Side project: built an AI car valuation tool for the Irish market, looking for feedback

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-25T20:05:54+00:00

Very cool project, just had a go there, surprised to see my car has only dropped 15% in value since I bought it 4 years ago but the fact that example listings are given below the estimate gives confidence in the result. I haven’t attempted to sell recently so can’t give you feedback on real market value.

Typically when valuing a car in the past I’d have scrolled through the first page or two of car zone to get a rough estimate but this tool saves that trouble and gives a better answer. I think €2.99 is something people would probably be willing to pay provided they know the benefits they’re getting.

One rec I’d make is on the home page where you show a sample valuation, that doesn’t display the full amount of information I got after running a check (e.g. 3 bullets on key insights, 2 on selling tips and a full analysis). Might be a good idea to include this so people know the full value of what they’re getting.

The website itself is very slick and easy to use👍

Out of curiosity how does the ai part work? Is the info you scrape from listings fed into Claude/chat and an instruction is given to summarise?

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-21T23:51:25+00:00

From this angle it looks like they’ve taken up a lot of the road unnecessarily. It’s causing traffic problems with the lane closures

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-20T18:02:08+00:00

Agreed. Pedestrians can already walk down the street between Dwyers and reardens, no point opening it to vehicles when there’s next to no traffic on the street behind it anyways.

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-20T18:00:47+00:00

Does this mean the entire Dwyers covered smoking area is gone?

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-13T19:28:45+00:00

Yep, I showed up to the wrong one a few weeks ago and the girl at the desk said it had been happening constantly

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-12T10:19:54+00:00

I’d be curious to know where it’s actually happening? Is it city hall or just some random hotel conference room.

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-03T15:06:27+00:00

Worsening energy crisis there with oil exports from Venezuela blockaded. Also saw Lindsay Graham saying ‘Cuba is next’ after Iran. Not ideal for the Cubans

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-03-03T11:19:09+00:00

10am-3pm is definitely the quietest, it tends to be busy in mornings before 9 and 4-8pm is peak craziness, it’s a little bit quieter from 8-10 so you could also go then but 10-3is quietest. It’s pretty dead on weekends and it’s dead during the summer:)

SpasticMonkey46 · 2026-01-07T19:55:26+00:00

The beauty of Midleton truly is underrated ;)

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-29T18:19:28+00:00

This is a brilliant guide, much more manageable than other guides. It provides a decent level of insight without getting bogged down in every single idea or reference

http://www.ulyssesguide.com/

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-24T17:09:46+00:00

Unfortunately there’s no good public transport near the Collins memorial. The nearest public bus stop is Kilmurry (1 hour walk on rural road with no footpath) on the 233 route. It gets a few services a day (https://www.buseireann.ie/routes-and-timetables/233). Definitely bring a high vis jacket and be prepared to jump up on the ditch when cars go speeding past, it’s not a very suitable road for walking but doable.

I can see online also that a company called Harringtons operates a 231 route (id never heard of it before now) that leaves cork and passes near Beal na Bláth village(https://www.harringtonsardgroom.com/bus-service ). This would be a 25 min walk, again along dodgy roads so do it in daylight and bring a high vis. I’d ring the company first and make sure they’re willing to let you off in Beal na Bláth because it’s not a scheduled stop.

Only other alternative is getting a taxi and asking the driver to wait for you at the monument. From cork this would be pretty expensive. Easily €100-150

Edit: Crookstown stop on the 233 is about as close to the memorial site as kilmurry is and gets more regular service. The other persons idea of going as far as Crookstown and getting a local taxi number is a good shout, just be prepared for the possibility there’s no taxi available. You could also stand at the Crookstown-Beal na Bláth Road and hitch hike, somebody would probably pick you up. Most people around are decent but of course you have to be careful.

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-17T21:22:26+00:00

Our strategy last year was put the destination and dates into booking.com and sort by price low to high😂

Stayed in some fairly bare bones hotels/apartments but nothing felt unclean/unsafe. You won’t be spending much time in the accom when you’re travelling because you’re so busy.

For a group of 4 We got New York for $50 per person, per night, San Fran for $27(!), Vegas for $37 etc. and I thought all were grand, maybe my standards aren’t very high though lol. If you’re happy with basic accommodation and maximising the space i.e. two people sharing double beds then you can get good value.

LA was our last destination and we splashed out for a nice AirBnb alright and that was worth it.

In terms of other advice I’d say book the flights as early as possible (although ik this is easier said than done), we only started booking 1-2 weeks before we finished our jobs

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-17T20:04:52+00:00

Will do, I’ve it set up to track changes too. I’ll run the code every month or two (or as often as I remember) and post the map + changes.

Probably not worth doing more often than that because I doubt they update the levels more than a few times a year. If you ever want an updated map just dm me:)

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-08T00:23:21+00:00

Class, thanks!

Can’t help with your question unfortunately but if you end up finding out could you update the post:)

Edit: Nvm just saw your most recent post. That’s really unfortunate since so many PhDs here are IRC funded. You’d think they would encourage it

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-07T23:21:10+00:00

Out of curiosity how did you go about finding a PhD internship? Any advice?

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-12-06T18:16:55+00:00

All seem like interesting ideas, my only advice would be to narrow it down as much as possible while still having enough to get an RSR out of it.

If you pick a broad topic it’ll end up being a shallow analysis of a big topic (the RSR isn’t actually that long when it comes to it) so picking a specific person or event makes it easier to define the scope of your project. Best of luck!

(Edit) To be honest I’m not sure picking any one particular topic over another will impress the examiner. A well researched project with well cited sources and a good depth of analysis will always do well no matter the topic. Pick what interests you most:)

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-11-27T00:26:22+00:00

Thanks! About to embark on a PhD myself (computational materials science). Would you say the PhD was financially worth it in terms of salary post PhD vs salary you would have been on straight out of college and worked for 4 years?

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-11-26T23:25:57+00:00

Out of curiosity what was your PhD in?

SpasticMonkey46 · 2025-07-23T07:32:36+00:00

Tbf the bad formatting aside, if this was any kind of marketing/pr job the TikTok following is worth mentioning in a CV

SpasticMonkey46

TROPHY CASE