Even before COVID-19, performing on-site service was never the same as rolling a truck into a bay.

“There are certain things that go into doing a job in a mobile situation that you have to be cognizant of,” said Ed Peterson, chief executive officer of Wrench, a mobile vehicle maintenance and repair solution that brings service directly to wherever the vehicle happens to be. “We tell our technicians that they have to check three boxes before they can do the work: One: is it safe for the technician? Two: is it safe for the vehicle? Three: is it safe for the environment? We have processes that step through those.”

That first criteria has become more complicated in the midst of the pandemic, as PPE, best hygiene practices and social distancing all come into play for technicians, fleets and truck drivers. The Uber-like, on-demand truck service provider didn’t waste any time in launching a contactless maintenance and repair offering to help keep fleet vehicles operating safely.

To find out how Wrench and its technicians are tackling fleet service needs in the toughest of times, I connected with Ed to talk safety protocols, meeting service expectations and staying productive. Watch the video above for all of the insight.

What’s on-demand service?

I had that same question when I first connected with Ed in March just before the pandemic shutdown. It is very much an Uber-like experience where you order a technician to service the vehicle. While that in and of itself has power, it’s the platform’s muscle that adds streamlined functionality.

“We have built a conversational AI engine that allows us to diagnose a vehicle without seeing it,” Peterson said. “Our goal is to diagnose a vehicle in six questions or less. Whatever the problem is, everyone is going to describe it differently, so it comes down to: how are we going to walk someone through the decision tree? Then, using statistical probabilities, we narrow the answers down to what we think is the actual diagnosis.

“And because our technicians are then on-site to service the vehicle, we have data that comes back that tells us exactly what was wrong with the vehicle and our system keeps getting better,” he said.

For fleets, Wrench offers both preventative and emergency maintenance services and integrates a wide supplier partner network to meet service demands, with a current focus on light- and medium-duty trucks.

Click here for a full listing of Wrench’s available markets.