One of the newest Web sites to offer consumer reviews of auto dealerships does things a little differently.

Instead of waiting for posts, CarFolks.com also solicits reviews. The site uses customer e-mail addresses that dealerships supply, with the customer's permission.

Unlike other sites, CarFolks permits reviews of individual employees as well as overall dealership performance. And to a greater extent than many of its competitors, CarFolks seeks to resolve disputes between dealerships and customers.

"When consumers review a dealership, they are really reviewing the individuals at the dealership," says David Hein, co-founder of Carfolks.com, which launched last month. "We didn't want to create a forum just for people to complain about their negative experiences."

At its launch, CarFolks had recruited 10 dealerships as registered members. For a fee of about $1,000 a month, the site contacts a dealership's sales and service customers within 24 to 48 hours of a transaction. It invites customers to submit reviews of their experiences, including ratings of the employees they dealt with.

Customers of registered dealerships who provide reviews are eligible for service discounts and other incentives.

If a member dealership gets a negative review, CarFolks delays posting it for as long as two weeks. That gives the dealership time to try to resolve the problem.

CarFolks does not plan to mediate disputes directly, says spokesman Mark Dubis.

The site is preparing to accept advertising from dealerships and automakers, Hein says. CarFolks also has elements of a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace: Dealership sales and service employees can create their own pages on the site to communicate with consumers.