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Owning a car is expensive, but these Android apps can help you save money. Save money on gas, trips to the mechanic, and more. It’s no secret that owning a car takes time and money. In addition to the cost of keeping your car in good condition, you have to charge high prices for gas and parking.
If you’re unlucky, you may even have to pay for traffic tickets, accidents and rental cars. After all this trouble with money, you need a break. These clever Android apps can help you save money on some of the expensive costs of owning a car.
Car Scanner
Have you ever wished you could carry a mechanic in your pocket? You’ve been looking for a small diagnostic tool, and Car Scanner is it. To get started, you’ll need an OBD2 sensor that works with Bluetooth. If you don’t already have one, this BAFX OBDII scanner is a great option.
If your car’s “check engine” light comes on, you don’t have to make an appointment with a mechanic right away. When you plug your OBD2 sensor into your car’s port, it should automatically connect to the car scanner. The program retrieves data that tells you exactly what’s wrong with your car, enabling you to save money by trying to fix it yourself.
The car scanner not only shows you error codes, but also measures how well your car is running. You can use the app to check your gas mileage, test your car’s acceleration, check the engine’s performance and sensors, and set the app’s display to show specific gauges.
If you want more features, you can upgrade to Car Scanner Pro. The paid version of the app removes the ads and gives you access to more diagnostic tools. You can pay $4.49 to get the Pro version for life, or subscribe to a three-month or one-year version for a lower price.
WinIt
Walking back to your car after a night in New York, you notice a small piece of paper stuck between the windshield wipers. When you open it, you see that you have received a ticket. If you’ve received a parking ticket in New York City, you should know that there’s an app you can use to fight it.
WinIt is very good at fighting parking tickets in New York City. Just take a picture of your parking ticket and upload it to the app, or look for a ticket with your license plate number on it. Once you send in your ticket, you can add any proof you want and WinIt will take care of the rest. If you win the case, WinIt will start charging you half the cost of the ticket.
Gasoline Partners
It seems like the price of gasoline is always going up. With GasBuddy, you can keep track of which places have the best prices. If you tell GasBuddy where you are and what type of gas you use, it will find the best priced gas stations in your area. You can even sort your results based on whether the gas station has a bathroom, fast food or car wash.
GasBuddy always has your back, because it will tell you when prices are about to go up. GasBuddy doesn’t just find the best gas prices for you; it also tracks your car’s movements and tells you if you’re wasting gas by the way you drive. You can also enter the make and model of your car to see if it’s been recalled.
Scoop
Why don’t you carpool with a co-worker or neighbor a few days a week instead of driving to work every day and wasting gasoline in traffic? If you enter your work location, Scoop will find people in your area who have the same daily schedule as you. The more people you have carpooling together, the better. Everyone will share the cost, saving you money in the long run.
Unfortunately, Scoop isn’t available everywhere yet, but the app is being updated frequently. To find out if there are Scoop consumers near you, you’ll need to enter where you live and work.
AutoZen
If you have an older car, you probably wish it had a Bluetooth touchscreen infotainment system like newer cars have. If you put AutoZen on your phone, you won’t have to buy a new Bluetooth system, which will save you money. Instead, you can make phone calls and text messages without using your hands, just your phone.
Once you find the best car phone for your device, you can install it and turn on AutoZen. You can send messages, call friends, play music, and use your GPS with simple voice commands.
If you don’t want to get calls or texts while driving, you can always pay for the premium version of the app and use the “Do Not Disturb” feature. This app will save you money on expensive car electronics and keep you from getting a ticket for talking on the phone while driving.
Lifetime access is a one-time payment of $13.99 that gives you lifetime access to many additional content. Or, you can try the app for free for seven days, then sign up for one of AutoZen’s plans (annual, six-month or annual without in-app navigation).
Turo
Let’s say your car breaks down and you can’t get around town for a few days because it’s in the store. In this case, you might choose to rent a car from a travel site. But from a financial standpoint, this isn’t the best option.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a standard car rental, you can use the Turo app to find a car. When you open the app, you’ll find dozens of cars for rent from regular people. Even better, the prices are much lower than what rental companies charge. turo is a great way to make money by renting your car to tourists in your area.
SpotHero
If you don’t plan on parking when you go to a big city, you’ll likely have to pay a lot of money to park in a place that isn’t ideal. If you use SpotHero, you don’t need to drive all over the city to find a good parking spot.
SpotHero lets you choose a parking spot ahead of time, so you pay less. Just enter where you want to go and how long you need to park there. The app will then display a map with all the parking spaces and their prices. You can use the app to pay for parking and skip the parking lot lines.
Dash Cam: Driver
Having a dash cam in your car can help protect you in the event of a hit-and-run or any other accident. Insurance companies love evidence, and that’s something you can get with a dash cam. But what if you don’t have the money to buy a quality dash cam? Instead, use your phone
If you have a mount to put it in while you drive, then the driver app can be used as a free dash cam. You don’t even need to start recording. The app will automatically start recording when you start driving. The app records with both cameras at the same time, automatically deletes the video to save space, and lets you use other apps while the driver records in the background.
If you pay $4.99 a month for a DriverPremium subscription, you can use DriverCloud to store all expected dash cam recordings. With cloud sync technology, you can watch your videos from any browser, and trips can be accessed for up to 90 days.
