Lately is has become apparent that Tesla is having a hard time servicing their vehicles in a timely manner. To fix this they have stated they will build more service centers. While this is possibly a good long term goal, they should also consider adopting the servicing model of the Bird Scooters startup.
Bird scooters service model works by allowing anyone with the app to apply to be a “mechanic”. Once they are tested and approved, then they are able to open the app and see scooters that need servicing. Each scooter will have a “bounty” depending on what repairs are needed. Tesla could mimic this approach, open up their app to allow mechanics to apply. The benefits of this approach would be:
– Mechanics would scale up and down in each location as needed. Tesla would not need to predict how many services centers to build and where to build them. If a particular city or state had lots of repairs, mechanics wold naturally sign up in these areas to accommodate the work load.
– With the disruption that is about to take place over the next 10 years in the automotive industry, many retirees from the automotive sector will need to supplement their income. Countless mechanics and parts men who have worked for 30 years to pay into a pension are going to have their pension severely cut over the next 10 years. Assuming things go to plan autonomous cars will take over and have far few accidents, meaning far fewer repair jobs available. Electric cars require far less maintenance than ICO cars, so the traditional franchise dealership model is going to implode. Without collision, service & parts revenu the traditional dealership will not survive. All of this adds up to a massive influx of trained mechanics and body repair men flooding the market in each state. Tesla should use this influx to their advantage and put these people to work in a distributed service model!
- As many people know it is Tesla’s stated goal to become more of a Software as a service company over the next decade. This distributed mechanic workforce fits perfectly into the master plan.
- On a human level this plan also helps soften the blow for the actual workers in the automotive industry. Instead of being out of work and needing to completely retrain, workers can become contractors with flexible work hours, potentially working from their own “home office/shop” or possibly renting space in co-working buildings that should spring up to meet the demand for this new type of mechanic. Many of these co working spaces can most likely be setup in the old franchise dealership stores.
- Overall this plan would help Tesla scale their mechanics and fix the current service bottleneck. Additionally it should buy Tesla tremendous goodwill by saving the actual workers who are currently in the automotive work force from financial ruin. Both of these help Tesla tremendously in the long run.
—– Update —–
After some feedback on this idea I wanted to outline how to avoid a few potential problems:
Mechanics would need to be thoroughly vetter to make sure they provide great service
– To solve this a star rating system similar to Uber could be instituted. Additionally the owner of each vehicle could select if they would like to “approve” the mechanic before the mechanic is allowed to fix their vehicle. Once a mechanic claimed a car to fix, the app could notify the Tesla owner and show them a profile of the mechanic including past customer reviews.