Honk.com: Buying Cars Online With Social Networks -- It's Personal

Cars are the second most expensive purchase we make (after houses), so it's not a bad idea to get a second opinion before buying one. We've all had the experience of the pronouncement from the opinionated brother in law with a friend in the car business, and we've probably considered the source. A new car-buying service at Honk.com is aimed at actively soliciting opinions from your friends and neighbors, and using Facebook and other social networking sites in the process.

Americans spend four to six hours on the Internet car shopping before they make a purchase, and auto sites are hot. Launched Wednesday, the Honk platform lets you search for a car model among 300 options. I checked out the Ford Fiesta, and found that three people liked it, giving it an overall grade of B, an A- for design and a rather sour D for value. The Toyota Prius got a B+, and an A green score, with 69 people liking it. The top reason was fuel economy, followed by "I want to be environmentally friendly." Fair enough.

It all makes perfectly good sense, but it's no huge innovation from other services. I could get the fuel economy rating, crash ratings, technical specs, the MSRP and the average price paid. I could also vote myself with a quick thumbs up or down. The friends and family aspect adds an intriguing dimension, though, one that might not be entirely welcome.

According to co-founder Stephanie LaCrosse:

Honk is all about letting people benefit from the collective knowledge of their friends and family. We've simply put the everyday water cooler and lunchroom discussions online and made it all about the consumer, not the cars.

OK, but think back -- has any water cooler discussion ever yielded useful automotive information? Friends are different, though, and that's kind of personal. I've found that people are rather sensitive about their image when considering what car to buy. For instance, the word "minivan" often provokes a strongly negative reaction that is entirely rooted in how they'll be perceived by others. So if you're considering a minivan, you may not want your nearest and dearest to weigh in on that fact.

But Tom Taira, Honk's CEO, told me he's got that angle covered:

For many people, buying a car is a personal activity.... On Honk, you can choose to include your friends or keep your search private. We cater to both types of users.

But if you're in market for a specific car and want to learn about them, what better way to research cars than review other people who are shopping for similar cars? You can engage in their conversation or simply read through the streams and learn from other people's experiences. That's the beauty of community. You have a small percentage of folks who are open and transparent and the rest of the community gains from it.

Taira told me that at conventional sites one professional reviewer writes about SUVs and the high-performance sports cars, often from a widely varying knowledge base. Honk brings you the unvarnished opinion of enthusiasts who actually own or have test driven the car in question.

I guess I see the value in that. Tim Benner actually owns a 2010 Prius, giving it an A in every category. "I got 56.6 mpg on the first tank, and the dashboard displays help guide you to maximum performance," he wrote. "The mileage is noticeably sensitive to tire pressure, though, so the tires need to stay topped off. The interior layout is convenient, with lots of handy features in easy reach. All the amenities work as expected -- the stereo sounds great, the heater warms up adequately, etc. The acceleration is a bit pokey, especially in Eco Mode, but that's a sacrifice for high mileage."

Honk also works for used cars, searching eBay and other sites such as Lemonfree.com. I threw it a loop by asking for a long-defunct Ford Falcon somewhere near my New England home, and it actually found a '63 in Bristol, Connecticut for $5,855 (within my stated price range). I checked for a used Ford Fusion, too, and it found 172 of them.

Taira calls Honk.com "a destination," and obviously he hopes it will soon be up there with Edmunds.com or MSN Autos. If people can filter the information they get (i.e., consider the source) then it will be adding something useful to a pretty fraught game -- buying a car.

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