YourMechanic Will Change the Way You View Car Maintenance
I heard of this service a few months ago when Harry over at The Rideshare Guy wrote about his experience with YourMechanic. YourMechanic is a service that pairs you up with a mechanic that has been tested and vetted by YourMechanic and he/she will perform any normal maintenance or repairs on your car while you are at home or office. Oil changes starts at $40 and many other repairs or maintenance is a fraction of what you would normally pay at a shop, all with the convenience of having it done at your home or office. You’re saving money and a lot of time.
In Harry’s post, he ordered up a normal oil change for his car and he noted how it was very easy. Request the job ahead of time, meet with your mechanic, the mechanic brings all the parts and tools required for the job, and then does all the work while you’re at your home or office, and then you get called when he/she is done. The mechanic has an app he/she uses to log the work and process payment once the job is complete.
Here are the few ways you can use the service:
- YourMechanic’s Most Popular service
- How to get a free car inspection
- Pre-Purchase Used Car Inspection
- How to get the inspection for Uber, Lyft or Sidecar
- Free Car Inspection with Car repair/service
I also wanted to try this service but they were currently not in Boston. Since a few months ago, they have expanded into quite a few cities, including a few on the East Coast as well:
- California:
- Bay Area
- Los Angeles
- San Diego
- Sacramento
- Texas:
- Austin
- Houston
- Dallas/Fort Worth
- San Antonio
- Florida:
- Fort Lauderdale
- Orlando
- Tampa
- Atlanta
- Phoenix
- Charlotte
- Denver
- Las Vegas
- Philadelphia
- Portland
- Raleigh
- Southern MD / Montgomery County
Your Mechanic’s Most Popular Service:
- Oil change with 50-point inspection ($40 regular, $60 synthetic for 5 quarts oil)
- Diagnostics ($70-$80, and free when you book a recommended repair)
- Pre-purchase used car inspections: $90-$115. The mechanic will go to the seller’s location to inspect car and provide a 150-point inspection report with photos of the car, repairs needed, and a full cost estimate for each repair, empowering a good buying decision.
- 150 other services including brakes, belts, sensors, filters, fluids, 30k/60k/90k factory scheduled maintenance, and much more.
Ways to Save on a Car Inspection:
To save on a car inspection, you can sign up to get an oil change, even if you don’t need one. A regular priced oil change is only $40 so you’re saving about $30-$40 off of a normal car diagnostic (inspection). So you’re essentially saving $40 and getting an oil change. That sounds like a clear winner to me. Especially if you are driving in the cold climate, the starting/stopping in cold weather can really break down motor oil faster than in a warm climate so take that early oil change in the winter and have your car checked out all for the same price!
Buying a Used Car?
YourMechanic helps drivers save money and empowers them to negotiate better by inspecting the used car they’re looking to buy. The mechanic will go to the seller’s location and inspect the car for you so it takes a lot of guesswork out of buying a used car. They can also estimate what it takes to fix the car as well so you know how much money you need to spend in order to get the car back into working order. This type of inspection is a bit more expensive at around $100 but that is very much on par with a normal car inspection by a mechanic. If there is anything to fix on the car, they will deduct the cost of the inspection from the cost of the service or repair so essentially the inspection is free.
You can see more about pre-purchase car inspections.
Free Car Inspection with Car Repair/Service
Say you have a loud scratching noise coming from your rear wheels. You don’t want to get an oil change so you opt for the inspection. The mechanic comes to your car and checks it out and says you need new brakes. If you pay for the brake service directly from YourMechanic, the cost of the inspection is free. They would deduct the cost of the inspection from the cost of the brake service. Also, as the mechanic has checked out your car in person, they can also give you a detailed estimate of how much it will all cost very quickly. You can book the service directly from the quote emailed to you, making setting up your next appointment very easy.
Uber, Lyft or Sidecar Car Inspection
Do you need to have a mechanic check out your car before Uber, Lyft or Sidecar approves you to drive on their platform. In some states, it is mandatory to do so while in other states it is optional. YourMechanic offers the official inspection service with Uber’s, Lyft’s or Sidecar’s own inspection form all for $35 and also at your convenience. They offer at-home or at-office Sidecar, Lyft, and Uber inspections in CA, AZ, and CO with other states launching soon.
To book a safety inspection for one of these companies, go to YourMechanic.com/book and tyep in the company name under Services. The relevant jobs will appear. (Note: this $35 inspection cannot be further discounted.)
If you don’t like the price, remember that an oil change is only $40 and you can request them to fill out the Uber, Lyft or Sidecar inspection form while you are there. Just make sure to include that in the comments when booking your oil change. Remember, if you use my referral code (RD20), you can get $20 off your first service!
What if I need to get my car repaired?
So a few weeks ago, I was doing a mileage run out to Los Angeles to escape the snow and rack up some airline miles on another quest to qualify for Executive Platinum on American Airlines again. I spoke to someone at YourMechanic and I was able to meet with a mechanic who was doing an inspection on a car.
So typically with any service, the order gets reviewed by one of their in house service advisors. They go over your order and then gives you a call about your car and what it may need. Once they have a good idea of what is wrong with the car, they will give you a fixed quote on how much the entire service or repair will be so there are no surprises. If you agree to it, a mechanic will come out to both check out the car and also perform the repairs. If more work needs to be done than listed on the original quote, they will revise the quote and have you look it over before any of the repairs are made. Once you accept the new quote, they will repair your car right there on the spot. The quote will be significantly cheaper than what a dealership or repair shop would charge as they don’t have to rent out repair space and they buy their parts retail at a discount, rather than dealerships where they charge a markup.
Most of the quotes are based on OEM parts or aftermarket equivalent parts.
What kind of repairs YourMechanic does not perform?
They do not perform repairs on:
- Any type of body work
- Tires, such as flats, mounting or balancing (but they do tire rotation)
- Car washes
- Major engine or transmission repair or rebuild
Is there any tipping involved?
We discourage tipping, but welcome Yelp reviews! We love to see our mechanics get public praise for the great work they do.
Is there a warranty with the service?
We stand behind the quality of auto repair services provided by mechanics scheduled through YourMechanic.com. All repairs and parts come with a 12-month / 12,000-mile (whichever comes first) warranty. Subject to certain conditions, if any defects in workmanship arise within this period, we will work with you to resolve the issue at no additional cost.
Additonal Notes on the Warranty:
If you pay the mechanic directly for any repair services or if the mechanic performs any job that is not authorized by YourMechanic, this warranty does not apply. Only repair services ordered through YourMechanic are covered by our warranty.
If you ordered a repair service where we did not perform the diagnostic, our warranty only covers the defect in the replacement. (i.e. if you ordered a battery replacement because your car was not starting, if the car does not start after replacing the battery, this warranty does not cover the “car not starting event”.)
If after a mechanic performs a service, you have reason to believe the services caused other problems, the warranty will be voided if you hire another mechanic (outside of YourMechanic) to inspect or work on your car. If we send a mechanic to inspect the car and the inspection demonstrates that the problem was indeed caused by the previous service, then the mechanic will fix the car at no cost to you. If the problem was caused by other reasons, the mechanic will bill you for the inspection or any further repair services provided by them.
My Thoughts about YourMechanic
Even though this is a new company, many of the online yelp reviews are overwhelmingly positive. I had the time to speak with one of their mechanics and he enjoys working for them, which is a huge plus. He just does a job or two a week but he enjoys the flexibility of working outside his dealership. YourMechanic has spent a lot of time trying to attract customers with an oil change, but they are a full stop service and have built up significant services in the backend so that your car gets repaired correctly and cost effectively. They do almost everything a dealership does, but at a fraction of the price.
I really hope they come to Boston soon so I can get my car repaired with them and try out their service. In the meantime, I recommend you give them a try!
Don’t forget to use my code RD20 to get $20 off your first service.
Check out YourMechanic at YourMechanic.com and download their new iPhone app!
- New Uber Drivers will get up to a $800 bonus after signing up: Sign up for Uber.
- New Lyft Drivers will get up to $800 if you sign up here using this link.
