RepairPal, a marketplace for auto repair, has raised $13 million in funding led by Cars.com and Castrol innoVentures, the venture arm of Castrol, BP-owned developer of lubricants for engines and machines. This is the first technology investment for Castrol. RepairPal has raised $20 million to date.
The site was founded in 2007 as Google Health for cars. You can get price estimates for different parts and repair jobs for your car, for hundreds of the most common mechanical repairs. You enter your car year, model, and mileage, and it spits out price ranges for your zip code. There is also a directory of hundreds of thousands of local mechanics, with each shop placed onto a Google Map. RepairPal also provides a centralized online location where your records can be maintained for the entire ownership cycle of your vehicle.
Last year, RepairPal created a marketplace for high quality auto repair, called Top Shop. This features basically helps you find a repair shop you can trust. Each shop is vetted by RepairPal to ensure that customers are getting a fair price and quality repair work and parts. There’s also a minimum of a 12 months or 12,000 miles guarantee associated with any work done by a TopShop.
Shops pay a monthly fee to participate in the program. Currently there are 200 “TopShops” listed on RepairPal’s site.
The new funding will be used towards product development and adding more mechanics to the TopShop network.