Anything that keeps mechanics honest is a great idea in my book. However, I think this misses the crux of the problem: diagnosis.
It's easy enough for me to call a mechanic or two to find out how much they would charge to replace my transmission, but how do I know that my car actually needs a new transmission? My primary fear when going to the mechanic is that they'll claim that my car's problems are much more serious than they actually are, so they can charge me for the more expensive repair.
They can easily get away with this, because I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to second guess them. Oddly enough, the situation isn't much different with doctors and dentists. Every time my dentist decides to drill into my teeth, I can't help but wonder if they just see it as an opportunity to make a large sum of money.
If anything, the situation is worse in the medical industry. They almost never give price quotes up front. What's up with that? And there's basically no way of knowing how much your insurance will cover. Generally I just do what the doctor/dentist says and save my pennies while I wait for a huge, seemingly arbitrary bill to arrive in the mail. This system is obviously broken.
Now, one of you HN readers looking to start a company: go fix it! :)
I agree. What would prevent something like 20q.net? Compile a database of make/model/year, symptoms, and eventual repairs... People enter their car type then answer questions like "Did the car start? Yes/No/Sometimes?" "Does it make a grinding noise when you turn the key? Yes/No"... then using past results it tells you it's 85% likely to be the alternator, etc...
I used to work for a car manufacturer where we made such a diagnostic database for mechanics. At the end of all the decision trees was "hmm. call factory." Instead of following the suggestions, the mechanics routinely skipped to the bottom. Several dozen of my field trips to dealerships were resolved with a $2 part that they skipped over because reading was hard.
Your health-care example is not quite accurate, at least in my experience. Many insurance plans require that people telephone to "pre-approve" (non-emergency) hospitalizations, precisely to be able to discuss the coverage with them and make sure the costs payable by the patient are understood.
It's easy enough for me to call a mechanic or two to find out how much they would charge to replace my transmission, but how do I know that my car actually needs a new transmission? My primary fear when going to the mechanic is that they'll claim that my car's problems are much more serious than they actually are, so they can charge me for the more expensive repair.
They can easily get away with this, because I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to second guess them. Oddly enough, the situation isn't much different with doctors and dentists. Every time my dentist decides to drill into my teeth, I can't help but wonder if they just see it as an opportunity to make a large sum of money.
If anything, the situation is worse in the medical industry. They almost never give price quotes up front. What's up with that? And there's basically no way of knowing how much your insurance will cover. Generally I just do what the doctor/dentist says and save my pennies while I wait for a huge, seemingly arbitrary bill to arrive in the mail. This system is obviously broken.
Now, one of you HN readers looking to start a company: go fix it! :)