BuyParts

‍Problem Statement

How can we make car repair and maintenance more convenient and structured for car owners to access?  

Problem Background  

People buy cars as a means of transport to move from point A to Point B. Typically car owners do not have extensive knowledge about cars, the inner workings and their maintenance procedures. 

Cars need to get their oil changed at intervals to keep their car running efficiently, they also need repairs done as soon as possible when a fault is found so it doesn’t lead to even bigger issues. When an accident occurs repairs need to be done quickly so down-time is greatly reduced and other parts of the vehicle need to be checked for damage.

Car owners want their cars to remain in top condition and for it to run as smoothly as possible to preserve its value and increase its longevity. However, finding a good automobile service provider is cumbersome. Car owners have to take many things into consideration and with any choice made there are multiple trade-offs.Currently there are two options available to car owners. 

1. Local/Roadside mechanics
2. Traditional workshops

The problem with local mechanics is the lack of trust, transparency, integrity, expertise and unknown wait times but car owners use them because the cost of labour is cheap. These problems exist because these mechanics are poorly trained and lack any formal education. They barely make use of any technology or standard OEM procedures to carry out any services. They don't have any scheduling or communication system and solely rely on Phone calls or Whatsapp messages.

The problem with Traditional workshops is the high pricing and long wait times. Car owners use them because they have greater trust leaving their car to be handled by a professional company. These workshops also don’t rely on a scheduling system so customers are only giving an estimated pick-up time by service advisors through the phone.

If all these issues were solved there’ll still be a lingering problem that affects all car owners. It takes too much time to go to a traditional workshop to get your car worked on. Car owners have to take time out of their day to drive all the way to the workshop and wait for all services to be done before they’re able to move again. They have the option to request someone to come to their location and drive the car to the workshop but that takes even more time. When the car gets to the workshop car owners have no idea how long the services would take as they’re not there to monitor the progress. Generally they have no idea when their car is going to be ready because there might be other people who have brought in their cars and are physically watching and waiting for their car to get worked on. 

Research Insights & User Pain Points

We conducted 8 user interviews

To address this problem effectively we conducted user interviews to be able to ascertain the pain points of car owners across the different ways they get their cars maintained. We were able to group available options into three. Local/Roadside mechanics, Registered mechanic workshops and Large corporations. In the user interviews conducted we were able to find out the different pain points car owners experience with using the three available options.

Local/Roadside mechanics

1. Unknown wait times
2. Commuting to the location
3. Fake or sub-standard spare parts
4. High potential of wrong diagnosis
5. Poor quality of service
6. Price transparency

Registered mechanic workshops

1. Unknown/long wait times
2. Commuting to the location
3. Potential of wrong diagnosis
4. Quality of service
5. Price transparency

Large corporations

1. Long wait times
2. Commuting to the location
3. High cost of service

Feedback

Our research let us know the pain points of users and we were able to identify which cut across the three available options. The two pain points are wait times and commuting to the workshop. We found that even though those two cut across the different options, it wasn't the main pain point experienced by all users. However, 90% and 85% of users had wait times and commuting as a pain point. 

Landing on the Solution

Based on the pain points of our potential users we identified two pain points that cut across the three options. Wait times and commuting to the workshop. 

So these are the two jobs-to-be-done the solution aims to address directly. The other pain points faced are also addressed by building out the solution as effectively as possible.

Most people today have and use smartphones for a variety of needs as having multiple apps is an easy way to access different goods and services. 

The solution we came up with is to build a mobile repair and maintenance application that allows car owners to request for automotive services to be delivered to their home/office.

Explanation of the Solution

BuyParts makes accessing automotive services more convenient and structured for car owners. Users only have to visit our website or download our application, input general details and car information then select what service they want, view the quote and select a specific day and time for the service to take place. 

It is also important for the app to give users the estimated time taken for the service to be completed so as to allow users fit the service conveniently into their day.

BuyParts will purchase vehicles and tools necessary for mechanics to be able to complete services in the homes/offices of users. The Mechanics that will carry out these services will be full-time employees. The reason for this is to have greater control over user experience. Mechanics in Nigeria are not expertly trained and have little to no training in dealing with car owners in a professional way.

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