Big news for DriverSide, the startup that looks to help you maintain your car for as long as you own it. The startup will now be prominently featured on the homepage for eBay’s very popular eBay Motors portal as part of a new partnership between the new companies. eBay says that eBay Motors is the top most visited automotive site on the web, with over 11 million unique monthly visitors.
DriverSide has put together a variety of widgets for the eBay Motors homepage, including a tool that can diagnose your car troubles, a widget that helps locate local mechanics, and a Q&A feature that lets you ask a professional mechanic questions about your car, free of charge. eBay Motors will be displaying one of these widgets at random every time the homepage is loaded, and is measuring how they perform to figure out what the final design will look like.
Anyone who interacts with a DriverSide widget will be directed to a cobranded eBay Motors/DriverSide portal that shares all of the functionality offered by DriverSide’s normal site. Features include the ability to look up repair estimates for any car, a database of parts and accessories for your specific make and model, and a community with reviews and advice. DriverSide has integrated all of eBay Motors’ available data, so you’ll be able to filter auctions for parts that work with your vehicle and are in your area.
DriverSide Founder and Chairman Trevor Traina says that no money has changed hands in the partnership, but that DriverSide will be get a lead generation fee for all commerce initiated through the site. So what does eBay get out of the deal? Traina says that DriverSide’s repair, upkeep, and advice features can keep people engaged for the lifespan of their vehicles, rather than only when they’re looking to sell their car or buy a new one. In other words, it keeps people coming back to eBay Motors (and its cobranded DriverSide page) more often.
This is obviously a big win for DriverSide, which will likely gain many new users through the partnership. Aside from today’s eBay deal, Traina says that DriverSide is doing well and is now up to over 1 million registered users. DriverSide has raised a total of $8.3 million in funding.
