Some mobile mechanics gearing up, while others hit the brakes
t’s a busy time in Canada’s emerging mobile mechanic sector.
While one big player is backing out of the industry, there are now more than two dozen mobile auto service businesses in cities across Canada, several of them operating in multiple locations.
Their offerings range from the basics like oil, fluid and tire changes to more complex work, including brakes, shocks and power steering repair.
It’s a lucrative sector to get into: the auto repair industry in Canada is worth $17 billion Cdn a year and supports more than 27 000 businesses.
Mobile auto service companies have just a fraction of that revenue, but their growth is being driven by offering convenience.
“It’s one less thing you have to do in your day,” says Cody Peskelewis, who with his partner Kristen Gayowski booked a company called Go Oil to do oil changes on two vehicles at their home in Calgary last month. “Especially on a weekend, and there are things you have to get done, the last thing I want to do is go to a lube shop.”
The ease of booking a mechanic via smartphone to come to a customer’s home or office is hidden behind a complicated business behind the scenes.
“It’s had its challenges,” says Jonathan Sparrow, founder of Go Oil, based in Winnipeg. “The technical aspect was a big deal to build.”
The operating software that is the backbone of his business was designed by college students, who began working on it as a co-op placement before some were hired as the business expanded.
The custom oil-vacuum system found in company vans was designed by Sparrow himself. Just 24 years old now, Sparrow started the business in 2017 and has 10 Go Oil franchises across the country.
Cross-country trend
Mobile auto repair services can now be found from Victoria to St. John’s. They’re trying to win over private car owners and also capture business maintaining company owned fleets.
In Calgary, more than half a dozen companies will come to customers’ doors to service cars.
Ottawa has a similar number, while in Toronto there are more than 10 mobile operators.
Their rapid proliferation over the past few years should have caught the attention of auto dealerships, and chains like Mr. Lube, Midas, Jiffy Lube and Great Canadian Oil Change.
“I always tell executives, when you’re looking for disruptive innovation, don’t look for one company doing something, look for a cluster of companies,” says Darren Meister, a professor at the Ivey Business School of Western University in London, Ont.
“It means a whole bunch of people have seen there’s a potential opportunity here.”
Source: https://bit.ly/31DtHhQ
