Imagine your car service workshop coming to your garage, home or office to work on your car. That is the innovation of the mobile workshop introduced to the Zimbabwean market by Cart Motors. As dynamic and “drama-full” as the Zimbabwean economy is, the motor industry has for decades taken hard hits, with trends evolving from structured to unstructured, formal to informal models that most businesses in the industry suffered. Cart Motors has created a winning formula, and a growing it.
The Mobile Workshop by Cart Motors offers Servicing and Maintenance of poplar luxury and executive brands like Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, and Toyota. Cart Motors chose to lead the rise of a new market in Zimbabwe, that of consumers with a life on the go, to serve them as they are literally on the go using Mobile Mechanics. The Mobile Mechanic of yesterday in Zimbabwe and many African countries, if not the world, were known to having a tool box and overall that they use to go to clients’ residents and fix their cars. Today’s mobile mechanics have evolved.
Mobile Mechanics have become a rising trend in the automotive industry because clients appreciate the sheer convenience of the service. Instead of waiting for a customer to get to your repair shop, you can give them a more flexible solution and fix their cars on site. The services offered by mobile workshops on site include full vehicle inspection, diagnostics and repair services, the reconditioning of “no-go” vehicles as well as minor maintenance and repairs including replacing of worn parts.
Car owners can also take advantage of Cart Motors car servicing, parts and accessory delivery services. This helps them to save their time and money. The service includes: Personal attention for new and used cars; Vehicle delivery and collection; Cleaning services (including interior cleaning); Tire changing; Motor Servicing; Vehicle dispatch; Detailed reports of work carried out; Emergency roadside assistance – all at a specialized mobile workshop on site that is at their convenience.
This kind of business model is on the rise in the post-Covid global economy, and Cart Motors chose to slide into the market leadership space in Zimbabwe as is being done by Wrech.com, a US start-up. Wrench, the mobile vehicle maintenance and repair startup, has been cranking on business during the coronavirus pandemic as more customers are seizing on what was already a contactless service.
Wrench employs “mobile mechanics” around the country that come to the customer to do repair jobs without a physical shop or dealership. Repairs can be done anywhere from an office parking lot to a downtown parking garage to a customer’s driveway. The company raised $20 million for its tech-fuelled platform in November 2020.
Like Wrench, Cart Motors is going the right direction in this concept, as consumers globally are preferring not to move around with their cars for a service. In Zimbabwe, the industry has shifted several times, and such a fluid business model allows corporate clients to be able to reduce maintenance costs of their fleets, and increase productivity.
Zimbabwe has evolved over the years to become a grey market, especially in the motor industry, with past industry giants falling to the harsh economic environments, and also failure to innovate when the tide turns. The mobile workshop for car servicing is centered on a culture of convenience. Today's car owner is extremely busy, and needs things done conveniently. Car owners are often forced to wait at the car repair centre for over two hours just to get serviced, but Cart Motors has changed that. The mobile workshop will service their car right there, in the customer’s driveway! This innovation has significantly reduced waiting time, which is great for consumers and great for busy workers.
Cart Motors also provides lots jobs to mobile mechanics in the cities of Zimbabwe. From this innovative business model, you see how technology, marketing, and uniqueness can improve people's lives by providing meaningful work opportunities while also providing convenience and time savings to individuals owning cars. The mobile workshop may seem like a simple idea on paper, but it took years to develop into what it is today - an effective means for satisfying customers' needs in a convenient way.
Zimbabwe is one of the most promising and fastest-growing automobile markets in the Southern African region. Zimbabwe automobile industry is supported by multiple factors such as labour availability, R&D efforts, geographic advantage, and government support. With a positive outlook for the economy and greater household purchasing power, automobile sales in the country are set to witness a strong surge in sales to 2026.
Introducing and running a Mobile Workshop such as Cart Motors has, is a sure way to go in setting ones’ self-up to a lucrative future in the Motor industry in an economy such as Zimbabwe.
Source: GetAPlan, Cart Motors, Geekwire
