By NoCamels
According to a customer survey conducted by research firm Harris
Interactive, a whopping 66 percent of car owners believe they’ve been
ripped off by a repair shop; overall, 72 percent of car owners said they get
anxious about the cost of repair. The app is connected to the on-board car computer, and sends the
owner notifications about issues and problems. The owner can then get price
quotes from mechanics in his or her area. After identifying the problem, the
application invites nearby auto repair shops to bid for the repair
job. CEO Yarden Gross tells NoCamels that Engie’s app can detect 60-70
percent of auto problems. Ultimately, Engie founders want to create an empowered
driving community, one that would shop around for the best price through their
app.
17,000 users within 6 weeks
Launched in December 2014, six weeks later the app had over 17,000
users. Engie’s service, which works with a bluetooth-enabled, on-board
diagnostics device (which is separate from the app), interprets the codes from
the car computer to inform the driver about everything from engine
problems to maintenance updates to their true gas mileage. Engie provides
users with the device for free, charging $5 for the shipping.
Waze founder provides seed money, mentorship
Gross, CMO Gal Aharon and CTO Alon Hendelman met at a boot
camp-like summer program at the Zell Entrepreneurship Program at
the IDC in Israel
in 2014. They brainstormed for months with mentor Uri Levine – co-founder
of navigation app Waze (which sold to Google for $1.1 billion in
2013), until one morning the check-engine light in Gross’ car
turned on. He dutifully headed to a nearby auto shop and by the time he
arrived at the meeting with his team, he was frustrated and angry. Then,
the idea for Engie was finally born. Soon after, Levine provided seed
money for the young company.
It is no coincidence that Engie’s office is located in a
scruffy neighborhood in Tel Aviv, full of car dealerships and auto-repair
shops; by locating next door to their potential affiliates, the company was
able to get 15 mechanic shops on board in just a few weeks. “It actually
saves the mechanic a lot of time, arguments and frustration, because even if he
does his job correctly, customers often think he’s messing around with
them,” Aharon tells NoCamels. “We’re not replacing the mechanic, he’s still
going to do his job, but we’re going to help him.”
“Better than mechanics”
The app, currently available only on Google Play for the Israeli
market (the iPhone app is set to come out in a couple of months), asks the user
to enter the car model and year, from which it matches the model
specifications. Upon detecting a problem, the driver is able to scroll
through a list of prices for various parts and services. Want original or
aftermarket replacement parts? Do you go to a dealership-approved auto shop, or
a general one? All options are available.
However, the app is not flawless. The car tested by
NoCamels was a few hundred kilometers short of its recommended oil change
at 45,000 km. Most maintenance guides prompt you to schedule a check based on
either mileage or time – usually whichever comes first – but Engie appears to
lack the time interval option, which is one of its shortcomings. On the other hand, the clean interface of the app is one of its
charms. As Aharon says, it’s designed to “simplify the data and the services to
make something that me, you and my grandmother will all understand and could
use in a simple and intuitive way.”
The company, six employees and growing, is now working on
an English language application for global markets. The next version is
expected to have a different design and more features than the current
one. In 8-10 months, Engie expects it will handle car repairs, but it will also
cater to second-hand sales, with an app that will transfer the car’s
digital history. “Mechanics are plugging into the same computer we are, and
their process is very similar to ours. The advantage is that we have
a lot of data from many cars, and we’ll be able to have a much better
diagnostic system than the mechanics.”
To keep the app and device free for their users, Engie will
charge the auto shop with the winning bid a 10 percent affiliate fee.
However, this early in the game, that model is not yet in operation, but the
management insists it is fully committed to free services for users. “We are
consumer-oriented; the whole focus of the company is on the consumer, the
mechanic is just the service-provider”, Yarden tells NoCamels. Regarding the
company’s finances, the management confirmed that Engie is currently in
the midst of a Series A Round of funding, but declined to give any details
about valuation, investors or on how much they have managed to raise so
far.