DentBetty

Car Repair Estimates by Photo

Why drive around town for repair estimates? Now you can upload photos of your car's cosmetic damage and make the autobody shops near and far compete for your business.

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Our news? DENTBETTY MADE HISTORY

World's first dent repair by a competitive bidding internet channel
September 2009
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As you know, DentBetty just launched in the San Francisco Bay Area only one month ago, and already we have been winning new friends all over the place. It's crazy. We've even heard from folks as far as away as England.

It is my great privilege to report that the first consumer to go all the way through the system to a completed car repair was Mel L. of Berkeley California. Mel is a tree-trimmer and artist who learned about us from the New York Times article last month. He had no idea he would become the first person in the world to have his car fixed by a competitive internet estimate, he just wanted an easy way solve what he thought was going to be a $1700 problem. He uploaded 4 photos of his dent, received 6 estimates on DentBetty, and ultimately paid $750 for an excellent repair at a shop in Oakland that he would never have considered otherwise. He was very happy with the entire experience. I told him he was like the first person to get a book on Amazon - this $10 billion consumer category has never been shopped online before to the best of my knowledge. Mel suggested that maybe we should give him a crockpot or something for the honor, but then laughed and said nevermind - he pocketed $400 in savings vs. the check his insurance company wrote to him, so he figures he already ended up way ahead.

Perhaps the most interesting remark Mel made was that price really wasn't the primary reason he selected the shop that ultimately performed the repair - true, the estimate he chose was in a range that seemed reasonable to him, but it really was the shop's comments about their estimate which gave him confidence about the shop, in conjunction with the location (a nearby neighborhood that he never actually had been to prior) that made it the winner. Congratulations to Paul of Bill & Bill's Autobody! First body shop to win on DentBetty.

Six minutes on the radio about the DentBetty story...

The world is starting to take notice - we recently heard that we were the featured story on a popular national talk radio program, The Clark Howard Show. We do not have a PR agent - this was completely unsolicited - how humbling and flattering to receive such well respected attention. We clearly have hit a hot-button for many people.

Clark Howard reaches hundreds of thousands of listeners every weekday from 1 - 4pm in over 200 major metropolitan areas in 40 US states and in Canada as part of Cox Media. Clark read about DentBetty in the New York Times and was so inspired by our service that he spoke about us for six minutes during a program about a pattern of a resurgence of entrepreneurship in America during tough times. What an honor. The entire radio clip is available on our news page - it's a great clip - makes very good listening! We think you'll enjoy hearing it. Maybe you too will find this story inspirational as you work on your own projects?

Consumers are already raving about DentBetty too.

Of course there is a ton of work ahead of us, but the early reviews are extremely positive, both from body shops and consumers alike. I was so touched by one email from a mom in Novato that I literally got all choked up. On Friday we put some of the testimonials we've received up on the website - more coming soon.

And finally ... as of yesterday ... we are now LIVE coast to coast...!

Last week, thanks to help from our Board member Alec Murray, we welcomed the first autobody shops in Boston to join our network. Our first dent repair estimate on the East Coast was just made yesterday morning by DeLeo's Autobody Shop in Cambridge Mass. Still so much work to go before things are operating smoothly, but we are so pleased to be actually providing a useful service to consumers and body shops. We are currently making all the necessary technical preparations so we can scale up in these regions and elsewhere, and some exciting new features are being developed as well. You can be certain that the number of consumers using our site will start to grow quickly very soon.

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