Having car problems?

Need a second opinion on that repair?

Well, next time head over to RepairPal.com. It’s an easy to navigate site which aims to give the car owner and driver an unbiased estimate on repairs for their cars. It’s that second opinion you have always wanted to get for your car repair but were afraid to ask for or take the time to go out and get one. It also provides a central place for you to keep your car repair information and/or wishlist of repairs you would like to get done. Best of all – it’s Free!

RapairPal has four main parts. The estimator, which is my favorite tool, allows you to put in your car’s make and model and then choose what needs repairing. The site comes back with with a results page that shows a range of repair estimate costs with a break down of parts and labor, shops in your area which will do the repair, and certain things to look out for and possibly what could have caused the problem.

The next feature is the “find a shop search”, which allows you to enter in a city, state, zip code or keyword to find a local shop to do repairs. Viewing the “find a shop” page gives you all the vital contact information, reviews and ratings. With an account you can rate a shop that you have worked with. The cars section is great as you can look up your car and get ratings, reviews and common problems associated with your particular car model. The last part of the site is the encyclopedia which has a list of common car questions and parts definitions.

Overall the site is quite nice. It is easy to navigate and has a great database of information. With that being said, it is limited as there are not enough reviews, ratings or comments yet to truly be helpful at this juncture, in my unbiased opinion. The other two issues I have are that the car repairs details are pretty generic and the make years of cars kept in the data base only go back to 2004, so if you car is less than four years old, you are out of luck. I assume the four year mark is about the time when a car starts to have issues.

The site was created back in 2007 and is still in beta. They do seem to be adding new cars to the database every month and seem to come out with a new features based on the user’s input. They just added a way to input your car repair records and are working on other great features for the “My Car” section.

Please have a look at RepairPal.  I think it is a great tool and a way to get that second opinion to those that aren’t very car savvy.

Then comment below and tell me what you think of the site AND what kind of car you drive!