Consumers can e-mail questions to local dealers and shops and ClearMechanic guarantees a response
SAN FRANCISCO — ClearMechanic, provider of technology to improve the auto repair experience, today announced a new feature allowing San Francisco Bay Area consumers to ask car questions online. Consumers can send questions to select local dealers and shops, at any time of day, without picking up the phone. ClearMechanic ensures that a response to the question is provided within a specified timeframe, often 1 to 3 business days.
“By far, the most requested feature from ClearMechanic users has been to ask car questions online,” said Brad Simmons, CEO of ClearMechanic. “Consumers want a simple way to get answers from local mechanics, at any time of day, without the inconvenience of making phone calls to dealers or shops.”
The large majority of dealers and shops do not post e-mail addresses and, if they do, cannot guarantee timely responses to consumer questions. Additionally, dealers and shops do not have the time to differentiate legitimate inquiries from questions that will never result in a sale. ClearMechanic solves this problem by providing manual and technical filtering of questions, weeding out spam and validating that all questions come from local car owners.
Common questions include requests for preliminary expert opinions (“Should I be worried about a mild squeaking sound?”) to requests for nonbinding estimates (“About how much does a water pump replacement cost for a Toyota Camry?”).
“This is a win-win for consumers and repair centers,” remarked Ken Hite, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ClearMechanic. He added: “It is far easier for many consumers to ask questions online, in writing, than contacting a mechanic during work hours and trying to explain car issues over the phone. Likewise, repair centers want inbound leads from potential customers. A third party like ClearMechanic can serve as a trusted intermediary between consumers and repair centers for both car questions and scheduling.”
The new feature follows the well-received launch of ClearMechanic’s new online scheduling program, which has been referred to as the “OpenTable for car repairs.” Both the “Ask a Local Mechanic!” feature and the instant scheduling option are available at www.clearmechanic.com.
The service is free for consumers and is currently free for repair centers as well. To ask a car question now, visit www.clearmechanic.com.
About ClearMechanic, Inc:
Founded in 2009, ClearMechanic has proven experience creating award-winning applications for the automotive repair industry. Their existing mobile and web applications have delivered more than 200,000 repair recommendations and bring transparency and ease to repair center customers. ClearMechanic’s goal is to create a win-win for service centers and their customers and bring today’s Internet customers back to the service bay. ClearMechanic has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Automotive News and Consumer Reports.
For more information, please visit www.clearmechanic.com.