CarServ, a cloud-based software platform for the automotive repair industry, has announced an extensive partnership with the ride sharing company Lyft.
According to Mars Mundy, the CEO at Carserv, they are the first shop management software company to offer this type of integration with Lyft.
CarServ is a cloud-based management system that works primarily with national franchisors, and has several hundred shops using the system. Mundy says that while the company has a focus on franchised repair shops, it has signed up more independents shops in recent months.
The first step to the partnership mean that the repair facility working with CarServ will not need to sign up with Lyft to order rides, and neither will their customers. A shop can order Lyft rides for their customers through CarServ when they drop their cars off at the facility, and if they need a ride back into the shop, the customer can call Lyft to pick them up.
While many shops already use Lyft or Uber for transportation with their customer base, Mundy says this partnership is extremely beneficial because it cuts down on the amount of devices needed to order ride sharing vehicles for a customer. Through the application, the service advisor or user can order a Lyft directly through a customer’s account, which has their address saved as the default pickup and drop off point. Then through the application, Mundy says the shop can see what rides need to be scheduled, and how much the shop is spending on these rides.
“We’re trying to get shops away from six or seven or eight different pieces of software, down to just one simple piece of software where they’re not having to do dual data entry,” Mundy says.
The integration in the software is the first step in what Mundy says will be an extensive partnership with the ride sharing company. In the next few months, Mundy says CarServ will be working with its shops and Lyft to give coupon codes to Lyft drivers for certain services at CarServ’s shops.
“We know that facilities would love to have the Lyft drivers as customers, and it’s a nice convenience for the drivers as they might not have a regular shop that they go to,” Mundy says. “This could be a way for them to connect with a more tech-savvy shop.”
