What’s your favorite car site? If you can’t pick one, you’re probably in the majority: despite the abundance of successful auto sites, few people ever frequent one regularly. That’s because most of these sites are primarily concerned with buying and selling cars rather than their long term maintenance.
DriverSide, a new startup that launches today, is looking to change this trend by creating an automobile community that will be useful throughout the life of your vehicle. The site creates a profile tailored to your virtual garage, and offers options accordingly.
Among the features offered by the site are “Service Your Car”, which displays a car’s owner’s guide, common problems, recall alerts, and service schedule. Perhaps most useful will be the “What to Pay for Service” option, which offers approximations of repair costs that are based on a given car model and zip code. DriverSide CEO Trevor Traina says that these ballpark costs, which are determined by a third-party car repair company, should help customers determine if they’re being ripped off by their mechanic.
Driverside also allows users to track the value of their cars over time. The site uses an algorithm based on 14 million recent transactions along with licensed data from sources like the Kelley Blue Book to determine a car’s market value. Prices are then plotted along a graph that shows how quickly a car is depreciating, and users can set alerts that will notifiy them when their car has dropped below a cetain point.
Users can leave reviews, comments, tips, and questions specific to their car model for their peers. And, of course, the site features a social networking aspect. Each user can build their own virtual garage that lets them show off their wheels to the world (my ‘96 Celica is quite the stunner).
DriverSide has laid much of the groundwork to become an authoritative car community and reference, but it still has a ways to go. For one, the interface needs to be reworked – the buttons on the side bar are way too big, while the actual content is found in a somewhat overwhelming list of expandable tabs. The social networking side of things also seems a little pointless, though it’s tough to judge because some of the features aren’t active yet. For readers that want a dedicated social network that revolves around cars, check out boompa which we covered way back in 2006.
Cool! Just signed up and giving it a test drive…
meh. looks like another mint – more flash than substance. somebody needs to come up with a yodlee equivalent – real value.
Great idea this is a sure fire hit. I wonder how prices will compare between America and Europe.
Boompa looks like a poor recommendation on your part — have you actually checked it out. What about MyRide.com??
This is a fantastic idea, especially when house can depreciate faster then a car in it’s garage!
Jon
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Jon, when you spam, can you at least make sense?
I just registered on the site, immediately got a page not found error, entered my car’s VIN, and got incorrect details – CVT transmission becomes manual, mid-size becomes compact, and similar cars shows compact sedans.
useless!
05 gti 1.8t
oil change service (via their ‘pre service report’): $278.56
including two air filters (the car only needs one)
and 4WD Indicator Switch, Replace (B) for 20mins of labor
odd, my car’s FWD
also didn’t include the cost of oil
Interesting idea I guess… if you want a really useful site that can help you buy and sell cars, check out http://www.easyautosales.com The service will actually include useful social networking features that help you buy and sell cars.
did they steal their design from http://www.autoinq.com ?
Interesting idea. If someone could just make all the data in car forums available to the less tech-savvy or the less passionate, that would be huge. I’ve personally found these communities to be a lot less savvy than most car forums dedicated to a particular make.
Interesting if they can make any sense out of the service estimates. Otherwise they need some serious help on the user interface on this thing. Confusing as heck – too much stuff! Focus people, focus!
People are only concerned with buying or selling a car for a very short period of time every few years but they are concerned with car maintenance multiple times a year. In that regard it’s a great business idea. The question is if they can accumulate a critical amount of reliable information for all popular brands and types and make it easy to access. If they get enough attention they could even build an affiliate network of real garages around the site that support the philosophy of fair service around your car…. lot’s of opportunities here but first they’ve got to pay attention to provide value through useful information and a good user experience.
I think the car geeks and brand lovers will also go to a vertical site or forum. I see this site potentially to become a source / platform for ‘average’ people that just want their car to be taken care of in a convenient way and without getting ripped off.
What a mess! Looks like it was designed in the 90s … clip art central! Tried to download a owners manual but only got a spec sheet. Tried to find a local dealer in a major met and only got one 100 miles away. These guys have a long way to go if they want this thing to take off.
Social networking is fine and dandy when it comes to cars, but CarDomain and other have a lock on that IMO, but actually being able to share your car’s maintenance history is what I think adds value to ownership…and I speak from experience with Ownersite. (http://www.ownersite.com). People give me a hard time for paying for a site, but I think it’s worth every penny. They don’t seem to get any PR, probabyy because they are not new and don’t look shiny web 2.0. But here is an example of the “window sticker” that you can use to share your car’s history along with receipts in an eBay, Autotrader or Craigslist ad. http://www.owne...cfm?veh_id=6584
Oh, and no intent to drive this too off-topic, but I agree with the unusual Boompa reference. According to Compete.com:
cardomain.com 854,075 visitors
boompa.com 13,464 visitors
myride.com 169,770 visitors
looks nice but as someone pointed out it’s a rip off. take a look at autoinq.com
There are lots of bugs with this beta release, which is actually a bit surprising since many of them seem like simple bugs that could have easily been caught in any standard QA cycle and easily resolved by any competent engineer. Well, that is, if they had sufficient time to resolve them.
Anyhow, it’s hard to figure out what the real value of DriverSide if versus Edmunds.com, MSN Autos, etc. In theory it’s all of these sites plus a social component that must have been hiding, because I could not find it anywhere.
My recommendations to the folks at DriverSide – and I am saying this as a person that constantly frequents auto sites and is a major automobile enthusiast, are simple, but I think useful.
1. This needs a news section of some sort. Even social auto news akin to what is at AutoSpies.com could be useful if you guys are feeling too lazy to get feeds from someone else or hire an editor to compile the news daily. Even an RSS feed from Autoblog or Jalopnik might help.
2. One thing I found use at Kosmix of all places was their ability to search for auto reviews, especially when I was on the hunt for a new car. Yes, I am one of the 3 people that use Kosmix, but only for that feature, but it’s a great one. Too bad it’s not something you will use everyday (sorry, Venki!), but it would be incredibly useful nonetheless. Using CNET for auto reviews is absolutely hilarious, as no one in the auto industry recognizes these guys as holding any water when it comes to automobile insight. Seriously, do a bizdev deal with a revshare on ads with the Primedia guys. They are desperate and scared of having to shutter magazines.
3. Cars I want seems useless in it’s current incarnation mostly because it does not work and brings the user right back to cars I own. *sigh* Same with cars I’ve driven and anything else on the upper menu.
4. Where is the true car comparison? This is something NO ONE has, btw. Lets say I was interested in buying a Infiniti G37s and I wanted to compare it to the BMW 335i, well in theory you could hop down to Yahoo Autos and start your comparison, right? Right, but you’re going to hit a brick wall using those sites, unfortunately. Let’s say you wanted to compare performance, then you would have to hop on over to Motortrend, Car and Driver, Automobile Magazine, whatever, and start your long, manual search for their various times, comparisons and read like page after page, looking for this little piece of hidden data. The same goes with reviews of cars. Now, this is clearly a ton of work, but having those compiled magazine times and ratings would be something that no one has. Think Metacritic and RottenTomatoes for cars.
5. I don’t see a real attempt at creating any kind of community. Is this because you folks know that competing against all the auto forums out there is a waste of calories?
Best of luck!
yeah doesn’t look like the site even works. Very buggy, and almost none of the information is actually shown. The problem with sites like this is those who care to find this information will go to the direct source. Those who don’t, will just take it to the dealer or local mechanic
and yeah that askinq site has a very identical theme…but then again that green theme is very common for car info sites
Nothing works. After selecting my car it keeps thinking it’s something else. User interface is a nightmare. The driver manual link goes to 1 page PDF page of the index. Overuse of jQuery animation to make everything jump around on the same page like a schizophrenic kid. Looks like an overseas hackjob with no soul.
Like someone said: it’s just Mint for cars. Shiny but utility is marginal.
meh! not for primetime and a hard bitch to slap!
I think it looks pretty good. Yeah, there are a few bugs, but the interface seems really easy to use. Be nice people! It’s still in beta and its a good idea considering the current climate.
I like it, overall. It is BETA, by the way. Easy to get to stuff, and a lot easier to use than the bigger sites out there.
Definitely looks like a hack of http://www.AutoInq.com, even the logo is eerily similar.
I just got an estimate of $216 to replace wiper blades.
Pass.
I just got an estimate that my 1991 Honda Accord with over 200 000 miles is worth $10 611.00- HAAAAAAAHAHAAAA
I believe http://www.fixya.com takes info from forums and aggregates the info on their site and adds real life experts to solve additional problems for cars and other things.
Love the interface… its simple… the site is taking a lil long to load but i guesss its coz its in beta n its not optimised…
kickass idea….
I just checked it out. Looks like it has lots of potential!! It will be great when they get everything running in tip top shape.
so, zillow or trulia for cars. (Zestimate, anyone?). smart, and the data gets better as more people use it, so cut these guys a break, ok?
seriously? is everyone gonig the apple design route? the design is clean, but the functionality is too much flash, and what’s with everything on ONE page thing? site like ecarservices may not look like much, but at least they get me what i want in ONE screen when it comes to estimating for repairs, and i don’t have to depend entirely on flash to do stuff for me. driverside should’ve waited untilthe site’s actually working correctly on a bunch of functions that i don’t want to even list~
I agree about the poor recommendation of boompa — mainly because the site seems “dead”, there hasn’t been activity on it in over year.
Another alternative to CarDomain and boompa is Motortopia, which is very active.
http://www.motortopia.com
If anyone out there is looking for a site just to manage their car repair records (no social networking or repair price trending), there’s always Your Garage Online:
http://yourgarageonline.com
A rip off or AutoInq? Really? Give me a break.
I guess you could argue that the green is the similar… Other than that, what exactly is a rip off? Icons? There’s nothing really unique about using ICONS to represent information or content is there? Photography? of PEOPLE? Never seen THAT on another site. And how many colors can you use really… Would anyone trust it if the site was in pink? Oh…blue! YEah BLUES! That’s unique and different! Maybe they should have made the site blue!
Clip art? Are you sure? And if so, then so what? (they look pretty cool to me)… Are you really going to avoid using a site based on its use (or non-use) of stock elements? Surf much? Stock photos and art are EVERYWHERE (and I’ll bet that photographers and illustrators are better off for it in general).
Jeez people. Relax a bit. Its just a site that’s trying to do something for car owners. Thats all. It doesnt seem to be biased or sponsored or brought to you by anybody. Looks to me like it could be of some value – if people can get past their own critique.
The site’s like this will not generally bring enough traffic to be an attractive proposition. Consumers know and trust someone locally who is “their mechanic” and a web site like this only serves to confuse the consumer about a very technical product with many variables they will not be able to understand, if not misinformed as others here have shown, then unfairly dissillusioned.
It’s a shame to use the word Rip Off and car repair making assumptions about an industry that is filled with honest hard working people. I have had money taken from me by bank fees for contracts never delivered, insurance companies for annual audit reviews that pop up after cancellation, and construction companies etc. that far exceed what any mechanic will ever charge you in a lifetime of auto repair, your time is worth too much to worry about a few hundred bucks for a car repair – all you have to do is say “show me what’s going on and explain it to me in real terms” and that’s how you get a fair job. Price is not an issue for skilled technical work – it’s the work that counts. $5mil start up costs – I hope the investors can get as much out of it as the consumers who use it – nothing.