000 miles, even if the manufacturer recommends it less frequently, will greatly extend the useful life of the engine.
*We recommend using a high-quality engine oil filter. Cheap filters wear more quickly and may not properly keep contaminants out of the engine.
*We recommend always replacing the drain plug gasket along with the oil and oil filter.
*Using high-quality, fully synthetic oil can dramatically extend the life of the engine.

And buried a bit in their estimate is -
RepairPrice Estimates do not include:
* Diagnostic costs incurred
* Local sales taxes
* Disposal and shop material fees
* The cost of additional work that may be needed

As part of their methodology they write -
We rely on outside sources for certain pieces of data required to create our RepairPrice Estimates, including the carmakers themselves.

Doubtful. Unless they mean they got retail pricing and a labor time standard from the manufacturer ... I doubt any factory handed them repair order data.

[pjpeery]

robc
Carfax is still struggling to capture consumer interest and they have been at it for years.

rob

where does carfax get there information .. seems that some of it may be private?


paul

[topshop]

Paul wrote:

"where does carfax get there information .. seems that some of it may be private?"

Every night they download all of the service records performed that day from a number of repair shops. This information also shows up in the report when you do a search on a vehicle that has had service performed at these shops.

------------------
Tom Ham
AutomotiveManagementNetwork.com

[pjpeery]

"where does carfax get there information .. seems that some of it may be private?"

Every night they download all of the service records performed that day from a number of repair shops. This information also shows up in the report when you do a search on a vehicle that has had service performed at these shops.

Are repair orders considered public property or does the owner have a right to privacy?

who owns the repair order information and should you be able to expect it to be kept private

paul

[dew23456]

I was told that CarFax gets it's info from insurance company records only. That is why a lot of rental vehicles never show any damage history, because most of the rental companies are self insured.

[texaslp]

They probably get their information from various sources, but they are not 100% that's for sure.