Mapping the extended auto service contract firms
Mapping the extended auto warranty companies.
One of my colleagues, Matt Hathaway, has been doing a great job for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch covering the industry that provides extended auto service contracts to consumers. The industry has been under fire by state and federal regulators, as well as consumer-protection agencies such as the Better Business Bureau. Certain firms within the industry have been accused by those agencies of unfair or deceptive marketing practices.
I’m Matt’s editor. He’s done a great job covering the story. About 10 days ago, he suggested mapping the companies in our area. Our region is “ground zero” for the industry. There have been more than 40 companies in our area that market the so-called “extended warranties.” You might be familiar with companies that advertise heavily on television such as US Fidelis and Mogi.
I set Matt to work on a Google Docs spreadsheet with a bunch of information about all the firms he could find in the area. I took the data and threw it onto this Google Map, which is a work in progress.
At the moment, we have the basics about the companies, links to their websites, links to any blog entries he’s written about the companies and links to the St. Louis Better Business Bureau’s reports on the companies. We plan to add to the map with links to stories we’ve done, marketing materials from the companies and more.
Kudos and gratitude to my colleague Erica Smith, who blogs at graphicdesignr.net and offers plenty of tools and advice for folks looking to do this kind of work. She was a huge help.
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