YC Demo Day Session 2: Midnox, 42Floors, Sonalight, Your Mechanic | Hacker News Reader

YC Demo Day Session 2: Midnox, 42Floors, Sonalight, Your Mechanic

techcrunch.com

YourMechanic should provide some idea off the bat as to where they are providing service at this time, and perhaps a timeline as to when they expect to expand.

A simple, YourMechanic is currently providing service to the San Francisco Bay Area, or something.

After going through several steps in their chain:

Select Service -> Service Details -> Provide Name, Address, Email, Phone

The Mechanic Bids step failed with

errno: erange "Sorry, we currently do not serve this location right now."

Hey Jerry - (Art from YM).. sorry about this. You are right. The reality is that our site is not supposed to be public yet, but I guess it was too easy to find out the internal pages! When we launch this, we will make sure it is super clear the areas we are serving.

I think YourMechanic is an excellent idea.

But what about the tools needed to repair the car? I wonder what percentage of car problems require non-mobile tools.. I would expect a lt of these visits to be of the form "your car needs x, but i cannot do that here you need to take it to the shop."

You can see what services they offer: https://www.yourmechanic.com/works/#/services

Common maintenance services:

  - Oil and filter change
  - 90K mile service
  - Basic Tune up
  - Master tune-ups
  - Spark plugs and tire replacement

Common Inspection Requests:

  - Car is not starting
  - Check Engine light is on
  - Door locks are not working
  - Pre-purchase used car inspection
  - Car is shaking
  - Oil is leaking from under the car

Common Repair Services:

  - Alternator replacement
  - Radiator replacement
  - Starter replacement
  - Timing belt replacement
  - Valve cover gasket replacement
  - Brake pad replacement
  - Oxygen sensor replacement

Hey Guys - Art from YourMechanic. We can actually fix 75% of all car problems. We currently focus on a list of about 200 jobs (these are the things that your car needs most often).

So, basically, all of the "jiffy-lube" type basic maintenance services, and not the "replace your entire engine" type stuff. Makes sense to me.

The only tools that would be hard to bring are an engine hoist, and a real car lift. Most repairs can be done with jack stands, though it is a bit more uncomfortable.

That being said, I have seen a transmission replaced by a friend without a car lift or an engine hoist. He just flipped the car on its side, propped it with tire, and man handled the transmission and engine. You won't find that technique in any repair manuals.

Dropping the tranny in a rear wheel drive is easy with just jack stands, front wheel drive, not so much. That said, I have collapsable engine stand/block and tackle (can lift with block and tackle, remove 2 pins, rotate, lower onto stand) that works great for small blocks, never tried on a big block. When I go on roadtrips, I usually have all tools necessary to repair or swap parts for nearly any component on the side of the road. And I'm just a shade tree mechanic, not even a professional. It would amaze most people what you can fix with just a good socket set.

Starters, as I understand it, are particularly easy to replace. I think there's something about tinkering around on cars that appeals to the programmer mindset. I like working on my car, and fixing it gives me the same satisfaction I get from fixing a tricky software bug.

In general, I think any "get service provider X to come to you" is great. But, from the article: "Your Mechanic has had 90,000 transactions and recorded $20,000 in billings per month, saving each user an average of $200 per transaction." Saving an average of $200? I have a really hard time believing that. Not saying it's impossible (I haven't seen their presentation, product, anything), but either their numbers are wonky or their users had been getting gouged at their mechanics' shops.

| their users had been getting gouged at their mechanics' shops

I feel like this is a distressingly commonplace problem.

Hey Charlie - Art from YourMechanic. It was supposed to be $90,000 in transaction, billing $20k per month now. I will request TC to fix this error. I wouldn't mind getting 90k transactions though :).

Hey, Art. Thanks for the comment. Even $90K in transactions is great, and $20K/mo is excellent.

Not the first time TC's borked numbers. :)

Good luck with everything. It sounds like a good product, and I hope things go great for you and your team.

I can't wait until YourMechanic is available in the Berkeley area! That's definitely a service I will use.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com