The opportunity: Employed
Individuals living alone or couples that both work outside the home have an
extreme burden placed upon them should their car break down. Often, this
vehicle is their primary mode of transportation to and from work. Typically,
they must reach out to family and/or friends for help to make transportation
arrangements when this happens. They also must spend time away from their daily
activities in order to deal with the problem. Not only does this problem create
transportation challenges but it also creates time away from work to arrange for
repairs of the vehicle, which may lead to a financial burden as well. There is
an opportunity to simplify this event.
Who: Employed individuals and couples who do
not have the ability or time to take their car into an auto repair shop when
their car needs repairs.
What: This group may not have another mode of
transportation after they transport their broken-down vehicle to a repair shop for
repairs. They may not have the ability to take time away from work to spend on
arranging for repairs.
Why: According to statistics, 85% of US
households own a car. If most working individuals only owns one car, that means
that when that car breaks down, it must be repaired immediately in order to
travel to and from work daily. If most individuals don’t have the luxury of
taking extra time off work to handle such repairs, then there is a need to make
this process hassle-free.
Testing the Who: The individuals that have
this need are working individuals or couples that can’t take extra time away
from work to deal with car repair issues. I will gather information around who
is impacted by this dilemma during my interviews.
Testing the What: As I conduct my interviews,
I will ask questions that are geared towards gaining a better understanding of
what the specific issues are that are the impetus for this opportunity. I will
interview individuals and couples that both work, as well as individuals that
don’t work outside the home to better target the problems caused by this
problem.
Interviews: I interviewed 2 individuals that
both have full-time jobs, 2 working couples and a wife whose husband works but
she does not work outside the home. I asked questions of each of these folks to
better understand the problems that are caused when they have their car break
down. What are the inconveniences caused by this? What are the financial
burdens? Everyone I interviewed said that they each had experienced this at
least once. They each described how they had to call someone for help when it
happened. This typically means that they had to drive the car into a shop,
followed by the helper who then needed to drive them home after they dropped
the car off at the repair shop. This not only placed a burden on the car owner
but the helper as well. In some cases, they described having to have the car
towed to a shop which created an even greater financial burden (unless towing
was covered by their insurance). From there, they needed to rent a car or make
arrangements with others (family, friends) to help them get around. In the case
of the stay-home mom, she described having to make plans to have her 2 children
taken to and picked up from school until her car was repaired. In all cases, they described the inconvenience and time they needed to spend on this problem
which was a real hassle.
What I realized after interviewing these individuals was
that this issue is a real burden that creates anger and frustration. All of
them described having to get others involved to help them when this occurred
(family, friends), thus, creating a burden on others. Those that worked
described how they had to take time away from work to deal with the issue, in
some cases having to use vacation days which were poorly spent (they would have
rather gone to the Keys on their vacation). I was surprised to learn how this
not only impacted working individuals but also the stay-home mom. She described
how although she didn’t have to miss time away from work, she still had to plans
to have her children picked up and dropped off from school and soccer practice.
Everyone said that they knew others that had experienced this which tells me
that this is a problem large in scope. Everyone agreed that there are few
things worse than having to deal with this problem.
I found your opportunity and research heavily detailed and through as you worked to create a well-developed testing ground to ensure solidarity on your perspective. In addition to your hard work towards this particular opportunity, I found your intended fulfillment admirable, including the strong statistics that demonstrate the impact of the status quo and need for change for those involved.
ReplyDeleteI agree that something should be done to fix the issue of cars breaking down. It creates a hassle and overall frustration as not much could have been done to prevent it. I believe there is room for a business opportunity and also workplaces should be more lenient on problems like this because vacation days are valuable and people should not be punished for car troubles.
ReplyDeleteHello Marioly,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea for a product that could certainly help many people across the country. Car troubles are a very common problem and most people as you stated, do not have the means to repair their vehicles without taking it to an Auto Shop. By creating a device that could assist them without needed to take the time out their day to visit an Auto Shop this product would save plenty of time in the lives of consumers.