Rating: Vehicles break down over Festive season you know
This time of year is just when you need to know you’re using a reputable mechanic. Enter the UK’s IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry) with its ATA (Automotive Technician Accreditation) find-a-mechanic iPhone app to save your bacon. By mistake, this app also revealed a wealth of undiscovered mobile apps. Undiscovered by this hack, at least.
At this time of year, the combination of cold weather and long trips to visit relatives mean that vehicles frequently break down at an inopportune moment. The danger is you might engage a cowboy mechanic to get you out of the mire.
So when you’re preparing yourself for the worst possibilities on your Xmas trip – besides carrying a shovel and a Thermos flask – be sure to load this free iPhone app before you leave home.
The app – ATA Find A Mechanic – does employ Google Maps to show iPhone owners the location of the nearest ATA qualified mechanic. It doesn’t seem to use GPS, though. You appear to need a postcode to find someone.
The IMI’s ATA scheme covers Ireland as well as the UK, but GoMo News couldn’t discover whether the app is UK only.
To obtain the app, you should go to the Apple iPhone apps store and type in ‘ATA Find a mechanic’. That will reveal the right bit of software.
Unfortunately, the Press blurb also claims you can download the app by going to the ATA’s own site. The URL provided is ‘OkwithATA.com‘. The site very definitely has no iPhone download option.
Out of frustration, GoMo News decided to try to track down exactly where this app came from. The answer was intriguing. Basically, it originates from Whiteapp.com. And behind Whiteapp is a business known as putITout.
The ethos behind Whiteapp is to provide commercial outlets for developers who don’t have the inclination or budget to publicise their works of software to the iPhone owning masses.
Significantly, the whiteapp site isn’t restricted to just Apple phones. Symbian and Android apps are included as well.
Continuing the automotive theme, there’s an iPhone app on the site called PlaySafe that rejigs the iTunes interface for safer ‘fiddling’ while you are driving.
The intention behind Find-a-mechanic is good. The implementation, however, is poor.
