Markets In Everything: Body Shop Bidding
"BodyShopBids is a marketplace for auto repairs. The platform connects consumers who need auto body repairs with body shops through a bidding system. Consumers upload a photo of their damaged vehicles and will receive around 4 custom quotes from nearby body shops within 24 hours. A personal BodyShopBids concierge also educates consumers on the repair process and work needed. From there, the consumer can choose an estimate and book an appointment with the body shop.
BodyShopBids launched in June 2011 in Chicago, and in the last six months has partnered with 275 Chicago-area body shops and processed more than $2.5 million in damage estimates. It will expand to Los Angeles and other cities in early 2012."
4 Comments:
What a great concept. Why not expand it to all auto repairs. The average age of US cars is 11 years. What a market.
What a great idea. Services like this are hard to get good knowledge of without a lot of effort.
Although, I have not had great success with a similar service for home repairs.
Markets in everything: A single tuna fetched a record $736,000 on the market in Japan.
Does anyone think this will raise the supply of tuna?
This is a great idea - for body shops. I can see shops attracting business by low-ball bidding, then providing a more realistic estimate once the car is at their shop, and the owner is reluctant to pay for additional towing to take it elsewhere.
The key concept here is "estimate". there's no way an accurate estimate can be made from a photo. Shopping for auto body repair isn't anything like shopping for a known commodity, like a seat on an airplane
Even when the car is in the shop there is no way to know precisely what the final repair will cost, as there can be hidden damage, not seen until some amount of disassembly has taken place.
Auto repair is a business in which a reputation for integrety and quality work may be more important than lowest price.
Post a Comment
<< Home