COVID-19 has upended the lives of people, businesses, and governments alike since its major spread around the world. As businesses try to adjust to the fall out of worldwide shutdowns, not all are fairing well. One company it appears will be shutting down its operation due to the effects of the COVID-19 virus and the result it has had on its business. Automatic is a maker of a device that you plug into your car’s OBD port and allow you to not only get vehicle diagnosis information when that check light error comes on but also track the location of your car and connect to some smart features.
Today Automatic sent users an email letting them know that due to the effect of COVID-19 they would be shutting down the car product, service, and platform. All operations would come to an end on May 28th, 2020. I personally used their product in my cars and will be sad to see it go! See below for the information they sent out.
| Like many other companies in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business, and we have made the difficult decision to discontinue the Automatic connected car product, service, and platform. This decision to cease operations affects all Automatic services, including our automatic crash notification service. We will be shutting down all operations at 11:59 pm, PT, on May 28, 2020 and, as a result, your Automatic service will end on that time. We know you have questions, and we’ve included answers to a few of those below. What will happen with my driving and personal data? You may continue to sync driving and personal data with your account until we cease operations on May 28, 2020. In addition, your driving data will be available for you to retrieve until June 28, 2020 via the Automatic Dashboard located here. For detailed instructions on exporting your driving data, please check the Customer FAQs. After June 28, 2020, your data will no longer be available to you. Automatic may retain some data about you solely for legal, accounting or other corporate records. All other driving and personal data will either be made anonymous or deleted from our system. Am I eligible for a rebate for the Automatic service that I purchased? Customers who purchased an Automatic adapter may be eligible for a rebate of funds paid to Automatic or an Automatic distributor for unused service. Rebate eligibility requirements can be found in the Customer FAQs. Rebate requests can be submitted until June 15, 2020 through the Rebate Request Form. What should I do with my Automatic adapter? Please unplug your Automatic adapter from your vehicle no later than May 28, 2020 and discard it by following standard electronic recycling procedures. Please check our Customer FAQs below for answers to additional questions. If you have any questions not covered in the Customer FAQs, please contact support@automatic.com and include the email address associated with your Automatic account. |
| Thank you for driving with Automatic and for letting us connect you to your loved ones, vehicle health and emergency services. Being trusted with the care of your family and property has been a great honor, and we hope that our services have offered a degree of stability and security. Wherever life takes you from here, we hope your travels are easy. Be well and drive safe, Automatic Labs |