8 ms·

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 ou

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 and drop off your car for service in major metro areas. (his dealership picks up as far as 3 hours drive away) His other suggestion was to build a barbershop model whereby the independent shop owner rents the repair bays to independent mechanics.

leoedin 14y ago
The "working on the pavement" point is spot on. If you've ever tried to do anything more than a simple job on a car without a good set of tools and a car lift, then you'll be completely aware of how horrible it can be. For small jobs (change the brake pads, change the oil), this might make sense (but they're not the kind of job you tend to get ripped off on). For large jobs (change the clutch without good access?) it would simply be horrible for the mechanic. There's a reason everyone who works on their own cars desires a pit or car lift.
adrianbye 14y ago
i think its people like your GM friend that this startup is working to disrupt. a lot of backyard mechanics can do a great job very cheaply.
wglb 14y ago
But isn't the master mechanic from GM the competition to this idea? Consider the "disrupt" part of the event.
- branchan 14y ago
  No, I would like to think that a master mechanic's job might not be as simply as changing fluids, brake pads or diagnosing engine fault codes. Imagine doing engine repair or changing the clutch on your driveway without a lift? It would take many times as long for the mechanic to finish and he would rather just take 3 separate jobs in that same span of time. Yes, the idea of the startup has its merit, but like the windshield repair service that was mentioned earlier, the services offered by the mechanics will probably only include the most basic of repairs.
  - brianbreslin 14y ago
    with lifts and the right equipment a master mechanic could change oil in 5 minutes. without it, 20-30minutes of lifting up cars and manually disposing of the waste.
- rprasad 14y ago
  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.
  - brianbreslin 14y ago
    exactly how i thought of it.
ramanujan 14y ago
Yeah, it may be that your friend isn't properly thinking through why this will be such a big hit: it's fast and convenient for a large fraction of problems. Because the huge thing about car trouble is the logistical inconvenience of getting it fixed. I don't want to have to buy a luxury car just to get a long ride back and forth from the dealership; I want someone to come and fix my cheap car in the driveway on my schedule or tell me why it cannot be fixed. I also want the power to bring in three mechanics back to back such that I can comparison shop without thinking about the pain in the neck of changing garages after a quote. Even if this only hits 50% of problems, that's amazing. I literally have had a Check Engine light on for weeks; just went and tried out the UI and it was well thought through, with this particular problem front paged and my make/model in their interface. (They don't yet have guys who fix old Hondas in my area, so it stopped at the last step, but I'll tell everyone at work about it for sure to save people the inconvenience of a trip.) And long term, with enough market pressure good mobile carlift technologies will develop (we have pickups, flatbed trucks, mobile firehoses, mobile food trucks, not so hard to build a mobile mechanical lift).
- samstave 14y ago
  Yep, in the same way that the window repair at your house business is fantastic. My car recently broke down and won't start, in my driveway. I plan to use this service to fix it.
- brianbreslin 14y ago
  at luxury dealers you don't even need to GO to the dealer, they come and pick up your car. they send a porter (who they pay minimum wage) to pick up your car and deliver you a loaner. is this service actually going to let you comparison shop? a mobile mechanical lift seems super expensive for a regular joe mechanic.
rprasad 14y ago
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.)

leoedin 14y ago

The "working on the pavement" point is spot on. If you've ever tried to do anything more than a simple job on a car without a good set of tools and a car lift, then you'll be completely aware of how horrible it can be. For small jobs (change the brake pads, change the oil), this might make sense (but they're not the kind of job you tend to get ripped off on). For large jobs (change the clutch without good access?) it would simply be horrible for the mechanic. There's a reason everyone who works on their own cars desires a pit or car lift.

adrianbye 14y ago

i think its people like your GM friend that this startup is working to disrupt. a lot of backyard mechanics can do a great job very cheaply.

wglb 14y ago

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

branchan 14y ago
No, I would like to think that a master mechanic's job might not be as simply as changing fluids, brake pads or diagnosing engine fault codes. Imagine doing engine repair or changing the clutch on your driveway without a lift? It would take many times as long for the mechanic to finish and he would rather just take 3 separate jobs in that same span of time. Yes, the idea of the startup has its merit, but like the windshield repair service that was mentioned earlier, the services offered by the mechanics will probably only include the most basic of repairs.
- brianbreslin 14y ago
  with lifts and the right equipment a master mechanic could change oil in 5 minutes. without it, 20-30minutes of lifting up cars and manually disposing of the waste.
rprasad 14y ago
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.
- brianbreslin 14y ago
  exactly how i thought of it.

ramanujan 14y ago

Yeah, it may be that your friend isn't properly thinking through why this will be such a big hit: it's fast and convenient for a large fraction of problems. Because the huge thing about car trouble is the logistical inconvenience of getting it fixed. I don't want to have to buy a luxury car just to get a long ride back and forth from the dealership; I want someone to come and fix my cheap car in the driveway on my schedule or tell me why it cannot be fixed. I also want the power to bring in three mechanics back to back such that I can comparison shop without thinking about the pain in the neck of changing garages after a quote. Even if this only hits 50% of problems, that's amazing. I literally have had a Check Engine light on for weeks; just went and tried out the UI and it was well thought through, with this particular problem front paged and my make/model in their interface. (They don't yet have guys who fix old Hondas in my area, so it stopped at the last step, but I'll tell everyone at work about it for sure to save people the inconvenience of a trip.) And long term, with enough market pressure good mobile carlift technologies will develop (we have pickups, flatbed trucks, mobile firehoses, mobile food trucks, not so hard to build a mobile mechanical lift).

samstave 14y ago
Yep, in the same way that the window repair at your house business is fantastic. My car recently broke down and won't start, in my driveway. I plan to use this service to fix it.
brianbreslin 14y ago
at luxury dealers you don't even need to GO to the dealer, they come and pick up your car. they send a porter (who they pay minimum wage) to pick up your car and deliver you a loaner. is this service actually going to let you comparison shop? a mobile mechanical lift seems super expensive for a regular joe mechanic.

rprasad 14y ago

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.)