When his mom instructed him she’d put in times of driving and in particular person visits hoping to diagnose a dilemma with her car or truck and established up a repair service appointment, the founder of ObiiGO determined there experienced to be a easier alternative.
John Harmon produced an application to connect shoppers with repair service shops by means of which likely buyers can solicit bids for fix work opportunities by utilizing their clever cell phone. Armed with diagnostic codes or by asking for basic services, like an oil improve or a brake career, consumers of the ObiiGO app can search for out the most aggressive costs accessible by means of the app and participating impartial repair service shops can snag further enterprise and be more competitive.
Harmon, who is from Texas, has a track record in finance. He worked out the app in Fayetteville when paying time with family. The venture is centered in Fayetteville and is now funded by Harmon alongside with spouse and children and close friends without having further venture capital.
The application can be identified on the ObiiGO web page, the Apple App Keep, and is expected to be obtainable for Android users in February.
The platform, Harmon explained, also permits prospects to spend by way of the app, streamlining billing for shops and chopping card charges. Application customers and the fix outlets equally fork out expenses on transactions produced by means of the app.
Harmon likens the ObiiGO application to a blend of Yelp, Google and EBay for the vehicle restore marketplace and reported in a latest job interview that it is now in its beta screening and preliminary roll-out phase in Northwest Arkansas, Houston and Phoenix. He stated the application is drawing desire from restore shops in destinations the business is not focusing on still, together with a key brake chain in Michigan, citing traction from coverage in a trade magazine.
Harmon said the application enables consumers to come across the greatest costs and have a transparent experience with repair service shops who want their enterprise. For unbiased repair service outlets, the application permits them to bid on the employment they want, find new shoppers and fill useless spots in the day’s store timetable with employment that deliver in revenue and contend in opposition to vehicle dealership restore functions.
Current market study team Ibis Planet estimates the U.S. automobile mechanics industry’s marketplace sizing by profits will be $66.7 billion in 2021, a 5.8% raise following the phase noticed an ordinary market place dimension drop of .2% a calendar year amongst 2016 and 2021. According to a September report from statistics portal Statista, in the initially quarter of 2020 there were about 233,400 car restore and maintenance outlets in the U.S., up 1.7% from a calendar year back. In July, IHS Current market noted the normal car on the street was 11.9 yrs previous.
Kent Atkins, proprietor of The Greased Pig Tune and Lube outlets in Fayetteville, is having element in the ObiiGO roll-out. He claimed the app makes it possible for the store overall flexibility and a way to fill in open up places when clients terminate appointments at the last minute.
He claimed that the application will allow the 20-yr-aged company to reach new clients in the Fayetteville spot, this kind of as pupils or younger industry experts, who have just moved to the location, allowing for him compete with national chains.
“It’ also presents the possibility to consumers to see that our selling prices are reasonable,” Atkins explained.