Somebody outta invent....

[Lucky]

a nationwide database of car repair shop reviews. And have some kind of meter that reliably determines if the poster is genuine or a schill poster. lots of money could be made on this, I suspect.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Who would pay for a service like that? If it were a service that charged, I wouldn't use it.

 

[chiwawa626]

Great idea, that is one industry that sure could use reviews since its very easy for them to be shady since most of us know jacksh/t bout cars and always get ripped off...someone should do it!!

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
Who would pay for a service like that? If it were a service that charged, I wouldn't use it.

WhyTF not? I've found significant variation in even honest shop's prices. Got three estimates for my exhausts, breaks, and tie rods a while back. High end was $600, low end $150. It's really a struggle to find low-cost mechanics that are _good_. I would absolutely pay, say, $10-$15 a year for a fairly well developed database that I could bring along on long trips (just in case), or to find even better deals locally.

 

[kami333]

Same, $15-20 a year would be nothing compared to what I might end up paying. Would be even better if it had a bidding funtion too.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: kami333
Same, $15-20 a year would be nothing compared to what I might end up paying. Would be even better if it had a bidding funtion too.

Damm, that's a good idea. In fact that's downright genius. Maybe I can get some folks interested in actually developing something like this.

 

[rudeguy]

ok...sounds like a really good idea. But how are we going to get all this data? The bidding functions and cost estimates seem easy enough, but how do we get ratings from every mechanic in the US?

 

[DanTMWTMP]

never post ur business ideas!!! now it's free for the taking for the world to see......dohhh

 

[Lucky]

Well, that's the problem. For it to truly be successful you'd need to have the site's main functions at no-cost during an introductory period until critical mass. I imagine some hard grass roots advertising, perhaps by convincing dealers to direct satisfied customers towards the site via a kickback, might be one way of going about it. But that would invite some level of schills, neccesitating a good detection algorithm.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Lucky
Well, that's the problem. For it to truly be successful you'd need to have the site's main functions at no-cost during an introductory period until critical mass. I imagine some hard grass roots advertising, perhaps by convincing dealers to direct satisfied customers towards the site via a kickback, might be one way of going about it. But that would invite some level of schills, neccesitating a good detection algorithm.

so you are saying basically a heatware for mechanics?


hmmm......

 

[BruinEd03]

Originally posted by: Lucky
Well, that's the problem. For it to truly be successful you'd need to have the site's main functions at no-cost during an introductory period until critical mass. I imagine some hard grass roots advertising, perhaps by convincing dealers to direct satisfied customers towards the site via a kickback, might be one way of going about it. But that would invite some level of schills, neccesitating a good detection algorithm.

yes I know good idea...now if you can help me out in my quest for rustproofing/undercoating I would jump in on helping you out w/ this idea of yours

-Ed

 

[whizbang]

Good idea. This is like ResellerRatings for car repair shops. The difficulty is that there are so many little car repair places and they are specific to the local area they reside in that it will be difficult to get the database packed with enough info to make it useful. I'm only going to care about shops located within 10 miles of me, meaning the database needs a butt load of info.

 

[Lucky]

Which is obviously a very weak spot in the strategy. This obviously could not be a "on the side" part time job, you'd need to pour your ass into it to make it work.

But, I think if marketed correctly towards local shops, it could work.

-I goto company and ask them to place comment sheets in their lobbies.
-Manager of said company gives customer incentive to post review/price if they are satisfied (I.E, $5-? off) on either the work they just did, or on their next repair/maint. at the company
-I give company small kickback for referring customer to site.
-Manager is happy his site is being seen by millions, and also increases the chances of customer rentention
-I'm happy that more users will post reviews


Except, this would require an exceptionally complicated and time consuming business and accounting department.

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: BruinEd03

Originally posted by: Lucky
Well, that's the problem. For it to truly be successful you'd need to have the site's main functions at no-cost during an introductory period until critical mass. I imagine some hard grass roots advertising, perhaps by convincing dealers to direct satisfied customers towards the site via a kickback, might be one way of going about it. But that would invite some level of schills, neccesitating a good detection algorithm.

yes I know good idea...now if you can help me out in my quest for rustproofing/undercoating I would jump in on helping you out w/ this idea of yours

-Ed

Go visit some car forums and see if they have a chapter/members in your area and ask for their recommendations. That's how I found my window tinter.

 

[rudeguy]

I dont think the kickbacks to dealers would be necessary...if this thing got going they would be begging to get good reviews...I am more than willing to help this get off the ground, but I dont have any idea how to set up the database needed...I can however, offer the BW

 

[Lucky]

Thinking more rationally after the initial giddy, this might be better off as a targeted selected metro-area thing at first. Market to the cities with high concentrations of people who are hi-tech.

Hmmm....

 

[kami333]

The impreza owners forums already have reviews of dealers, like this. I'm sure other car forums have similar stuff.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: kami333
The impreza owners forums already have reviews of dealers, like this. I'm sure other car forums have similar stuff.

A decent low-tech idea. However the problem inherent in that remains usability and the functional (in)ability to comprehensively search in more than just limited ways.