A-Fix are a large network of service workshops in Spain that specialise in the maintenance and repair of all types of electric personal mobility vehicles. They are one of the largest in their industry nationwide. Their first store opened its doors in 2015 in Valencia, as the first in the region to offer repair services on e-scooters, back when the industry was just blooming. Today, they have experience in repairing mechanical and electrical components in all types personal mobility vehicles (e-scooters, e-bikes, mono wheels, segways, etc). They have repaired more than  thousand of vehicles over the years, and have  hundreds of reviews with an average score of 4.9 stars. I sat down with co-founder Max to find out more about his business and about the e-scooter industry in general.

24/7 Valencia: How many scooters do you have available?

Max of ‘A-Fix’: We have around 1,000 scooters available across our 4 stores in Valencia, 1 in Barcelona and 1 in Castellón. It’s better to book in advance of your visit, especially in the summer when we are at our busiest. The winter is quieter, other than holidays like Christmas and New Year. We also have about 20 bicycles for our customers if they’d prefer. But renting out scooters is not our main business. We primarily work on repairing them, and have a workshop and mechanics that are experienced in all aspects of fixing electric scooters.

24/7 Valencia: What other services do you offer customers?
Max: We offer parts as well as repairs, and have a working relationship with a company in China. We have high standards of the parts we order in, and run lots of tests on each area to ensure they are durable and reliable. For example, we are working with a company in China to produce our own lithium batteries, which boosts the average distance per charge from 75km to 100km. These batteries are really useful for people like delivery drivers who are on their scooters all day.

The usual speed range of scooters are 20-25km per hour. Our scooters are capable of going 60+km per hour. The speed limit in Valencia is 25km so this can’t be tested out on the streets. However, two weeks ago we hosted a race at a local go-karting circuit where there was no limit on the speed. That was a great time and we hope to repeat it in a few weeks.

24/7 Valencia: Would you say your services are used by a wide range of customers?
Max: Yes, firstly these scooters were used by people like students and young people, but now the industry has grown massively. Now in the streets you can see people of all ages and occupations riding them.

24/7 Valencia: Why do you think there has been such an increase in people using scooters?
Max: Statistically there’s been about 500% more scooters this year than in the year 2020, so the industry is definitely growing rapidly. Of course, it’s great for the environment as there’s less pollution. Also right now it’s a much safer way to travel; you don’t have to travel with other people on a bus or metro breathing the same air or touching the same surfaces. Also, parking here in the city is impossible, or very expensive. For me, I don’t ever use my car unless I’m going outside of the city. Electric scooters are cheap, easy to use, and I just see more plusses than minuses.

24/7 Valencia: Have you seen an increase in the use of scooters over the past few years?
Max: When we first founded our shop in Valencia, we were the first scooter repair business here. Little by little we are growing our market throughout Spain, aiming to expand into Barcelona, a city that has even more scooter riders than here in Valencia.

24/7 Valencia: What do you think has caused A-Fix to become such an established business within the scooter community?
Max: We are not looking for big investors; we are more like a small family. This company started as three friends, looking to expand our network little by little. We are helping the people, because nobody is doing this type of job. For example, if you bring us our scooter and you want to maybe change colour, add improvements, fix tyre, we can do that in under 24 hours no problems.

24/7 Valencia: I can see that your company is all about community, even in the lobby you have a range of free drinks for customers to help themselves to.
Max: Yes, we have a lot of fun things around the shop. Like the dart board we have here for example. If you throw a dart and hit a bull’s-eye, you get 20% off of your purchase. It’s these things that show our connection to our customers. We spend more time with them talking to check what they really need. Sometimes customers come with one issue and by talking to them we find out other problems that they may not have been aware of.

24/7 Valencia: You have an impressive social media following, how did you grow your business this way?
Max: We kept showing things you could do with you scooter, people were interested and started to follow us… Not only promotion of our store, other useful information like ‘life hacks’ how to prolong the life of your battery, how to clean it, things like that. Scooter enthusiasts would send it to their friends, and we grew naturally like that.

24/7 Valencia: Is there any message you’d like to finish on?
Max: Anyone who is curious and wants to find out more about scooters, maybe take one for a test drive, we can give you advice and find out exactly what you’re looking for. At A-Fix we offer customer-oriented service with one goal: fulfil all of their needs and offer a helping hand.

Interview by Tom Bache

Article copyright ’24/7 Valencia’
Photo copyright Tom Bache / 24/7 Valencia

A-FIX
Address: C/ Guillem de Castro 51
Valencia
Phone : 673 619 186
Open/Close times: Monday to Friday – 10:30am to 2:30pm. 4:30pm to 8:30pm
Saturday – 10am to 2:30pm
Sunday – Closed
https://a-fixev.net/
https://a-fix.es/