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Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

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Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#71

Post by branchan »

exue wrote: post #20

The pitch may be a bit awkward and I can't attest to the quality of other contestants, but I have a good impression overall from Your Mechanic. Car repair is heavily stuck in the 20th-century model of businesses. Individual shops open from 8am to 5pm, you want to find someone good? Without Yelp you're basically relying on word of mouth to not get ripped off, or Yellow Pages. The main form of contact is calling mechan…

How about you call ahead next time you want to drop off your car to see if they are busy or not?

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#73

Post by lacker »

soup10 wrote: post #59
exue wrote: post #20

The pitch may be a bit awkward and I can't attest to the quality of other contestants, but I have a good impression overall from Your Mechanic. Car repair is heavily stuck in the 20th-century model of businesses. Individual shops open from 8am to 5pm, you want to find someone good? Without Yelp you're basically relying on word of mouth to not get ripped off, or Yellow Pages. The main form of contact is calling mechan…

Wow, is there anything google doesn't offer as a benefit? Something strikes me as odd about a Corp that has it's tentacles involved in so many aspects of daily life. Why not just offer higher salaries? Seems like all the perks are designed to make you feel dependent on google, make it inconvenient to leave, and live a lifestyle that benefits google. That's probably just my tinfoil hat speaking though. Just seems a bi…

The on-site oil changes aren't free. I'm not sure if Google even spends any money on it. They basically just let a mechanic set up shop in the parking lot one day a week. It's nice because it saves time, not because it saves money.

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#74

Post by rprasad »

brianbreslin wrote: post #57

I was talking about this idea with my friend who is a master mechanic for GM, and he didn't like the idea. His reasons were: - Working on someone's pavement outside is awful - Car falls off the lift hurts mechanic, its homeowner's fault - Oil and chemical disposal isn't accounted for - People usually don't properly diagnose their problem, so you wouldn't have most parts ready. - Most luxury dealerships will pickup an…

I think the most important part is "oil and chemical disposal isn't accounted for", as disposing of oil and chemicals would be the homeowner's responsibility and would subject them to some very steep fines in many jurisdictions. (The mechanic would be acting as an agent for the homeowner; ergo, the mechanic is not responsible for chemical disposal.)

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#75

Post by rprasad »

wglb wrote: post #63
brianbreslin wrote: post #57

I was talking about this idea with my friend who is a master mechanic for GM, and he didn't like the idea. His reasons were: - Working on someone's pavement outside is awful - Car falls off the lift hurts mechanic, its homeowner's fault - Oil and chemical disposal isn't accounted for - People usually don't properly diagnose their problem, so you wouldn't have most parts ready. - Most luxury dealerships will pickup an…

But isn't the master mechanic from GM the competition to this idea? Consider the "disrupt" part of the event.

Master mechanic = rockstar programmer.

Backgyard mechanic = some guy who just modified the default theme on a WP blog and now thinks he's a programmer.

The difference in skill level between a master mechanic and pretty much everyone else is the difference between a rockstar programmer...and every one else.

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#76

Post by rprasad »

pbreit wrote: post #38

It sounds like repair estimates are going to be freely available so I wonder if YourMechanic becomes a reference-able source of quote information for negotiating purposes?

No. Repair estimates are already freely available. Just google the parts you need to replace. The price you see (plus taxes) should be what you pay to your mechanic.

Unless you're getting major work done (i.e., dent removal), a reputable mechanic will only charge for parts, not for labor. If you've never actually had that experience with your mechanic, I suggest you look around b/c you've been getting ripped off.

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#77

Post by rprasad »

tptacek wrote: post #24
nodesocket wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, maybe I am just being a curmudgeon today, but the kind of companies that TechCrunch chooses for Disrupt as a general rule of thumb, don't excite me. It is a good idea though, peer-to-peer anything is the new hotness.

Peer-to-what-now? People in YourMechanic's market used to have to comb through useless Yelp ratings to find a place to take their cars to and leave them for a day or 3 to have basic repairs done. Now they can type some things into their Googles and have their cars fixed at home. As a card carrying member of the "160k miles, last 20k with the check-engine light on" club, this is the best thing ever and I can't wait fo…

YourMechanic hasn't magically replaced the trust system. It's simply another competitor offering its services...if you trust them. It only takes one bad mechanic to poison the well with customers.

YourMechanic hasn't reduced the time it takes to perform basic repairs. The only practical difference is where the repair takes place and that you can schedule it over the web instead of over the phone. Existing mechanics already offer at-home repairs (albeit, at significantly higher rates than in-shop repairs) so YourMechanic's "innovation" is really just offering existing concierge mechanic services for a lower price.

Here's the thing: any mechanic worth his oil doesn't have the free time to drive to customers to perform repairs. He may have employees drive out to customers to pick up cars on his behalf, but he will remain back at the shop. Thus, YourMechanic will ultimately attract the types of mechanics who don't have the skills to set up their own fixed locations, i.e., mechanics who are mostly definitely not the cream of the crop.

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#78

Post by rprasad »

prawn wrote: post #54

Are mobile mechanics a new thing in the US or is this different? Lubemobile here in Australia has been around for 30 years and I'm sure there are competitors. Is it just the collation and quoting that's novel?

No, mobile mechanics exist in the U.S. However, the service providers are either (1) very expensive, top-of-the-line, and operate on the concierge model, or (2) not worth the gas they spent getting to you or whose skillsets are limited to very basic repairs.

Type 1 will not use YourMechanic because it will cut into their profit margins significantly and they don't need a 3rd party middle-man to get business.

Type 2 will use YourMechanic. They can handle simple stuff, i.e., the stuff that will take a shop 10-15 minutes to repair. For anything more complicated, your SOL.

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#79

Post by pbreit »

rprasad wrote: post #76
pbreit wrote: post #38

It sounds like repair estimates are going to be freely available so I wonder if YourMechanic becomes a reference-able source of quote information for negotiating purposes?

No. Repair estimates are already freely available. Just google the parts you need to replace. The price you see (plus taxes) should be what you pay to your mechanic. Unless you're getting major work done (i.e., dent removal), a reputable mechanic will only charge for parts, not for labor. If you've never actually had that experience with your mechanic, I suggest you look around b/c you've been getting ripped off.

My experience is typically the opposite: parts at cost and charges for labor.

Re: Your Mechanic (YC W12) Wins TC Disrupt

#80

Post by qq66 »

rprasad wrote: post #77
tptacek wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peer-to-what-now? People in YourMechanic's market used to have to comb through useless Yelp ratings to find a place to take their cars to and leave them for a day or 3 to have basic repairs done. Now they can type some things into their Googles and have their cars fixed at home. As a card carrying member of the "160k miles, last 20k with the check-engine light on" club, this is the best thing ever and I can't wait fo…

YourMechanic hasn't magically replaced the trust system. It's simply another competitor offering its services...if you trust them. It only takes one bad mechanic to poison the well with customers. YourMechanic hasn't reduced the time it takes to perform basic repairs. The only practical difference is where the repair takes place and that you can schedule it over the web instead of over the phone. Existing mechanics a…

That's an interesting observation that made me slightly revise my opinion of the concept YourMechanic (formerly extremely bullish). My garage charges labor at $125 per hour, which is not the cost to the owner (I'm sure the owner pays his mechanics $50 or less). Nevertheless, a mechanic has to pick me up and drop me off at the train station, which is not that much worse than coming to my house.

Incidentally, I'd never use an at-home service, even though it's very inconvenient for me to drop off my car at the garage, because the quality of car repair can be a life-or-death issue, so I'd rather that my mechanics have all the tools and equipment (car lift, adequate lighting, etc.) they need right at their disposal instead of being tempted to cut corners.

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