The project
AutoInsider is a motoring website that allows car owners to post problems and get fixes and suggestions from mechanics and other motorists. The website launched in 2006 and has over 37,000 members, over 19,000 problems and over 33,000 fixes.
The website was recently acquired by Cowshed:Works with the aim of bringing it up to date and taking it forward with some fresh ideas. The website is currently being prepared to move into the service and repair booking space so that it can offer end to end services to users with car problems.
The solution
The original site was built in PHP (running on PHP 5 in production) using completely custom code written specifically for the website. There was no framework and no third party code in use, everything was written in very old style PHP and would only run on PHP 5.6.
We created a process to migrate all of the data from the old database tables into a format and then TDD'd a brand new Laravel version of the website and back-end admin panel. Everything was re-written from the ground up.
The new system includes:
- Database of over 33,000 solutions to a huge range of owner car problems
- Over 37,000 member accounts
- Over 11,000 user reviews
- Notifications system based on user and admin actions
- Full admin panel to manage all content and processes
- New business submissions and review process
- Data integration with third party APIs and data exports
- Local business listings with 'Find my nearest' search
- Car data intelligence and analysis using thousands of data points
