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...So, you know how your car makes funny sounds and you're trying to identify it, but you sound like a complete idiot trying to describe/make the sound to your mechanic over the phone?
What if there was a website that had a collection of those bad sounds (.wav or .mp3), maybe sorted by make and model of car OR sorted by what you think the problem might be?
For instance, my car this morning wouldn't start... ultimately due to the Fuel Pump going bad. The sound it made, however, was nothing I'd ever heard before, and sounds aren't typically something you can easily Google.
I'm way too lazy to pull off a business venture, so I thought I would share. Someone please make a site like this and earn millions!
more and more websites are popping up,,,look at fixya.com
not sure if there is a mechanics site yet
but it would be good to be able to "phone in" pics/sounds/even videos, and have an assessment
they even have dr. forums, you can submit symptoms and for 35 dollars, a certified dr. will give you advice.
youtube has alot of helpful how to videos but it is scattered and junked up
...So, you know how your car makes funny sounds and you're trying to identify it, but you sound like a complete idiot trying to describe/make the sound to your mechanic over the phone?
I'm not sure any mechanic could identify a problem with a car based just on a sound. It's kind of like telling a doctor all your symptoms and expect them to give you a diagnoses without examining you. Sure you can narrow it down, but your suggesting paying a sound fine over the phone and expecting a mechanic to give a diagnoses over the phone. Are you going to expect him to give you a price on the repair over the phone too?
I've heard of some mechanics giving advice over the phone based on symptom descriptions. Naturally they want you to come in, but the point of the website would be to rule out the most common issues (dead/dying battery, etc).
I've also heard of doctors offering advice based on symptom descriptions, provided that it doesn't sound like it's serious. You have a cough, runny nose but no fever? Probably a common cold. Take Robotussin and let me know if a fever crops up.
With the diagnostic equipment becoming cheaper and more cars storing more codes, chasing down the problems is becoming easier. Fixya is well on their way. Also if the car is making a strange noise most phones anymore allow you record sounds. Novel idea, however I am not sure how practical it is.
If it is a collection of sounds, there is youtube, and trying to get someone to pay for a sound file like that which may or may not duplicate the sound. You'd have to sell advertising to make it work. Most of the great websites offer the advise for free.
I've heard of some mechanics giving advice over the phone based on symptom descriptions. Naturally they want you to come in, but the point of the website would be to rule out the most common issues (dead/dying battery, etc).
I've also heard of doctors offering advice based on symptom descriptions, provided that it doesn't sound like it's serious. You have a cough, runny nose but no fever? Probably a common cold. Take Robotussin and let me know if a fever crops up.
Meh, but I see what you mean!
I think the problem with this business idea is revenue. How would you make money? If you charge a fee and the diagnosis is wrong, you'd have to refund them or else you'd experience a massive attack on blogs, forums and review sites. Even with a refund, I'm sure your customer would still be upset because he wasted time trying to remedy your website's diagnosis. If you made it a free website and tried to find companies that want to advertise, I don't think it would happen either because your website would need very high volume.
from changing a tire, to changing oil, to replacing a head light,
the easy stuff, people can phone into to easily fix,
when the time comes, say a car breaks down, its quite the intense time,,,,many have never even changes a tire
nothing worse than feeling helpless, or asking for help,
if there is not one major GO TO site- maybe you could organize one, and sell advertising
do your research of whats out there now- the problem with the internet, is that there is so much info now- its quite junked up to find it- if I searched for "how to change a starter in a toyota corolla" Id get 22 pages of toyota dealers, or corollas for sale-people pay for search words
but if you created THE go to site for this -get a snappy name maybe Mrs. Goodwrench (Have a woman explaining some of this)
IF i started a destination site, id invite videos of "how to" from the masses, people would do it ,,just to be recognized, or to have their video on a site
say you list- what you are looking for- wanted, a video of a woman changing a tire on a mini-van-you would get hundreds of videos
your job would be to gather the videos, and easily organize them- you need a snappy name..CarFix might be good if it isnt already used
you (or someone else) have that sound and other diagnostics content on website for free (you have to offer some valuable free content for your visitors there) , I'm not into cars at all, but I can see it can be a great fun just working on it this way
don't charge for it because you can't be sure it's 100% correct assessment, and you don't want people bashing you all over internet
you build traffic and as you do it, you also include some monetization models there
so affiliate links (10-20% commission, high quality things only, you obviously have some experience - use it,
see if they have options for TIER affiliate linking, that's even better, you have your own sub-affiliate network working for themselves and for you, and when you grow a little more, selling ad-space to those who don't have affiliate programs,
there are other means of monetization, just make sure they don't stand on each other's way
my 2 cents
...So, you know how your car makes funny sounds and you're trying to identify it, but you sound like a complete idiot trying to describe/make the sound to your mechanic over the phone?
What if there was a website that had a collection of those bad sounds (.wav or .mp3), maybe sorted by make and model of car OR sorted by what you think the problem might be?
For instance, my car this morning wouldn't start... ultimately due to the Fuel Pump going bad. The sound it made, however, was nothing I'd ever heard before, and sounds aren't typically something you can easily Google.
I'm way too lazy to pull off a business venture, so I thought I would share. Someone please make a site like this and earn millions!
You need to sell this car sound library idea to Click and Clack as an add-on to CarTalk... Show Podcast | Car Talk
Many of their callers are already trying to make these sounds to describe their own car problems. Call their live show to present your idea - let me know when you do this so I may listen in...
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