Meet AutoExpert, a streetsmart startup for vehicle care

Everyone wants to own a car. Who doesn’t?

In Pakistan, where public transportation is still trying to establish itself for general population, people wish to have their own vehicles for daily commute.

This does create a lot of unforeseen challenges for the road and infrastructure, but then what else is the option? According to this report, the private owned vehicles in Karachi and Lahore is around 25% of overall presence of vehicles in the city.

People who own cars and vehicles wish to have them maintained on a regular basis. There are in fact several maintenance schedules to follow, if you wish to take good care of your car. This to-do list usually comprises of:

• Car Wash and Cleaning
• Oil and Filter change
• Engine Tuning
• Brake Service
• Tire checkups and replacements
• Suspension checkups
• Battery services and checks

The list can include several other items. However, it depends on the car owner and how he wishes to keep their cars – and what level of maintenance they wish to follow. This is what Yasir Ahmed thought of when he first conceived the idea of AutoExpert. 

Yasir has been a key player in the startup scene in Pakistan and worked for Food Connection with Noman Sikander as IT head. Food Connection was acquired by ArpaTech and it became EatOye. Later on, a much talked about merger between Food Panda and EatOye took place. Yasir is also the founder of a portal of health and nutrition for physical exercises, called HealthStore.

AutoExpert is based at The Dot Zero, and is part of their funding program, Dot Zero Ventures.

How does AutoExpert works?

Well, to get you started, the site provides member registration, and a selection of services for the vehicle. One should also note that this is a “home based service”, which means that a customer will be served at his / her doorstep. There have certified mechanics and auto technicians enlisted on payroll of AutoExpert for car inspections, repairs and services to provide these services.

A customer can:

• Request a quote for the desired service
• Get an estimate
• Book a mechanic
• Get the car fixed

With this, AutoExpert also offer their customers to formulate their own car maintenance schedules, put up information about their vehicles and setup reminders for schedules using their mobile phones. AutoExpert also informed Techjuice its plans to set up consultation services regarding car sales and purchases in the near future.

Yasir told TechJuice they have 3500 signups for the services. For service provision, AutoExpert is in process of developing its own vehicle pool. Currently they have 4 service cars and 3 bikes.

Currently having a workforce of 20, Yasir is planning to expand to 50 within the next 6 months time.

The future holds a good promise for this startup as already good names in business have taken steps to invest and promote AutoExpert.