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In my internet travels (there have been many), I’ve stumbled across an automotive website that has great potential to be useful. I’ve not vetted the information 100% (that’s where you folks come in), but at first glance it seems to be reasonable.
RepairPal.com, a relatively new website, promises to provide the American automobile owner with an information portal that will not only provide repair information, but will estimate the costs for the repair and suggest local shops suitable for the car in question.
When I ran my 1999 Saab 9-5 SE through the repair estimator to check how much it would cost to replace a broken surpentine belt, the result was pretty good. It even recommended my local Saab mechanic for repairs!! See for yourself:
I want you to run your recent repairs through the RepairPal.com estimator and compare. Let’s see how good or how bad it is for Saabs. If it’s good, we’ve got another resource to use. If it’s bad, we can warn others to avoid it.
Fill up the comments.
PS: There’s another site called DriverSide.comthat doesn’t seem to have a complete database of labor costs, which, of course, is the information that most of us lack when considering whether or not to take our Saabs in for a repair or to attempt the repair ourselves. I recommend sticking with RepairPal for now.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Mag-X
// Jul 9, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Interesting. Now if only it would go back to 1976. =P
2 Gunnar
// Jul 9, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Hey cool find! Thanks,
SwadeEggs.3 David Sturtz
// Jul 9, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Hi Guys-
I’m glad to see you’ve found RepairPal and appreciate what we’re doing. We’ve spent the past 1.5 years building our database using multiple sources of industry, parts and our own survey data. http://repairpal.com/methodology
So far I’m pleased with its performance but with your feedback we can make it even better. If you get an estimate that doesn’t look right, please use one of our many feedback links to tell us where it’s wrong and how we can improve it. We’ve got a whole team of expert technicians on staff so don’t hesitate to include as much detail as you can in your feedback. If there’s something else we can do better, don’t be shy!
With your help we can make auto repair as transparent to consumers as everything else we buy today.
Thanks much,
David Sturtz, CEO RepairPal
4 Racing Ready - Dan S.
// Jul 9, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Nows that’s a good service! I just ran through the data for my recent alternator belt replacement & the quote was spot on for what this independent shop did.
I’ll need to bookmark this one. They even suggested items that could be of concern for my vehicle – pretty slick!
I’m going to have to revisit & check some future repair prices, to see how much I’ll need to save up for.
I wonder how they came up with the 3 shops they suggested? There are so many choices within my urban setting – caveat emptor!
5 eggsngrits
// Jul 9, 2008 at 8:53 pm
All: Thanks for the comments. Mr. Sturtz, we’ll be watching…
6 Howiez5150
// Jul 9, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I put in a few past repairs on my 95 900 and 99 9-5. They seem to be pretty close. I use a specific Saab indy shop and use a lot of used parts, so I think my dollars are saved a bit. Overall, they were very close.
7 John S.
// Jul 11, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Why couldn’t something like this have surfaced earlier??
Ever since I bought my 9-5 in ‘03 I’ve had a feeling my dealer has been screwing me over, but never knew who else to trust it to.
There wouldn’t be any problems with me buying hirsch performance items for my 9-5 just because Saab doesn’t find it ‘financially practical for the states’ would there be? The last thing i’d want to deal with would be the DOT!