[nudge]

1/3) Auto repair / servicing. The internet has helped consumers in all kinds of markets - retail and travel, perhaps most obviously - compare equivalent goods to ensure they are getting a fair price and good service. I would love for this to be applied to car repair and servicing. I confess that I know next to nothing about cars - I just want my car to run, and when it need repairs or services, I want to know that I'm getting a fair price. As it stands I have no idea really.

There are two aspects to this problem: (i) the garage is both doctor and pharmacist - there is an incentive to take advantage of my lack of knowledge and propose unnecessary work; and (ii) I don't know whether, for the services and goods proposed as necessary (including labour), the price is fair.

I know this is stuff that I should probably know, but I feel like there is an opportunity for this all to be made better.

[jpalmer]

http://repairpal.com

Techcrunch about them: http://techcrunch.com/2008/06/12/repairpal-its-like-google-h...

[chrisa]

Here's the HN thread about them from about a year ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=755665

[Judson]

I was thinking something more like iFixit, but for cars. Maybe user-generated repair tutorials. Might help mechanics "legitimize" their own business if they are active in a community like that.

[percept]

That would be cool. Is anybody doing that now?

Initially "incentivize" people to submit year/make/model, then repair/parts/labor and build up a database of prices (later users would do the same thing with estimates).

I believe labor rates are the same across repairs so you could split that out as the dealer's standard rate. Add service reviews, etc.

[cake]

Yes auto repair is a big problem for me and for a lot of other people too I guess.

Just last week the garage that took my car misdiagnosed the problem and charged me much more than necessary.

Usually I try to get a grasp of what the problem could be and try to fix it myself if I can. This time I was under pressure to get it fixed quickly so I directly brought it to the garage. Had I tried to identify the problem (which I did later on with a lot of web browsing), I would have fixed the problem under 72h and $20 vs one and a half week, a lot of hassle and $150 at the garage.

I wish there could be a robust platform to help you identify a problem. The forums are often full of people that really don't know what they are talking about but they still come and confuse you.

I'm thinking about a website where you could identify you car's problem with community approved answers (based on their own experience or solid references from the repair manual).

[d_r]

http://www.driverside.com -- just what you describe, but not mainstream enough as I just found out about it the other day.