Review: Auto 3in1

I don’t know how many people are as OCD as I am when it comes to keeping track of car maintenance and gas mileage. I’ve gotten burned a couple of times for not having done all of my scheduled maintenance. One of the things that I’ve been keeping an eye out for is a good method of tracking all of my vehicle related information. The problem that I keep coming across is that many of the software that performs this function depends on you entering data after the fact, which I tend to forget to do.

Auto 3in1 is a solution developed to work with a PC and a Windows Mobile device to allow you to keep track of gas mileage, maintenance performed and other car related information.

Stick around to see what exactly Auto 3in1 does for you, and how well it works.

Setup

Getting started with Auto 3in1 requires that you know some basic information about your vehicle. The VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), Make/Model, Year and current Mileage are the biggest things that you are required to know. The only thing that cannot be changed later is the VIN, as this is used as the record number and is how the data files are named. Multiple vehicles are supported.

Ease of Use

Auto 3in1 is not difficult to use, but it does take a while to get used to. Much of the functionality is accessible through icons at the bottom of the screen, some of which are not obvious as to what function they perform. Unfortunately there is no text on these icons, so you have to use the application for a while to understand what to click to activate the function that you are after. That being said, all of the same functionality is provided through the “Tools” menu, which eases the learning curve for the beginner.

Features

As I mentioned previously, Auto 3in1 enables you to track the vital information about one or more vehicles. When you create a car, you are able to put in your mileage, and what interval (mileage or number of days) when certain maintenance (oil changed, tires rotated, etc.) needs to be performed. As you input different events (in particular when you fill your fuel tank), your mileage is updated. These updates trigger other warnings and reminders that you are due for scheduled maintenance. In addition to the standard reminders mentioned above, you have the option to create custom reminders for maintenance that is not covered explicitly by the application.

An additional feature that is especially handy for business users is the Trip planner. The idea behind this facet of the application is to track mileage and expenses for a specific event (or trip).

Auto 3in1 provides functionality to back up and restore either individual vehicles or the entire database. This helps prevent loss of data, as well as providing flexibility in the event that you wish to transfer the data to another device.

Benefits

Through graphical and text based reporting, Auto 3in1 allows you to track costs related to a specific vehicle. For example, if your fuel consumption increases dramatically, often this is a symptom of a larger maintenance related issue. Auto 3in1 can not only alert you to the fuel issue, it can give you suggestions on what to do to resolve the issue. Auto 3in1 will also tell you how much you have spent to maintain a specific vehicle. This enables you in deciding at what point the car ceases to be cost effective, giving you a better idea of when you should start looking for a new vehicle. Lastly, budgeting for your auto related needs becomes a matter of simple math once you have the appropriate data collected.

As an additional benefit, Auto 3in1 allows you to export to a .csv file (Comma Separated Values, which is a standard spreadsheet format). To me, this is a great resource to be able to provide when you are selling your car, as well as just having the ability to pull the data into a powerful data analysis platform such as Microsoft Excel.

Conclusion

I found Auto 3in1 to be both easy to use and effective in both data collection and reporting. To me, there’s not much reason to collect data unless you can get it back out and make use of it. Auto 3in1 prevents you from having to do duplicate data entry as much as possible. The ability to be reminded of critical maintenance is huge.

I think that the interface could have been cleaned up quite a bit. The buttons across the bottom of the screen in particular were unusable to me, and I found myself navigating with the “Tools” menu the majority of the time.

If you need to be able to track your vehicle’s information, this is an effective solution. The fact that the desktop version gives you easy access to your data is an added bonus. The people that I really see a lot of value added is for someone who is tasked with managing a small fleet of vehicles. The best case scenario would be where the drivers of the vehicles would each have a Windows Mobile device and would synchronize with a central computer running the PC version of the software.

Whether you manage one car or several, I would give Auto 3in1 a try. I certainly gained some good use out of it. Head on over to the WMExperts store and download the trial or purchase your copy. The Desktop Edition is $36.95 (and includes the Mobile Edition), while the Mobile Edition alone is $19.95.