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Car repair is enough to give anyone nightmares, a new Blockchain can restore the balance back in the favour of the consumer.
Do you trust your vehicle service centre? More importantly, should you? According to comparethemarket.com, the average car owner in the UK has paid £350 or $462 on repair shop bills over last 12 months. They also figured out that 75 percent of the drivers had no clue what they were being charged for. Things are not better across the Atlantic either, with USA Today saying that the average cost for just a “check engine” light being $435.
It seems that most drivers are completely at the mercy of repair shops and service centres, as they lack the necessary know-how. Adding to the woes of the drivers is a complex and inefficient ecosystem that surrounds the automobile industry, which is made up of manufacturers, banks, insurance companies and repair shops who don’t always work well and most often not in conjunction with each other.
CarFix, which is issuing VLB tokens is now using Blockchain technology to change that scenario. The automotive industry has yet to benefit from the verifiability, immutability and clarity that Blockchain can bring with it.
Automotive technology moves forward, not the sector
We are now rapidly advancing towards an era where we shall have electric cars or super-efficient engines or even self-driving cars. We already live in an era where there are shared car services like Uber and access to automobiles is more prolific than ever before. Yet we also live in an era where car manufacturers waste 30 percent of warranty costs because of inadequate repair shops and fraud.
Car insurance too is riddled with problems where 23 percent of total operating costs are a result of claim management, all because of antiquated methodologies used in claims processes. CarFix is aiming to unite all the separate industries within the automotive sector and make them work with each other into an integrated vehicle lifecycle system using their Vehicle Lifecycle Blockchain. Using Blockchain as the underlying technology, it will be possible to streamline interactions between these industries and will result in both increases in savings as well as new business opportunities.
CarFix is a tangible work in progress
Having a great idea is one thing, putting it to work on the ground is quite another feat. CarFix has had several remarkable milestones on their journey, from their founding in April 2016 to onboarding 500 repair shops and gaining 250,000 customers, 10 distributors and major clients such as Uber and Fleetcor, as well as a major car manufacturer. CarFix have evolved as a platform since their founding and have gained the trust of investors. They have already raised $5 mln in Tier 1 investments.
The next step for CarFix is to deploy their Vehicle Lifecycle Blockchain, and will be fuelled by VLB Tokens. It is expected that as early as the first half of 2018 CarFix would be able to deploy the Vehicle Lifecycle Blockchain and the use of VLB tokens would start. There are plans afoot to let the Blockchain reach ‘critical mass’ and then to extinguish the moderator role of CarFix and let it develop as a decentralised solution. As the ecosystem evolves, industry participants who meet consensus based requirements will be able to take on the role of validation nodes. Ultimately it is expected that the Vehicle Lifecycle Blockchain will proliferate worldwide as car manufacturers and OEMs take on the role of super nodes.
An ICO that will fuel an automotive fix
VLB Tokens will be sold in an ICO starting Nov. 27, 2017 till Dec. 17, 2017. There is a hard cap of 300,000 ETH for the ICO. Early investors in VLB tokens stand to benefit as there will be a bonus available. There are plans to sell up to 200 mln VLB tokens. Unsold tokens will be liquidated. 10,000 ETH have been received from institutional investors which adds pedigree to the ICO.
The proceeds from the ICO will be used in the development of the Blockchain. The project will have a positive impact on the entire automotive industry, from the manufacturers to the garage, and will touch the lives of every person involved whether they are drivers, mechanics or factory workers.
In the long term the Ethereum based and VLB fuelled platform will end up bringing transparency into processes like warranties, help people purchase genuine spare parts and solve lingering issues related to insurance fraud and overcharging repair shops. A whitepaper has been issued by VLB that lists the details of the project. Investors who are looking for a tangible ICO with its feet on the ground can find out more information about participating in the ICO by visiting the VLB website.
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