Car maintenance is usually the most important aspect of owning a car. As a car owner, I’m a little ashamed to admit that I find the whole process of finding and going to a workshop a hassle.
Or so I would continue thinking, until my car breaks down due to neglect, leaving me stranded by the road.
It doesn’t have to be this way for you, so here are 5 locally developed apps that provide you with essential and emergency car services, right at your fingertips.
1. Serv: On-Demand Car Servicing
Serv is an on-demand car servicing platform founded by locals Arief Imran and Hazim Nordin in 2016.
It was created as a platform to help the average Malaysian maintain their cars, and to help mechanics, especially freelance ones, find jobs as Serv Partners.
After being booked, the Serv Partner will come to you to service your car.
This can include anything from part replacement, as well as engine and transmission oil changing. You can even request a report on your car’s current health.
Like most service apps today, you can get an estimated time of arrival, price quotes, and user ratings of the service providers, who in this case are the mechanics.
With more than 450 services conducted last year (2018), Serv currently operates within the Klang Valley, Putrajaya, and Cyberjaya, and are planning to expand to other cities.
2. CarBengkel: Workshop Booking At Your Fingertip
Founded by brothers Armin Baniaz Pahamin and Amnan Bazil Pahamin in 2015, CarBengkel is an app that locates the most suitable workshop for you, based on your car type and location.
You can have your car picked up or you can drive to your selected workshop. For the latter, you can book an appointment which allows you to skip the queue.
The app will even guide you to the workshop via Google Maps or Waze.
Before you book, you can request a quotation for services, or get an upfront cost estimate. An itemised cost breakdown will be displayed on your phone.
Impressively, CarBengkel has over 1,000 workshops and service centres nationwide listed on their platform, including official workshops belonging to Proton and Perodua.
CarBengkel is also in partnership with Continental Tyres Malaysia, which means you can also locate your nearest Continental, Dunlop, or Viking workshops with the app.
3. Carpit: Don’t ‘Tyre’ Yourself Out
Speaking of tyres, another brotherly duo, Tai Qishen and Tai Qiyao, created an app in 2016 which aims to make changing your car tyres as hassle-free as possible.
With an ever-expanding database of car models and their respective tyre sizes, the app matches you up with the closest reputable tyre shops, who can then come pick up your car at your convenience.
The app keeps track of your tyre service records and can provide reminders for when you need your next service.
You will also be kept updated on promotional campaigns being run by their growing list of over 237 trusted dealers across the country.
Carpit offers full warranty coverage against any damage to your vehicles, which includes scams. They promise no hidden costs when you are comparing prices on the app.
4. Carput: Mechanics Done Better
Serviced or not, cars inevitably break down, sometimes at the worst of times, so you’ll need apps to get emergency roadside assistance too.
Launched in 2016 by schoolmates Eugene Tan and Mark Chew Yihaur, Carput was created as an on-demand roadside assistance app.
The app will then connect you to any number of Carput roadside professionals who will rush over to help in 45 minutes.
In fact, they have served more than 40,000 drivers on an average of 39 minutes.
Carput can help you with a variety of car breakdown issues with services including battery delivery, jumpstarting, flat tyre replacement, petrol delivery, and towing services for when you just need to get to a workshop.
As the app is under The Battery Shop Sdn Bhd, also founded by Eugene, it should come as no surprise that batteries are their forte.
With a selection of brands on hand like Amaron, Century, Varta, and Camel, Carput can recommend the best battery for your car model.
Carput services currently cover Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru, Ipoh, Seremban, and Melaka.
5. Pomen: Safe, Transparent Roadside Assistance
Pomen is a 24/7 car assistance app that was founded in 2018 and launched in October of the same year.
Poemen’s main focus is to provide reassuring, reliable, and safe roadside assistance, especially for female drivers, who are the most common victims of workshop swindling.
As such, Pomen takes great pains to ensure the entire process is transparent with features like real-time tracking, flat-rate pricing, no hidden additional costs, and free membership.
A key feature of Pomen’s app is that you can register family members on your profile, who will then be able to keep tabs on your status when you are having car trouble.
The app’s Pomen Merchants are all carefully selected, certified workshops and mechanics.
How certified, you ask? Pomen collaborates with the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics & IoT Institute (MARii), registering more than 100 workshops which have been successfully certified by MARii’s Workshop Transformation Program (WTP).
Pomen is currently available in the Klang Valley, Ipoh, Kedah, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, and Johor.
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Of the apps listed above, Serv, CarBengkel, and Carpit might be the go-to for general on-demand car services. However, if your car does break down during travel, you have roadside assistance options like Carput and Pomen.
With even more car servicing apps available such as MyAssist, CarFix, and Star Auto Assist, to name a few, I don’t think I have any more excuses for not servicing my car more regularly.
- You can read more on what we’ve written about mobile apps here.
Featured Image Credit: CarBengkel
