Montreal automotive tech startup, Vehicle Mind, has launched a new digital platform in Quebec destined for motorists and mechanics.
The new bilingual online booking platform called BookAMechanic.ca currently enables motorists to schedule and prepay for eight of the most common car maintenance services from a list of workshops, and even offers a valet service for car pick up and drop off.
New features are expected to roll out in the upcoming months that will improve the communication between the motorist and the mechanic to avoid surprises at the end of the service.
“Motorists are all too familiar with the challenges of car maintenance, from finding a trustworthy mechanic, understanding their car’s needs, wait times and rearranging their schedules for garage appointments,” said Vehicle Mind co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Abhay Ghatpande.
“At the same time, the auto mechanic industry is hungry for innovation and digitization of the garage experience to gain a competitive advantage and stabilize revenue year-round,” he adds.
Co-founders, Abhay Ghatpande and Sherdeep Singh are behind the idea, the two Montreal-based owners, developers and engineers, found the current car maintenance process to be time-consuming, frustrating and lacking transparency.
Ghatpande and Singh also recognized that many mechanics today are still operating using pen and paper, creating a new set of challenges, the main one being the ability to attract new, younger mechanics to the industry who are choosing careers that are more technologically advanced.
“No one had been working on advancing the auto mechanic industry with technology. There’s no single platform in Canada that provides the ability to book appointments across different garage chains and independent operators, offer digital payments and book prepaid appointments. We felt these frustrations as car-owners and knew we had the business and technological expertise to change the entire industry,” continued Ghatpande.
BookAMechanic.ca aims to modernize the current garage experience by offering prepaid online mechanic appointments that can be easily booked using any web browser.
The company offers flat-rate pricing:
- $56 for a tire change
- $79 for an oil change
- $119 for wheel alignment
- A valet service for $49, which books a Vehicle Mind driver to pick up and return the car in a specified timeframe.
The site accepts most forms of digital payments including VISA, Mastercard, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Amex and Discovery.
The service is currently available in the Greater Montreal Area and Quebec City with plans to expand in the coming months. Local auto mechanics can already be found on the platform like Mr. Muffler, GMS Auto Clinique, Pneus Papineau, Atelier Gilles Perreault, Donald Viens & Fils, J.M.A.C Centre d’Auto and Gagnon, to name a few. The company continues to sign on new garages on a weekly basis.
Users can expect new features and ideas to roll out in the upcoming months including a mobile app and a feature that enables mechanics to upload and share photos and videos of issues with the car owner.
