Technically, that is true, but there are close competitors, such as http://RepairPal.com/, which thinks it has built a better "shop finder" and service advice mousetrap to serve both consumers and shops.

Perhaps the one thing that draws the biggest distinction between Prundo and other similar online businesses is the coupons it offers for auto repair and service provided by shops. In essence, this means Prundo members will receive all kinds of service offers from a variety of shops via the Internet. No doubt this will appeal to consumers who don't do business with a regular shop. Over a period of time of frequenting various shops, consumers just might pick a shop and stick with it for all of their service.

On the other hand, this sort of site might appeal just to price shoppers. That's what Expedia is about — find the lowest possible airfare and the cheapest price at a decent hotel. Of course, this would mean that consumers would go where the best deal is offered.

Many of you might not be convinced. Surely, the "best deal" can't be what consumers are looking for in car repair and maintenance. People want to fix their cars right and are willing to pay a premium for that, right? Unfortunately not, especially in a down economy where consumers are making some hard choices about how they spend their money.

You might also see these sites as poor places to compare the quality of service. At this point in time, you might be right. Get online and poke around and you'll see that they are reliant on consumers who have used their services to judge quality. Because it's so early in the game, there aren't enough respondents for users to take the ratings seriously.

To this point, wouldn't consumers be better off getting recommendations from AAA, known for recommending shops that belong to the Better Business Bureau, and employing technicians who are certified by ASE (the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence)?

But if you're reading between the lines, you know that I am going to recommend that you get signed up with all of the aforementioned sites as well as other shop finder entities found at http://ase.com/motorist and http://cartalk.com/ You have to assume your competitors will. In fact, go on these sites and you'll find some shops are on all of them. If you're not, you could be losing ground to your competitors without even knowing it.

To emphasize this point, the latest big news is a couple of leading aftermarket organizations — the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and Bosch — hammered out agreements with http://RepairPal.com/. By leveraging their organizations' standing in the marketplace, they are offering their members and service centers, respectively, the opportunity for a competitive edge. (See story "Study shows nearly half of drivers interested in PHEVs".)

It would be easy to dismiss all of this with "I've never needed this before." If that's your attitude, that would be an unfortunate calculation on your part.