Mixup of Autopia & autopia-carcare

[Ben@Autopia]

Several members PM’ed me this week asking if Autopia was purchased by Palm Beach Motoring and I wanted to clear things up. I also have seen this mix-up a few times on other forums.

1. This week, detailcity.org and autopia-carcare.com started using similar fonts, logo, layout, and “Mayor” admin that autopia.org used to use. They also are calling themselves Autopia. This has confused a lot of people into thinking this site is related to theirs. This is not the case.

2. PBMA did not purchase autopia.org or the Autopia forums. They purchased autopia-carcare.com and detailcity.org.

3. Autopia.org is not owned, affiliated, or associated with autopia-carcare, detailcity, or autogeek.

If anyone has any additional questions, please feel free to post below.

[JaredPointer]

things up. I also have seen this mix-up a few times on other forums.

1. This week, detailcity.org and autopia-carcare.com started using similar fonts, logo, layout, and “Mayor” admin that autopia.org used to use. They also are calling themselves Autopia. This has confused a lot of people into thinking this site is related to theirs. This is not the case.

2. PBMA did not purchase autopia.org or the Autopia forums. They purchased autopia-carcare.com and detailcity.org.

3. Autopia.org is not owned, affiliated, or associated with autopia-carcare, detailcity, or autogeek.

If anyone has any additional questions, please feel free to post below.

While I think it's a good thing that both sides point out the differences, I do have to say that the bolded statement above is not really accurate. I've not seen or heard anyone over there refer to Detail City (proper) as Autopia. I don't think anyone over at DC forums is trying to convey the fact the the forums is somehow now Autopia, past-or-present.

[fastcar]

I do have to say that the bolded statement above is not really accurate. I've not seen or heard anyone over there refer to Detail City (proper) as Autopia. I don't think anyone over at DC forums is trying to convey the fact the the forums is somehow now Autopia, past-or-present.

Beg to differ. Dwayne at Autogeek and John at Autopia-CarCare use the name Autopia many times in their posts. Gotta admit, the palm trees over there are giving me flash backs of Autopia cira 2009.

[JaredPointer]

I'm speaking strictly of the DC forum and not of the autopia-carcare store.

Not that I am an authority or anything, just offering my opinion based on speaking at that site more often than any other. There's a lot of history that I don't try and call myself an expert regarding, nor do I care to delve into those details.

[Bunky]

It is clear the "autopia" name is shared and both companies want all the brand advantages of it.

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Calling this a mixup is putting it too nice. Like Bunky said the name Autopia is obviously something positive in PBMA's eyes. The DC forum and ACC has pretty much hit an all time low in both content and sales. This mixup is nothing other than a low life attempt to steal and confuse people right down to them copying this forum as it looked prior to the final 4.0 update. They could have picked any look they wanted, but they picked this for a reason.

[wannafbody]

Detail City sent out an email regarding the sale and used the name Autopia Forums. I'm sure that it is intentional on the part of PBMA and causes confusion between the two sites. This might be an issue the lawyers will have to deal with.

[Bunky]

Detail City sent out an email regarding the sale and used the name Autopia Forums. I'm sure that it is intentional on the part of PBMA and causes confusion between the two sites. This might be an issue the lawyers will have to deal with.

I am no lawyer but a company named autopia-carcare.com has some right to use the autopia name in a domain name.

[Thewaxer]

While I think it's a good thing that both sides point out the differences, I do have to say that the bolded statement above is not really accurate. I've not seen or heard anyone over there refer to Detail City (proper) as Autopia. I don't think anyone over at DC forums is trying to convey the fact the the forums is somehow now Autopia, past-or-present.

Jared, I guess I would agree with you if they really stayed the way you mentioned on your thread, ie. DetailCity. Unfortunately that's not the case. They literally stole the name. When you go to detailcity.com and click forums it directs you to www.autopiaforums.com. They even used the old forum logo and look. ...Now if that is not trying too hard to copy the good old www.autopia.org , then I don't know anything

[JaredPointer]

Yep - looks like I was wrong and I can't say that I agree with the name change of the forum or the fact that it turned out to be (what seems like to me) a pretty blatant play on naming by AG/PBMA. I'm pretty disappointed in that, but hey - it's not my money or my website. I guess the powers that be did what they thought to be the best thing for their website.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Yeah, I loved the reply from Meghan @ PBMA that amounted to "Max is in charge, just shut up and drink the Kool-Aid!" after I posted in their introduction thread questioning the name change

I guess what it comes down to is that now, there is Autopia, and there is "Autopia"

And to think, none of this would be what it is at all if DavidB hadn't been such a screwball

[JaredPointer]

Yeah, I loved the reply from Meghan @ PBMA that amounted to "Max is in charge, just shut up and drink the Kool-Aid!" after I posted in their introduction thread questioning the name change

I guess what it comes down to is that now, there is Autopia, and there is "Autopia"

And to think, none of this would be what it is at all if DavidB hadn't been such a screwball

Yeah - it was amazing to see the influx of folks from the AG forum posting right after the sale/ownership change. There was a reason I didn't go to that forum to begin with, so the one I actually hung out and talked a little bit turns into an exact replica. Go figure...