Selecting an online source for high-quality automotive information can be a lot of work. Many companies these days offer products ranging from very good to totally worthless, and it is almost impossible to tell the difference until you have spent the money to buy the actual product.
In the dark days before the internet brought information to our fingertips, having a repair manual for your car meant going to an auto parts store and looking through stacks of books for your particular car or truck model. Sometimes you would get lucky, and the shop you visit would have what you came for. Usually, it didn’t work that way, and you would have to wait days for the right manual to be ordered and delivered.
In those days, Haynes manuals were among the very best. Based on teardown and rebuilds of each model covered, these repair manuals were like gold in the hands of a DIYer trying to fix a broken-down. They were quite good, if not a little generalized when dealing with vehicles that had multiple engine and transmission options, different body styles, and factory performance packages.
Professional auto mechanics frequently made fun of Haynes manuals, and all of the consumer-available repair manuals, because the pros use OEM service and workshop manuals that include a wide array of information not possible to include in a consumer print manual. It's not uncommon to see OEM manuals divided into 6 or 7 different books, split by systems, and often costing more than $250 each.
Then, along came the internet, and with it, access to the very same workshop and service manuals used by professional mechanics through eManualOnline.com. Now, every mechanics can download a factory workshop manual in pdf, print out pages as needed or keep the manual on their phone and have the manual with them at all times in digital format. Haynes.com also offers digitized versions of the print volumes they offer, but only as a one-year subscription, which will have to be purchased again every year.
So, Which One is Better?
Does eManualOnline.com provide products you can’t get through Haynes.com?
What about the price?
In an attempt to answer the question of which online source is better, we decided to look at manuals for a few popular car models from the last decades, the types of cars that are now out of factory warranty and are still commonly seen on the road.
Website, Functionality, and Availability
Haynes.com and eManualOnline.com both have easy, intuitive websites. eManualOnline.com makes it very fast and easy to search for your particular vehicle, while Haynes takes a few more clicks and uses drop-down menus, which are kind of annoying. eManualOnline.Com uses big, bright buttons, ensuring you select the correct vehicle and the website is built in a way that makes it easy to search multiple cars quickly.
In order to make a comparison between eManualOnline.com and Haynes.com, we selected two common vehicles and one a little less common: a 2004 Ford Mustang GT, a 1998 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel, and a 2005 Jaguar XJ8. These vehicles represent common types of cars and trucks available in the used market and frequent types of vehicles home mechanics are going to work on. The Mustang and the Ram 3500 are each best sellers in their own market while the XJ8 represents the kind of luxury car worth investing some money into to rebuild and resell.
Content, Ease of Access and Availability
2004 Ford Mustang
eManualOnline.Com and Haynes.com both list manuals available for the 2004 Ford Mustang. Haynes also offers a print version.
Haynes offers a digital download of the print version of the manual, while eManualOnline.com offers a complete download of the original factory workshop and repair manual as provided to certified mechanics. Photos in the Haynes.com manual are black and white, while many of the images from eManualOnline.com are in color.
Both manuals are available for $19.99 US. The major difference, however, is that Haynes offers its digital download as a one-year subscription, while eManualOnline.com provides unlimited lifetime access. Once you buy the manual, it's yours.
Both Haynes.com and eManualOnline.com offer money-back returns if you are not satisfied with your purchase.
1998 Dodge Ram 3500
eManualOnline.com and Haynes.com both list digital repair manuals for the 1998 Dodge Ram 3500. Haynes also offers a print version.
eManualOnline.Com offers at least four different downloadable manuals, including the original owners manual and the factory designed workshop manuals used by Dodge technicians, along with special service information for the diesel engine. More than 1,000 pages of information are available.
On the other hand, Haynes offers a digitized version of the print manual that covers all possible engine, transmission, drive-type and body style in only 288 pages.
Both sites list the manuals for $19.99 US, but, as with all Haynes manuals, you pay for a one-year subscription, not the manual itself. eManualOnline.com does not restrict how long you can access the information. Once you buy it, the manual is yours forever.
2005 Jaguar XJ8
eManualOnline.com offers factory workshop and repair manuals for the 2005 Jaguar XJ8, including the original owners manual and detailed, professional service manuals. The workshop manuals provided cover every model, both domestic and foreign, and are easily accessed. $24.95 US gets you unlimited access to hundreds of pages of factory repair and service procedures and includes all the notes and troubleshooting charts available to mechanics to aid in diagnosing problems.
Haynes does not have a manual for the 2005 Jaguar XJ8. Owners trying to get repair information from Haynes.com for this vehicle will have to use manuals for other, similar vehicles...
... or buy a manual from someone else, such as eManualOnline.com.
Referral Program
Another important point not to overlook is eManualOnline.com's referral program allowing you to give a 20% discount on a repair manual download to a friend while also receiving a 20% cashback. To put it simply, once you buy one of eManualOnline.com's manual, all you have to do is share your referral code to friends, coworkers and family members, giving them 20% off any manual download they have in store. Once they've made a purchase, you'll receive 20% of their total order straight to your Paypal account!
And the real beauty of it is that there's no limit!
Let's say you were to buy a $19.99 Acura Integra Service Manual. All you have to do is to share your referral code and, if any of your friends make a purchase, your manual could turn out totally free of cost!
And if you are a weekend DIYer or a professional mechanic like me, you most certainly already know tons of people who need to get their hands on a quality repair manual. Birds of a feather flock together, as they say, and mechanics and DIYers are no different. It's very likely that your friends also wrench from time to time or work in the automotive industry. It's not hard to imagine then how easy it will be for you to find other people interested in buying discounted repair manuals.
Easy money right there!
Conclusion
The manuals available through eManualOnline.com are much more complete than Haynes.com, offering several, specific manuals for each make and model so you get exactly what you need. Haynes manuals cover as many models as possible in one manual, so chances are good you will struggle to find the correct information for your particular vehicle.
The initial cost is equivalent, but the Haynes.com one-year subscription means that you may have to buy the same manual more than once if you plan on working on your car for more than one year. eManualOnline.com does not sell you access, it grants you access to the complete factory workshop manuals for your car, and it's yours to keep forever.
In looking at both sites, it becomes very clear that eManualOnline.com offers a tremendous amount of information that Haynes.com does not. With more manuals, more models and more details, it is clear that eManualOnline.com is a better source of downloadable OEM repair manuals.
The one-year subscription to access offered by Haynes.com makes the cost of their product significantly higher, and most buyers will probably opt for the print manual for a little extra money, just to avoid having to buy the manual each year. These buyers will lose the benefit of digital repair manuals, like quick and easy searches, images that can be zoomed for clarity, and the possibility to store it in your phone.
All in all, the choice is clear; eManualOnline.com offers superior products at better prices for more vehicles, risk-free to the consumer.
Visit emanualonline.com for a comprehensive directory of repair and service manuals.