Yeah, it may be that your friend isn't properly thinking through why this will be such a big hit: it's fast and convenient for a large fraction of problems.
Because the huge thing about car trouble is the logistical inconvenience of getting it fixed. I don't want to have to buy a luxury car just to get a long ride back and forth from the dealership; I want someone to come and fix my cheap car in the driveway on my schedule or tell me why it cannot be fixed. I also want the power to bring in three mechanics back to back such that I can comparison shop without thinking about the pain in the neck of changing garages after a quote.
Even if this only hits 50% of problems, that's amazing. I literally have had a Check Engine light on for weeks; just went and tried out the UI and it was well thought through, with this particular problem front paged and my make/model in their interface. (They don't yet have guys who fix old Hondas in my area, so it stopped at the last step, but I'll tell everyone at work about it for sure to save people the inconvenience of a trip.)
And long term, with enough market pressure good mobile carlift technologies will develop (we have pickups, flatbed trucks, mobile firehoses, mobile food trucks, not so hard to build a mobile mechanical lift).
at luxury dealers you don't even need to GO to the dealer, they come and pick up your car. they send a porter (who they pay minimum wage) to pick up your car and deliver you a loaner.
is this service actually going to let you comparison shop? a mobile mechanical lift seems super expensive for a regular joe mechanic.
Because the huge thing about car trouble is the logistical inconvenience of getting it fixed. I don't want to have to buy a luxury car just to get a long ride back and forth from the dealership; I want someone to come and fix my cheap car in the driveway on my schedule or tell me why it cannot be fixed. I also want the power to bring in three mechanics back to back such that I can comparison shop without thinking about the pain in the neck of changing garages after a quote.
Even if this only hits 50% of problems, that's amazing. I literally have had a Check Engine light on for weeks; just went and tried out the UI and it was well thought through, with this particular problem front paged and my make/model in their interface. (They don't yet have guys who fix old Hondas in my area, so it stopped at the last step, but I'll tell everyone at work about it for sure to save people the inconvenience of a trip.)
And long term, with enough market pressure good mobile carlift technologies will develop (we have pickups, flatbed trucks, mobile firehoses, mobile food trucks, not so hard to build a mobile mechanical lift).