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Toronto Start-Up Will Send a Mechanic To Your Driveway To Repair Your Car On Demand (techcrunch.com)
Toronto-based startup Fiix, part of Y Combinator's Winter 2017 class, has built a platform to send a mechanic to your home to fix your car within hours of being requested. TechCrunch reports: Customers request service by calling or chatting with the company on the website. Interestingly, Fiix prefers to deal with customers over the phone so they can accurately diagnose the issue. This lets them send the right parts and mechanic without actually seeing your car, and make sure the issue can actually be fixed in a driveway and doesn't need a full garage. That being said, the startup says over 80% of repairs done in a shop can be done in a driveway as long as you have an experienced mechanic. All of Fiix's mechanics are independent contractors -- some who are generalists and some who specialize in foreign cars like Mercedes. In fact many are mechanics who work during the day in dealership repair shops and work for Fiix to make some extra cash on the side. Since the startup has no fixed overhead they can pay their mechanics more than most shops or dealerships can. TechCrunch notes that it's not the only on-demand mechanic startup -- YourMechanic, for example, launched in 2012 at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. What do you Slashdotters think of this start-up? Would you trust an on-demand mechanic to visit your home and work on your vehicle, or would you prefer to take it to a local shop?
Every part in your car exponentially increases the chance of failure. Electric cars have significantly lower failure rates because they have significantly fewer parts. Not only that, when the new solid-state batteries that are nearing commercialization go into production, the battery damage issues and the runaway thermal reaction problems will be a thing of the past. It's good news for electric cars and anyone with a Samsung phone. ;)
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Experienced mechanic here (35 years)...a mobile mechanic who's well-outfitted can do well for a lot of jobs, but the whole "accurate diagnosis over the phone" thing is a bit disconcerting. We have 10's of thousands tied up in diagnostic gear (scan tools, oscilloscopes, dvoms, etc) and it can still be pretty tough on some jobs to get the car to glitch and figure it out. The folks who make you jump through the most hoops to help them ("can you come to me?", beat you to death haggling, etc) are generally the hardest to please, too. I wish these guys the best, but unless they're cherry picking, it could be a pretty tough gig. As for me, no thanks; I have plenty of work as an independent, and an excellent reputation that I don't want to jeopardize...I can serve the customer much better in a full-on shop.
Yet another Uber, that handles labor like in the nineteenth century: no employee, no duty.
The trend really deserve a law to fix the broad issue.
independent contractors do they set there own rates or they forced to take the apps rates and the apps' parts rates?
I've used a craigslist plumber, as well as other craigslist services. Did the job, no leaks years later. Paid cash, was happy.
If this has a rating system, it is far better than craigslist.
Bring on more person to person direct services trade facilitated by the internet! Sure you get the odd unqualified lout, but a ratings and reward system would correct some of that. If the company gave refunds, i would start looking at what i can farm out personally on a cold canadian day when i dont want to get under the vehicle.
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