By: Curt Woodward
It seems like there are a million little small-business headaches that haven’t been solved by the Internet quite yet.
There’s a good reason for that—signing up small businesses can be a serious slog, even aside from the structural problems of building a two-sided marketplace where you bring together buyers and sellers.
But eventually, you have to believe that the timing will be right, and booking local services will become as easy as, say, Uber has made hailing a fancy black car: tap a few times on your smartphone screen and it’s done.
A relatively new Boston-based company is hoping to make that happen for car repairs, a big market with plenty of old-school hassles and a reputation for making consumers nervous about getting a square deal.
The startup, called Openbay, has been testing its service since the beginning of the year with about 400 auto repair providers in the greater Boston area. Starting today, Openbay says it’s expanding well beyond Massachusetts, soliciting bids from car owners around the country who want a price quote for fixing their ride.
Read more here.
