Next time your check-engine light comes on, your first call may not be to your mechanic, but to Verizon.
The telecoms giant is launching Verizon Vehicle, a service that can make any car built since 1996 into a “connected car.” Using a module that plugs into the car’s on-board diagnostics (OBD) port and a Bluetooth-enabled speaker that clips onto the visor, Verizon Vehicle connects drivers with a ASE-certified mechanic when the check engine light comes on. They'll help diagnose the problem and even provide an estimate of how much it should cost to repair.
Duplicitous mechanics, you will scam us no more!
The service also can contact roadside assistance or emergency services in the event of a breakdown or accident, and locate your car it it's been stolen (or you forgot where you parked it).
Verizon Vehicle will cost $14.99 a month, and the hardware comes free. “Our strategy here is to deliver this to as many people as possible … at a price point that works,” says Erik Goldman, president of Verizon Telematics. In this case, those people are young enough to want the technology, but too poor or thrifty to have bought a relatively new car with these features.
Verizon has been working with the auto industry for a decade and provides similar services for new cars sold by Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen in the US, China, and Europe, as well as for fleets operated by Enterprise. Through those projects, Goldman says, “we became very knowledgeable, frankly, about what was missing in the marketplace.” By Verizon's reckoning, there are some 200 million vehicles on the road in the US today that don’t have this kind of connection, but would benefit from it.
There are comparable services available. OnStar provides real-time customer care, vehicle diagnostics, and roadside assistance, but it’s got an exclusive deal with GM. It does offer an aftermarket product called OnStar FMV that's compatible with a wide range of vehicles, mostly those made since 2000. Or, for $99 and no subscription fee, you can sign up with Automatic, an app that links your phone to your car, also with a module that plugs into the OBD port, which has been standard on all cars made in the US since 1996. Like Verizon Vehicle, it can tell you what may have triggered the check engine light, and alert the authorities if its built-in accelerometer detects a crash (though only if it has a GPS signal and a strong enough cell signal).
Of course, the enormous size of Verizon and its national network give it an advantage, and Goldman says the company is partnering with a “trusted” mechanics hotline and a towing company that has some 24,000 truck operators. Sales of Verizon Vehicle start in April, and the hardware should be stores by the end of the year.
