Let your car describe its symptoms directly to the mechanic with Openbay Connect

By Alexander Kalogianni April 10, 2015

Openbay Connect — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Smartphones are connecting us to our cars in fantastic ways, but all the remote start apps and horn honking doesn’t let us take car of our vehicles better. Thankfully, companies like Openbay make it easy to get your car the help and maintenance it needs with its new app, Openbay Connect.

Openbay is a company that allows people to find, book and pay for auto repair in their area. It maintains a network of professionals and, after submitting the car service issue that needs addressing, Openbay reaches out to mechanics on the client’s behalf. From there, the car owner gets a list of ranked offers, from which they can choose and book the service in question.

Openbay Connect — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Its sort of like GrubHub for your car, only it’s for ordering oil changes, not cheesesteak sandwiches. Of particular interest is how Openbay Connect expands this with by getting the car’s direct input on the matter. A device (provided by Openbay) plugs into the OBD II diagnostic port and communicates with your phone directly via a cellular signal. If there’s a problem, your phone is immediately alerted with specific information about what the car’s monitoring sensors have noticed.

If it sounds familiar, Automatic has a similar device that’s garnered a lot of attention over the past year. While that too provides car health info, what Openbay Connect does over this is use it in conjunction with its repair booking system. Now, not only does it tell you whats wrong with the car, the app lets you know who nearby can fix it.

Openbay Connect will be available this spring to a select user base, which it will choose through its current users and partners. Anyone interested can go to the company’s website and apply to access if this sounds like something they want to get in on.

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Alexander Kalogianni

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Alex K is an automotive writer based in New York. When not at his keyboard or behind the wheel of a car, Alex spends a lot of…

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