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Michael Karesh re-tooled auto info websites for consumers with TrueDelta.com
How would you like some GOOD news about the auto industry? Well, consider a long overdue consumer perk - and make it my early Christmas present to all good boys and girls.
TrueDelta.com is a new website to be reckoned worth; it leaves the competition in the dust when it comes to current auto feedback and consumer information. If you want to know which car or truck best suits your needs, wallet and taste, do not race pass go - just park at TrueDelta.com.
And, if you already have a vehicle? Consider this the best idea you've stumbled across yet. Home to 29,000 panelists who provide feedback on 36,000 vehicles, the site gives you the honest answers you need to track repairs, mileage and other features. The data comes from other consumers and car clubs, rather than auto insiders, yet keeps you closer to the industry than the average driver has ever been.
The information is rotated every three months, so it is fresher than the average car site, which generally publishes about yearly, putting TrueDelta.com six to 18 months ahead of the competition.
Begun in 2004 by Michael Karesh, 41, of suburban Detroit - West Bloomfield, to be exact - TrueDelta.com has been improved monthly, with an open mind to even more suggestion.
By using the Greek word for difference, delta, Karesh created this public link -- which tells more than manufacturers want you to know. It shares the good/bad/ugly of any vehicle, and does it in a user-friendly forum.
Karesh, a native of Virginia with a doctorate from the University of Chicago, came to Detroit 12 years ago. Well-schooled by General Motors' Product Development, he also worked at Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. Karesh has taught consumer behavior and new product development at Rochester's Oakland University; he's featured as an auto expert on TheTruthAboutCars.com, and is the third most-read auto expert at Epinions.com.
What began as a website with info on 65 car models for 10 first-day visitors, TrueDelta.com now averages 2,000 per day and continues to grow. The reliability surveys include auto models going back to 1995, and are part of the concept of not discouraging participation of owners with older cars.
Saying that he felt "something was missing from auto sites," Karesh centered on four areas of car information:
* detail-by-detail comparisons between vehicles for quick reference
* the real mileage vehicles provide rather than what manufacturers would have you believe
* why people didn't buy a particular car
* the reliability of various vehicles written by the people who really drive them
How and where people drive is more pertinent in determining gas mileage, says Karesh, and established that feature on the website. A driver with a lead foot on smooth straight-aways is bound to experience different mileage than someone in hilly or rough terrain or someone with erratic pressure on the gas pedal.
"(Even) city driving varies wildly - it may be stop-and-go, like in Detroit, or a straighter shot at a constant speed, like in Farmington," said Karesh.
A recent website tweak includes traffic light signals depicting potential problems or trouble-free models through red, green or yellow clues. It informs website visitors with quick references, although details are the site's strengths overall.
Access to the data is available by becoming a panel member through registration of a vehicle, followed by survey feedback on that vehicle four times per year. In return, invaluable website input helps members save money and frustration.
As auto fans nervously await the federal bailout decision, they can wile away the time finding plenty to inform and entertain them at TrueDelta.com. It's guaranteed to be far more pleasant than the Senate blood-letting of the Big 3 leaders, and it's definitely an idea whose time has come.
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