tyjkot's comments

tyjkot | 1 year ago | on: Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2024)

Lol I will only be replacing bulbs with OEM parts. Some vehicles come with xenon, LED, or HIDs and that will have to be replaced with proper bulbs.

As blinding as they are, if that's what the vehicle has I gotta put them back in.

tyjkot | 1 year ago | on: Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2024)

I have all the tools to replace headlight and taillight housing and bulbs for probably most vehicles including semis.

For my Saab's headlight bulb replacements, I have to remove my front bumper and then the headlight housing unit itself, just to replace turn signal and headlight bulb. I am fairly mechanically advanced.

It's not quite just $10, it's $10 more than a single bulb would cost you at your local parts store. If you lookup how much a headlight bulb is these days, it's about $20. My service will be $30 flat for bulb replacements in my area with a small mileage fee for out-of-towners.

The great part about Minnesota, is most of us hate the cold. I however do not. Many people get lazy and will Doordash or find other convenient ways to have things delivered. Not many people want to change bulbs in the cold or bring to a mechanic to be over-charged. What my population is looking for is a service exactly like I am providing.

Again, the pricing of $30 per service is perfectly sustainable for me and I have no issues replacing most parts in vehicles, lights are a walk in the park for me.

*Will correct typos later, at work ATM.

What I really care about, is moving the world forward. This is a service that the area I am in, is lacking. I don't need to make excessive profit, I just need sustainable profit and I am happy to provide this service as it's well within my skills.

tyjkot | 1 year ago | on: Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2024)

No bulbs at auto stores are inflated far too high to be a profitable parts for me. I have to order through a supplier and keep supply on-hand, which is honestly fine and more profitable for me.

Hey thank you for that idea! I am going to be adding in headlight/taillight housing replacements as well, but I do like the idea of wiper blade replacement, I may keep that on the back-burner for some time until demand approaches.

However, the headlight restoration idea is a fantastic one. Definitely will add this to my list of primary services after launch.

tyjkot | 1 year ago | on: Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2024)

Thank you, when the idea struck, it felt pretty dang cool that there isn't other competitors or similar-services in my area.

I figured, hey I could do this; and now I am in the process of doing it.

tyjkot | 1 year ago | on: Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2024)

In my 50k population town in Minnesota, I notice a lot of headlights, taillights, and turn signals are out. Our roads (outside of the Twin Cities) are often bumpy which causes vibration in the vehicles, leading to many bulbs failing.

I drive a 21 year old Saab, and in my 2 years of owning it, I have replaced every single bulb in the exterior of the vehicle except a turn signal or two.

I decided to create a mobile service for vehicle lights. It's a simple website that even technologically-disadvantaged people can use. The website is nearly finished and I will likely come back here to write a post on it for how the website works.

Oh the best part, I get texted and emailed for each service order that comes in, and using my service is only $10 more than what it would cost you to go buy a bulb yourself at OReillys, AutoZone, etc.

I programmed everything myself and developed the idea as well. This is my first real-world project/solution I am bringing into this world that has been verified by others, to be a needed service. Pretty excited about it and I love changing bulbs or replacing light housings, it's fun and simple.

**Update: I perform the install.

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