I love this idea, but it's also some super hood shit. This is absolutely a done thing in lower income areas-- "shade tree mechanics" is the term of art I know. I would imagine the biggest issue would be ensuring a feeling of reliability and professionalism to a sort of sketchy proposition. (A random stranger coming to your house to work on your car.) Plus, as a practicing shade tree mechanic when I was young and broke and keeping my friends' fleet of beaters more or less roadworthy, having a suitable facility for mechanic work is a challenge. I hate having my ass hanging out in the street while I'm working on a car. I hate working in the cold. Where's the power for my compressor and lights? Folks with a garage typically will tow their stuff to the shop.

Thank you! We're trying to change the way consumers see this service. Our mechanics dress clean, bring you your favourite coffee, and teach you a bit about the repair as well to educate you about the trade. Our customers range from low to high income individuals who just want to save time and effort and spend that time with their family or on their hobbies. We've seen a ton of our customers build strong relationships with our mechanics and request them over and over again. I do agree that working remotely is tougher to do then at a shop and that is why we compensate mechanics 3x more than a shop and provide them the independence of a business owner. We've seen happiness on both sides of the equation so we will keep pushing!

It sounds like you guys are on the right track, but small input -- the coffee bit is somewhat campy. I think it's kind of unnecessary burden on your mechanics that will be tough to uphold as you scale. Additionally, speaking from personal needs, I couldn't care less if I got coffee -- I just want a professional mechanic who won't fleece me. Stick to making that your value prop, and I think both sides of the marketplace (techs, and consumers) will be better off for it.

There's a reason why people have pointed out the flaws of this model for a while now: https://www.quora.com/How-is-YourMechanic-doing-lately/answe...

'But the flaw is this: "All you need to provide is a driveway or parking space where the mechanic can work"

I feel any decent mechanic will not work under these conditions. It is unreasonable to think good quality work can be done without a properly outfitted shop.'

They do limit the jobs they're willing to take on, and you'd be amazed at the work you can do with a good set of socket wrenches, a nice hydraulic jack, and maybe one of those ODB2 readers to talk to the computer.

I think if they got into professionally evaluating used cars alone it'd be a pretty useful service. Buying a used car, boom, send out a mechanic before you hand over the cash.

Does seem like it'd wind up being expensive relative to say, a Jiffy Lube, which seems like it's on a roughly equivalent level of service. Another one of those startups marking up service industry conveniences for the affluent. (That's not a value judgment, it's just a familiar business model.)

> They do limit the jobs they're willing to take on, and you'd be amazed at the work you can do with a good set of socket wrenches, a nice hydraulic jack, and maybe one of those ODB2 readers to talk to the computer.

Second this. In Sri Lanka, quite a few of us depend on some mechanics we know to come home to do repairs for us. My car's been saved quite a bit this way (one particular time was when the coolant stopped flowing through the radiator due to a jammed thermo). Quite often the work involved taking out most of the pieces sitting under the hood.

The most difficult part was the reliability of bringing the mechanic down. So it's pretty cool to see this service here. I'd gladly pay for something like it in SL.

Indeed. I've had a gearhead friend work on my cars for the past ten years. He briefly ran a shop he rented, but reverted back to shadetree mechanic work in his spare time when he pursued other career pursuits. I'll usually give him a hand if needed. All you need is a jack a decently stocked toolkit, and some knowhow.

'But the flaw is this: "All you need to provide is a driveway or parking space where the mechanic can work"'

But you can do quite a lot of things with just some space and some tools. Oil changes, filter changes, brake jobs, battery changes, rotate tires, etc. And, if the vehicle called is capable of a tow, this might presumably supplant both AAA and Jiffy Lube type services.

Expanding on that, as someone who has been the proverbial "busy professional", I would have happily paid a premium to have someone come and do my oil changes while my car was parked at work to prevent having to take the half hour out of my day for routine maintenance.

Once your customers build a relationship with one of your mechanics, what's to stop them from contacting them directly? I know Homejoy had this problem where customers would just contact cleaners directly to avoid the service fee. Or are your mechanics employees instead of contract workers?

So far we have seen no signs of leakage, and we've been monitoring it closely.

A few reasons why leakage doesn't happen:

- Unlike cleaning, this isn't a weekly service, so the incentive is less.

- When our mechanics communicate with customers it gets routed through a Fiix phone number and/or 'business cards' with direct links to re-book them

- Mechanics have also expressed that they don't want customers having their personal phone numbers because it actually takes long to quote out a customer (we've built software to do this instantly).

- Because we do a high volume of repairs, we can get better parts costs than mechanics could on their own

- By going through Fiix, the mechanic gets 'de-risked' as even if the customer complains, or things go wrong, they still get paid

> Because we do a high volume of repairs, we can get better parts costs than mechanics could on their own

That's a massive plus point for all parties involved. Congrats on nailing that aspect

>Our mechanics dress clean, bring you your favourite coffee, and teach you a bit about the repair as well to educate you about the trade.

Dress clean? Really? Are they "articulate" too?

Some higher-class neighborhoods even have covnants and restrictions that prohibit car repair in the driveway, among other things.

Here's what I want: To take my car to a gleaming, state of the art repair facility with every tool I could ever need, staffed by auto mechanic "coaches" who will help me repair my car myself.

These actually do exist! Do a Google search for "self service garage" or "DIY garage" to see if there's one near your location. You may have to hunt around a bit as some of these places may not have websites. The one in my town [0], for instance, only has a Facebook page.

[0] https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-Pit-Stop-DIY-Garage-45343608...

These places never do well because:

1. Tool theft. Anyone that's ever done anything Blue Collar will know that tools evaporate as soon as you turn your head.

2. Failure to fix. Cars end up taking up space due to their owners inability to fix and/or put them back together. Then it's up to the 'coaches' to become lowly paid mechanics and put the thing back together for them for next to nothing just to get the car out of the garage.

People have been trying this idea since the 80s. Never worked before and it probably never will.

These places do exist, I worked on friend's car at an awesome place called Lifted in Fremont. They had all the tools you could want and a knowledge crew to get you out of sticky situations. It looks like there are a few other places throughout the Bay Area too. I think the challenge was inexperienced people coming in and underestimating the task they were taking on or screwing things up and having to leave their cars at the shop for what was originally a day job.

Being in Fremont, I immediately searched to learn more. It's permanently closed.

There's also Pit Row in Santa Clara. Search for terms like "DIY".

This is incredible! I have just thought about doing the same thing with chefs. As in: you order a (not the Michelin-star kind) chef who'll come to your house and teach you how to cook some tasty meal, without worrying about buying ingredients, tools etc. We learn from plumbers and technicians, why not learn from chefs?

There was a few offerings around this idea in the past few years. Kithensurfing being another one of them. They've all burned out due to lack of demand.

http://www.eater.com/2015/12/7/9852106/kitchensurfing-privat...

Pretty much explains it.

Ouch. Duly noted. :)

Friend of a friend launched kitchit that did almost this. You should check them out and figure out why they shut down.

This is really neat, and I think it could work well for most basic maintenance work. I'm really curious about the logistics.

How do you handle catastrophic failures during a repair? For example, what happens when a rusty bolt head snaps off and now a component needs to be drilled and tapped? I've worked on my fair share of older cars that have lived their lives on salty New England roads, and this happens more often than you'd think. Does the car get towed to a repair garage in these cases?

I see wheel/tire mounting and balancing listed as a service. How does that work? Are you able to get the balancing machine into the service vehicle, or do you pick them up, leave the car on jack stands, and then bring them back balanced (probably disconcerting for the customer)?

I'm glad you like the idea :)

We have a few partner shops across the city that we'll get the car towed to in the case that we can't complete the work at their home. That being said, we've completed thousands of repairs and less than 1% have needed the tow service.

Off rim tire changes and wheel balancing are the only services we offer that are non-mobile. These are 'experiments' for now, but we have them on the site because we have other mobile partners that will bring a large truck with the balancing machine and complete the repair.

How do you guys compare yourselves to https://www.yourmechanic.com/, also a YC startup?

Other than servicing Toronto, that yourmechanic doesn't seem to be available in, not much. Looks like these guys are pretty established with a much better quoting interface. fiix requires me to input my name/number, and other details that piss me off. Just for the price to show up.

How do you avoid the issue that home cleaning companies encountered? Namely, once they use your service to create a relationship, the customer can contact the mechanic directly and cut you out?

What have the legalities been like for you to do this in Canada? As a mechanic in the USA (ASE a decade ago) I was told multiple times that repairs cannot be at a customer's residence due to both EPA regulations on fluid contamination and various local or state zoning ordinances.

Well I guess the Silicon Valley way is to start a company that flagrantly violates the law and then lobby until it's made legal.

Give Pruitt a few weeks. :-P

It just seems really ghetto to have someone come to my house to do the work. Trying to get a sense for who would use this... I already have a mechanic I trust, he's less than 5 minutes away from my house... and I can just drop my car off and pick it up when I'm done. Do a lot of other people not have preferred mechanics already?

Also doing car repair in the driveway or on the street -- in many neighborhoods this would be a violation of the HOA agreement. We aren't allowed to do vehicle repair anywhere visible from the street (so like my garage door would have to be closed in order to avoid an HOA fine).

Just seems sketch... My AC goes out and I'm going to call some guy in a van to come put a new one in? Can he change my oil? Recharge my AC? What about spills and leaks, who cleans that up if it gets on my driveway or lawn? For a variety of reasons, mechanic shops better suited for this sort of work. Is this even kosher with the EPA?

Edit: Looked at the site... wiper replacement and battery replacement were some services offered. Yup... got it, I'm not the target audience for this.

> Edit: Looked at the site... wiper replacement and battery replacement were some services offered. Yup... got it, I'm not the target audience for this.

I feel like even the least car-savvy person on Earth can figure out how to change their own windshield wipers.

I'm hoping that mos people who pay for windshield wiper replacements get it bundled. Let's say they don't want to leave their house to get an oil change (and are too lazy to do it themselves). They go to the site and request an oil change. Then they remember their wipers are going bad and don't want to pick them up or order them online. So they just pay the extra $5-$20 or whatever the company charges to have the mechanic replace it for them.

I guess that makes sense. I think I bought them from a mechanic once, when I was getting the state test and they said the ones I had wouldn't pass.

So yeah I think my biggest concern about this... I have a mechanic. But even if I didn't... I would want a mechanic. I don't want some random guy showing up each time. This isn't like Uber, it's more like a dentist... I guess some people probably don't request the same hygienist each time... but I some jobs I want done by someone I have a relationship with. I want to deal with the same person on a regular basis, know he does a good job, trust him, and not leave it to chance each time I need my car serviced. Maybe it's different for people in bigger cities...

If you think about how their service started--as a tire replacement service--I don't think it's as concerning. If I wanted my tires changed or rotated I don't care who does it (I always took my bike to the CycleGear but that's just because they always had good rates for tires). But once something big happens to your vehicle I'm with you and can't imagine calling over a random mechanic (nor do I think they can do a sufficient job repairing it in a driveway).

This service is only available in Toronto, Canada.

Seems like a good idea if the price is right. I'd love this for regular car maintenance.

I'd hate to be a mechanic working outdoors in winter Toronto. Just thinking of handling steel tools with un-gloved hands (otherwise you can't grasp much) makes me feel sorry for those folks.

>Just thinking of handling steel tools with un-gloved hands //

Nearly all the mechanics I see working now in the UK have gloves, tight fitting "latex" ones. I suspect it's in part to do with evidence suggesting used engine oil is strong carcinogen, and also because most garages have open fronts here. There are plenty of other fluids knocking around you don't really want to be in contact with a lot; also even light latex gloves will stop some scuffs and nicks. I've used them myself occasionally, when it's very cold (just above 0degC/freezing) they help a lot.

Gloves seem more common the more expensive the service is too, so it might be a company mandated 'health and safety' protection.

Interesting. I've never found gloves I could comfortably work with, especially when the area I'm working on is out of view (which is more often than not with cars). Which inevitably leads to lots of scrapes so I can totally understand why gloves would be mandatory.

The winter is definitely hard in Toronto, and we work closely with our mechanics to make sure they're warm and safe.

We try to maximize the number of bookings inside a garage, and they're all equipped with both heated jackets and portable heaters.

When it gets way too cold, we prioritize mechanic happiness and reschedule all the jobs for the day.

Another reason why you really do not want to work outside in Canada in the winter:

Metal gets brittle when it is cold. This will lead to tool breakage (health risk) and bolts snapping rather than turning. You really should not work on a car at temperatures < 5C and preferably you should work in a heated garage. Below -10C it qualifies as torture, not work.

Being a car mechanic is hard enough on the body when working in the best possible setting.

You're onto something here with maintenance. The worst part about owning a car is maintaining it. Fiix is going to remove all of the hassles of owning a car, and we want to get to the point that you can 'set it and forget it' for general maintenance.

According to the bottom of the home page, they are available in over 20 locations.

Our locations are all part of the "GTA" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Toronto_Area)

I just tried "Brakes to go" today for the first time (basically your model, but only for brakes), and I am now totally sold on this idea. Granted, Brakes to go has a much simpler problem to solve (much easier for them to just show up with every possible part they could need to replace, then figure out what they need on-site), but I see no reason you couldn't expand their idea in similar ways (perhaps dedicated mechanics with rigs dedicated for specific jobs). Judging by the Yelp reviews for Brakes to go in Austin, I'm definitely not the only one enamores with this idea. Best of luck!

Sounds similar to yourmechanic.com, which I've used a couple of years ago - although you have to schedule an appointment, versus 3-hour service.

Had them replace my alternator (I'd had AAA tow the car back to my driveway) and the guy showed up early, did good work, and had it ready to go within an hour. Cost me $200, but it was a lot more convenient than having the car towed elsewhere and then getting the work done.

Let's get serious for a moment here. Beyond relatively simple home garage fixes, how do you plan on addressing larger issues that a mobile service could never handle. Something that requires a lift for example? Exhausts, transmission, basically anything under the body. Are teams available? How did you handle mounting / balancing with TireSwap?

If the car needs a tow, we'll get it taken to one of our partner shops. So far, we've repaired a few thousand cars and less than 1% have needed a tow. We only contract licensed mechanics with many years of experience, so they can do pretty complex work by jacking up your car on your driveway.

When we were running TireSwap we did on rim tire changes and rotations only (summer to winters and vice versa), so no mounting / balancing was needed.

The mechanic shows up in a tow truck.

None of our technicians drive tow trucks. You can see some of them, and their reviews here: https://www.fiix.io/mechanics

Does anyone make a mobile car lift, like a truck with an embedded hydraulic lift. Seems doable, just not sure if it would be worth selling because you can tow to a lift and that lift would be [much] cheaper?

Perhaps something like a PODs truck? http://www.merchantcircle.com/pods-peoria-moving-and-storage...

A related article trending on HN couple of months back https://medium.com/@afarrington/ycombinator-backed-fiix-io-i...

Why would someone choose this service for basic stuff over something like AAA? For more complex stuff, do you really want "just some guy" showing up and doing the work on your driveway?

How do you deal with local ordinances? This shadetree mechanic thing is illegal in a lot of municipalities and is forbidden in every apartment lease contract I ever signed in Texas.

This is a great idea, but I don't see why I would want to book a specific mechanic rather than let you choose the best one for me based off my model/make/needs.

The main flow of the website is to let us pick the mechanic for you, but for customers that really want to choose their mechanic, they can book directly at fiix.io/mechanics

I was legitimately disappointed that I couldn't use this today (US/California). Is there any way I can signup for a notification when you expand to my area?

Congrats on the launch!

Very smart team, excited to see the Canadian ecosystem grow

forget the mechanics thing, just do a snapchat channel you guys rock it on social media.

Great idea, looks like you've got the right team to do it as well

Such a great idea! How did you get into YC via snapchat?!

We pitched to Justin Kan on his snapchat story, and got an interview for the YC Fellowship. If you're interested, you can read the whole story here: https://hackernoon.com/how-to-make-20-000-on-snapchat-and-ge...

Any plans to go international, particularly state side?

Are you providing a warranty on the work completed?

Thank you!!

This looks exactly like YourMechanic (also YC company), with a far less refined product. Actually there is no product. It is just a chat interface. Also, your pages seem to be broken; for example: https://www.fiix.io/estimates/Audi/A4/Coolant-Flush-cost shows estimate of $0. In fact almost all the Audi A4 estimate pages have $0 (at least all the ones i opened).

What exactly would you say is the differentiating factor, other than the fact that they don't service Canada?

Is it not suspicious that both mattsolm and redstallion were created minutes before these comments were made. And both focus on promoting YourMechanic. It's okay to have competition, no need to be shady about it.

Hi Khallil,

I just sent an email to your About.me account. If that's no longer active, is there another address I can reach you at?

Thanks,

Daniel

khallil@fiix.io or m.me/km

What is this "Launch HN" thing now?

It's a new thing we've been experimenting with for this YC batch. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13670456 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13492779 for some background. Now's a good time to share any thoughts about it if you'd like to send us an email at hn@ycombinator.com.

Suggestion: disable flags for these submissions.