When most of us set out to buy a new or used car from a dealership, we know very little about the company with whom we're about to do business. We've seen or heard the ads, or gotten some word-of-mouth. Maybe we're a repeat customer from five or six years ago.

In other words, we may not have any idea what we're about to encounter during the sale or when we go back for service.

The dealership may have changed owners or the service manager may have left since we last bought a car there. Even more likely, most of the sales staff may have turned over.

What if there was a way to see what other customers had to say about a dealership before putting your money at risk?

A small number of Web sites may be answering that desire by encouraging customers to rate their experiences with dealers nationwide.

Sites like DealerRater.com, MyDealerReport.com and CarFolks.com are joining more established sites like Edmunds.com and Yahoo (pick your city, then search for new car dealerships) in offering consumers a forum for airing gripes and praise -- though the gripes far outweigh the kudos.

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Consider this posting on DealerRater.com about a service visit to a Chevrolet dealership:

"The service provided at this dealership is beyond poor. I dropped my car off for its first service check and ended up waiting almost six hours. This was for an oil change. I have no idea what happened but these guys are retarded, all of them, no exceptions."