The very young firm Kiwiz has just launched a gleaming inspection service before the purchase of used vehicles. The buyer makes the request on the company’s website and an independent inspector comes to examine the vehicle at the seller’s.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Adélaïde Favé co-founded Kiwiz with Edouard Schaeffer largely because she was afraid of buying a bad second-hand car.
“I was suspicious, I had difficulty, and it even dissuaded me from buying a car,” says the young woman.
Both students at HEC Montréal, they jumped at this opportunity to launch their business.
They arrived in Quebec six years ago, but it was only three years later that Adélaïde Favé and Edouard Schaeffer met, when they were respectively president and vice-president of the HEC Montreal entrepreneurship club. .
“Edouard was working at a used car dealership at the time,” says Adélaïde. In our group of friends, he was the automotive expert who was always asked for advice. »
This is how the idea of founding a network of car advisers independent of garages and dealerships came about.
In short, “we got together for the simple reason that we wanted to revolutionize the automotive industry”.
They laid the foundations for this revolution in July 2020, with an advice and support service for the purchase of used vehicles. Having learned from experience that the real difficulty lay in the inspection, they launched a new pre-purchase inspection model on the Kiwiz web platform at the end of January. After having unearthed his used pearl, the potential buyer reserves an inspection range on the site. “From this moment, the future buyer has nothing more to do since we take care of everything”, describes Adélaïde Favé.
The inspector who accepts the mandate himself makes an appointment with the seller and goes on site within 48 hours to inspect the vehicle. The inspection lasts 60 to 90 minutes, without the buyer having to be present.
He writes his report and files his photos directly with the cellular application developed by the company. “It automatically generates a web page, so the client can navigate much more easily than if it were a paper report,” she explains.
If repairs are to be expected, the costs are estimated. A standard vehicle inspection costs $169.
The network expands
Kiwiz has so far formed a network of about fifteen inspectors, recruited through online advertisements or by word of mouth.
“We ask for a minimum of three years’ experience in mechanics and experience in the purchase and resale of vehicles,” says Ms.me Fave.
The company employs four people and has just hired a new manager, responsible for directing and expanding the network of inspectors. At a time of a worrying labor shortage in automotive services, the task seems daunting.
“We have a great community of inspectors,” replies the entrepreneur. The schedules are flexible, the remuneration is more attractive than elsewhere. We manage to open new areas. »
Kiwiz currently covers Greater Montreal, Granby, Trois-Rivières and, since the beginning of March, Quebec. “By the end of March, we will expand to Sherbrooke and Gatineau. We have a great request. Due to the shortage of used vehicles on the market, buyers cannot find vehicles in Montreal and they widen the radius of their search. »
A road map that covers the continent
The company has carried out around 30 inspections since the end of January – “we arrive at almost one inspection a day”, calculates Adélaïde. “By the end of the year, we are aiming for 500 inspections. Throughout Quebec! »
After the first harvest in 2021, the founders plan to conduct a second round of financing next September, “to expand our service across Canada”.
They are not lacking in ambition: “In a few years, we would like to be present everywhere in North America. »
The Wendake First Nations Hotel-Museum will be significantly expanded
PHOTO PROVIDED BY WENDAKE TOURISM
The Huron-Wendate Museum of Wendake
The welcome from the Huron-Wendat community of Wendake will be even warmer. Its First Nations Hotel-Museum will be expanded at a total cost of $6.5 million. The Government of Canada is providing $1.75 million in assistance to the project. It consists of a repayable contribution of $750,000 granted by Economic Development for Quebec Regions (DEC) and a non-repayable contribution of $1 million provided by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). The expansion will add 24 rooms and suites to the complex, a three-storey glass roof facing the Akiawenrahk River, a lounge bar and private rooms for business meetings. The La Traite restaurant will also be expanded. Fifteen new jobs will result. The hotel complex welcomes thousands of international visitors each year and offers an immersion in Aboriginal tradition, with its museum dedicated to Huron-Wendat culture and the Ekionkiestha’ National Longhouse. “For decades, Wendake has been a forerunner of Aboriginal tourism in Quebec and this notoriety allows our culture, our traditions and our history to shine internationally. It is a source of pride to see our Hotel-Museum develop to better meet the growing demand,” commented Grand Chief Rémy Vincent, of the Huron-Wendat Nation Council, in a press release.
How SMBs can prevent fraudulent chargebacks
March is – among other things – fraud prevention month, and the payment solutions firm Moneris is taking the opportunity to provide some preventive advice to merchants and other small business owners. This is to counter “fraud[s] through chargebacks”, the number of which has increased considerably during the pandemic, as businesses have had to adapt to the proliferation of remote transactions and purchases. A chargeback is a cancellation of a transaction on a credit card, at the request of the cardholder, because he disputes the validity of the transaction or has not obtained the agreed good or service. It becomes fraudulent when the buyer requests this chargeback under a false pretext, while retaining the property that was the subject of it. Moneris suggestions to prevent this problem, which can be likened to electronic shoplifting:
- immediately respond to chargeback disputes;
- never leave a payment terminal unattended;
- never accept credit card payments over the phone;
- ensure that return, refund and cancellation policies are clearly stated;
- watch for signs of suspicious customer behavior, such as a large, seemingly random purchase at a high price.
First and Determined
In line with International Women’s Day, the magazine Firsts in business made the official launch of its first series of podcasts on March 8, under the title “Determined”. The series consists of four interviews of about fifteen minutes each, conducted with four entrepreneurs by the editor Isabelle Maréchal. We successively meet Marilyne Bouchard, founder of the natural body care products company BKIND, Julie Roy, president of Roy, specialized in housekeeping services, Karine Joncas, creator of the Karine Joncas Cosmétiques brand, and Sophie Boulanger, co-founder of BonLook eyewear. The four businesswomen confide in realities that we have heard little elsewhere, argues the media. You can listen to them at the time or place of your choice – in the bathtub or the car, suggests Isabelle Maréchal.
First appeared in 2007 then relaunched in 2017, the magazine Firsts in business appears three times a year and highlights the successes of women in the economic world.
$158,000
This is the average debt of Canadian SMEs that have taken on debt due to losses suffered during the two years of the pandemic, according to recent welding carried out by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). Two-thirds of SMEs (67%) say they have gone into debt and one in seven SMEs are considering declaring bankruptcy or reducing their activities.