Renault Group has acquired the IT start-up Fixter in order to accelerate its digitalization effort.
The platform, which was created in London in 2017 as an end-to-end car maintenance service, links consumers with garages so they can get their vehicle repaired without leaving their home.
The acquisition, for an unknown fee, would benefit Renault's digitalization program, according to the company.
Limvirak Chea, Frédéric Dermer, and Cristian Vrabie founded Fixter with the premise that it can make service, repairs, or a MOT as simple as calling a cab or takeaway.
Chea said: ‘We are delighted to have found in Renault an industry partner who shares both our vision and our ambition to reinvent vehicle maintenance for the future – simple, transparent and hassle-free.
‘The expertise and resources of a major group like Renault, combined with Fixter’s agility and start-up mindset, will help us to go even further and faster in this revolution.’
Hakan Dogu, Renault Group’s senior vice-president of global aftersales, added: ‘Developing our activity in the independent aftermarket is a strategic axis within the Renault Group’s aftermarket.
‘We are continuing to develop our multi-brand independent aftermarket offer and are thoroughly modernising our aftersales value chain in order to better meet our customers’ expectations.
‘By acquiring the Fixter start-up, we will be able to combine the expertise and strength of the group and its network with Fixter’s agility and knowledge of all the digital aspects of automotive maintenance.
‘We will thus be able to offer services of the highest quality and accelerate the digitalisation of our activities.’
Fixter's development will continue in the UK, as well as in France in the second half of 2022, with network support. It will also extend to encompass additional European countries in the coming years.
Renault said Fixter will benefit from the multi-brand network of Motrio garages, which has 2,500 locations across Europe, the Renault Group's know-how and digital services, and the financial competence of Mobilize Financial Services.
Fixter schedules appointments online, generates bids, collects the car and transports it to the group's partner network, handles billing, aftersales, service and repair guarantees, and returns the vehicle.