Recovery, the Uber of roadside assistance, is here

Out of gas? Locked out? Stuck somewhere? Here's an app that will solve all of your roadside troubles.
Recovery, the brainchild of Dubai entrepreneur Ahmad Janahi, is an all-you-need app for assistance for any type of vehicle in any situation, from simple washing to towing it out from a difficult situation.
Janahi, who is also executive director at Bonyan Holding, had one thing in mind in creating the service: to put everything in one app and make people's lives easier when dealing with such situations.
"Recovery is like the Uber or Careem of roadside assistance - all drivers will be available and the one nearest will come to you, and you don't need to call or book for service," he told Khaleej Times.
"The process [of having to wait for roadside assistance] will be dramatically cut. There are nearby garages [that can serve customers]," he said.
And here's a bonus: Recovery can also help in reducing road jams caused by vehicles that may be impeding traffic, thanks to its speedy service.
The recovery app - which was officially launched on Friday and is available on both iOS and Android platforms - is simple to use. There are two main options shown below: recovery and roadside assistance. The former allows you to specify what type is required, such as from simple recovery to being stuck in a desert or basement, while the latter has services for flat tyres, fuel, battery and being locked out. Customers can opt to pay in cash or card.
Service can be requested instantly; for the desert/basement recovery service, a customer needs to contact Recovery's 24x7 call centre. Among the key features of the app are 24x7 availability, full coverage across the UAE, complete roadside assistance services and an extensive fleet of over 200 recovery vehicles.
Recovery also has a large network of top-line partners, including QuickPit, BattMobile, 800Flat, Dial-A-Battery and Al Hayat Recovery Service, among others.
"We have signed with companies that are well-known and trusted," Janahi said. "We look at their background and customer feedback."
And for customers of certain insurance companies, there is a very special offer: they can use the app's services for free. A promo code will be given to users whose insurance providers are on board with Recovery.
Janahi, who has been an entrepreneur for three years now and started off in real estate, believes that Recovery will be able to ease the hassles of seeking roadside assistance compared to traditional channels.
"If you're lucky," he says, "you may have to wait for one hour before a towing service comes to you."
"Recovery solves all these problems, from waiting time to service costs, and even the language barrier in certain situations."
The company recognises the potential in the UAE. Data from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority shows that there are 16,930,096 active mobile subscriptions in the country, against a population of 9.34 million. Most of these are smartphone users. The UAE is No. 1 in the Middle East and Africa for mobile penetration, and is expected to remain the highest through 2018.
Janahi also resonates the actions of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, regarding placing innovation as an important driver of prosperity and success.
"You see the things His Highness is doing to inspire innovation," he added. "Everything has to be innovated - in this day and age, even big companies that do not do so are bound to fail."
Asked if there are any other apps that are to be developed by his team, Janahi says he would rather take it slowly but surely.
"I'm focusing on this one. But hopefully, we won't stop with one app; we have other ideas," he says. "Once this is running smoothly and perfectly, then we will come up with others."
Janahi also touted the potential of Dubai and the UAE when it comes in the technology space, particularly in developing apps, citing those such as ride-hailing service Careem and food-delivery app Talabat as prime examples.
"They both came out of the UAE, from the Gulf," he says. "I believe there will be more big apps coming out of here."
Janahi, who also owns a men's tailor shop and who just started Latte Bistro Café, has words of advice for budding entrepreneurs: "never stop - even if you fail."
"Go and try; never let what you have in your mind stay in there, let it out," he says. "Never say it will not happen; you have to try."
And he's not doing this for himself; Janahi, who "loves creating things", aspires that with the services he is offering, "maybe one day people will say, 'this came out of Dubai, this came out of the UAE'."
He compares business to a fight: Stop punching and you'll be defeated, but keep doing so and you'll have a chance to win. "There is some stuff you cannot wait on. If you will not do it, someone else may do it," Janahi stresses.
"Or if you don't do it and it was good for that time, you may never get that opportunity back."
-    alvin@khaleejtimes.com