Car Owners Save Time with Car Care App, Mobile Service, Service-as-a-Subscription

Here’s a different way to get your car an oil change: You make an appointment online, a mobile mechanic drives to your home or office to do the work, you receive an emailed invoice and you pay online.

Customers who have used this service have told the provider that it saves them the time that would have otherwise been spent at the shop and reduces the inconvenience of being without their vehicle while it’s getting serviced.

This option is offered by OOROO Auto, an auto repair and maintenance provider with three shops in Arizona, in order to make car care compatible with people’s schedules and lifestyles.

“From day one, we set out to pioneer a new, more convenient way to deliver car care to vehicle owners,” OOROO Auto Founder and CEO Jeff Artzi told PYMNTS.

Enabling Communication Throughout the Service Experience

Together with the app and mobile operations that enable this offering, the company also provides service at its three shops, contactless payments and “Service-as-a-Subscription.”

“We have experienced a tremendous amount of organic growth as a result of our business model, which is unlike any other automotive repair shop around,” Artzi said.

The company launched its app in 2019. Today, the three most used app features are appointment setting, payment processing and estimate and invoice history retrieval.

“We’re finding that our customers really value their ability to connect with us throughout the service experience,” Artzi said.

Facilitating Contactless Payments

Similarly, the company’s staff find that the app makes it easier to communicate with customers and process payments, rather than taking payments over the phone or accepting and processing checks. That’s especially true with the mobile service.

OOROO Auto provides contactless payments in the form of tap-and-pay or wave-and-pay options, as well as processing via card-on-file in the app. Today, 95% of the customers of the company’s mobile operations use contactless payment.

PYMNTS research has found that Main Street businesses recognize that payment flexibility is necessary in today’s climate to attract new customers and retain approval from existing ones. This flexibility includes acceptance of contactless cards, digital wallets and buy now, pay later (BNPL) products.

Read more: Two-Thirds of US Main Street Businesses Show Optimism Despite Inflation, Economic Uncertainty

OOROO Auto is upgrading its retail locations to include tap-and-pay as well. Artzi said that customers who live close to the shops often prefer to go to the shops and use the company’s shuttle service to get to and from home or work, while those who live in other areas of the market prefer mobile services.

Offering Service-as-a-Subscription

In late 2021, OOROO Auto added a subscription service. Having seen the rise of “X-as-a-service” subscriptions in other industries and business sectors, the company began researching the idea of automotive Service-as-a-Subscription in early 2020 and then launched it in late 2021.

Dubbed the “Happy Car Club,” the subscription service has a monthly fee and provides scheduled automotive services, a discount on other repair and maintenance services, and a rewards program.

“Happy Car Club is an extension of our efforts to simplify auto care and give people back their valuable time,” Artzi said. “Happy Car Club customers love the convenience of knowing that their basic car care needs will be covered whenever and wherever they need them.”