For busy car owners, finding the time to make it to the dealership for that regular oil change can be tough. But a Chicago startup is offering a service to help manage those necessary car maintenance appointments, all without the owner having to go anywhere.
Carrectly, founded by Vladimir Gurkot in 2016, has made an online platform where car owners can schedule and pay for car maintenance services, like washes, oil changes, tire patching and even body work.
Users can schedule maintenance appointments ahead of time or order them on-demand. Once a service request is made, Carrectly will come pick up the car from anywhere in the Chicagoland area, drive it to a mechanic or car dealership for services and then bring it back—usually in just a few hours.
“The idea is to take care of everything,” Gurkot said. “People like that convenience.”
Before launching Carrectly, Gurkot was working in finance, but he said he became interested in car maintenance after becoming the designated person in his family to organize everyone’s car repairs. After many time-consuming trips to the mechanic, he realized there needed to be a more convenient way to get cars serviced. Now Carrectly employs 10 people and services about six cars a day.
Carrectly services can only be accessed on its website right now, though Gurkot said he’s in the process of developing a mobile app, which should be available by the end of this summer. The startup also offer a $1 million liability insurance that covers the car in the event it is damaged while in the possession of Carrectly.
Carrectly works with local mechanics and car dealerships that the startup has screened and reviewed. For standard ones, like car washes and tire patching, prices are fixed. A deluxe car wash costs $35 and tire patching costs $50.
But for other, more nuanced services, like body repairs, Gurkot says he gets multiple quotes from mechanics and dealerships for his customers and negotiates prices to help get them the best deal.
“It’s a tricky business,” Gurkot said. “If you go to a few shops, you’ll probably get a range of quotes. But I know how much most of the services should cost, so I’m able to drive down the price. I’m bringing mechanics a couple cars a week, so they [prioritize] me, which is huge considering that for most of the services, people usually leave their cars there for a couple of days.”
For these types of services, Carrectly charges $15 per hour for a round trip service, which means a car will be picked up and brought back to wherever the owner is. They also have a one way option for $25 that will simply just take a vehicle to a mechanic or dealership within a 5-mile radius and the owner picks it up at their convenience.
Carrectly isn't the only on-demand car service out there, though. Yoshi, a San Francisco-based startup that delivers gas, oil changes, car washes and other services while a car is parked, has raised more than $15 million in venture capital funding from investors like ExxonMobile and Y Combinator, according to Crunchbase. Additionally, startups Filld and Booster, both of which deliver gas to cars, have raised $12.9 million and $32.6 million, respectively.
Gurkot, who initially used his savings to launch the startup, says he is interested in raising venture capital funding in the future as he expands the startup’s B2B offerings. He hopes to eventually sell his services to mechanics and car dealerships by helping them organize their car maintenance appointments through his platform.
