You might be wondering why Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, would launch a car enthusiast website. Besides providing consumers and lenders with credit reports and credit scores, the company has several different divisions and provides data and products to businesses and lenders.
Experian’s automotive division compiles several different types of automotive data for lenders, dealers, auto manufacturers and advertising and marketing agencies. Experian Automotive also offers the AutoCheck report, a competitor to the CarFax report, which is a vehicle history report based on the vehicle’s VIN number.
Experian Automotive launched CheckMyRide.com Tuesday, which is a free social media website for car enthusiasts. Consumers create a profile on the site, and upload the VIN numbers of their past and current cars. Members can upload photos and stories about their old cars and current ones.
"Everyone has a car story to share," said Scott Waldron, president of Experian Automotive. "Maybe it’s about the first car you ever bought, the car you drove in college or the new convertible in your garage. Now with CheckMyRide.com, people have a community where they can share stories about the cars they have loved with other car enthusiasts."
Experian Automotive says that members of the site can build a vehicle history timeline, find out where their old vehicles are using the ‘Where In The World Is My Old Car?’ tool, get a free AutoCheck report on their current vehicle, search and comment on other members’ vehicles and share and promote their favorite vehicles on Facebook and Twitter.
"Car shoppers use our AutoCheck vehicle history reports to help them confidently understand, compare and select the right vehicle," Waldron said. "By leveraging the information within AutoCheck, we are uniquely positioned to offer a fun and engaging way for people to interact and share stories about their own personal vehicle history."
There is no doubt that the main goal of CheckMyRide.com is to promote the AutoCheck vehicle history report, but it’s likely that Experian Automotive will also collect the data uploaded to the site by consumers to either sell to automotive companies or it will publish trends and findings based on the consumer data. Experian Automotive says its North American Vehicle Database contains more than 650 million vehicles, which it can combine with Experian’s credit, consumer and business information data.
