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Provides: Car diagnosis tools/reporting
Developer: CarMD
Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4.4 and up, 100MB disk space, 256MB RAM, USB port, Internet
Processor Compatibility: Intel or PowerPC
Price: $98.99
Availability: Out now
Version Reviewed: Software 3.0.3 and Firmware 1.3.13

CarMD aims to make car diagnosis something anybody can do on their own instead of paying an auto mechanic. With a small and simple piece of hardware and a huge online database of error codes, they do it surprisingly well. And speaking as someone who knows nothing more than how to pump gas into his car, this relatively cheap product can be both extremely interesting and very helpful. Here’s how it worked for me.

CarMD comes with what you see in the image at the top right of this post. To get it started, you insert the CD into your computer to install the application. While most of the work is done online for this service, the desktop application serves as a bridge to the internet software. Once you have this done, your’e already ready to diagnose your car. First, you must use CarMD’s connector locater website to find where the data plug is on your car. According to their website, all cars since 1996 are required to have this plug in order to read data off of the onboard computer about error codes with the car. This is exactly what auto mechanics use at their shops.

Once you know where the plug is (mine was extremely to access), you simply plug the hardware in. If you hear two beeps, it means it was successfully connected. Then, you wait until you hear four beeps which confirms that the error codes were successfully received from the car. For me, this only took a few seconds. However, the site does note that some cars may need the ignition to be in the “On” position for this to work. The device does have a screen, but I didn’t even need to look at that.

From here, you simply use the USB cable that comes with the device to plug it into your computer. It automatically finds the device and launches the CarMD service online. If it’s your first time with this car, you’ll need to enter the VIN and mileage for CarMD to use with their software (this will automatically find your make and model). Once that’s done, the real magic begins.

At first, you are presented with a screen much like the one below:

The CarMD came at what I guess you could call a fortunate time for me as my check engine light happened to be on. And certainly enough, the product did realize this and presented me with a page confirming it. The page above is known as the summary page, and it will give you a nice overview of what the device found to be the state of your car. As you can see, it tells you whether you would pass an emissions test, the approximate cost of the repair, and the error code it encountered, as well as report any recalls that may have taken plan with your car. While this page is nice, it doesn’t really help you with where to go next. That’s where the cure page comes in handy.

The cure page contains details on how to go about fixing you car and what the cost may be. As you can see, my car’s issue wasn’t a very cheap one in terms of approximate labor costs. That said, when I did eventually take my car to the auto mechanic, the “Most Likely Fix” was in fact the issue with my car, according to the mechanic. Furthermore, they were right on with the cost of the fix, as well (the mechanic charged me around $300 for the work).

CarMD claimed that they get the same exact codes as the auto mechanic would. Therefore, when I took my car in, I opted to have the mechanic run his own diagnostic to confirm this. He did so, charged me $50 for that part of the repair, and came to the same conclusion as CarMD. As you can see, having this product could easily provide a nice opportunity to cut diagnostic charges from auto mechanics. At about $100, it will pay for itself in only two visits, not even considering how helpful it can be just to run every once in a while.

On top of the summary and cure page, the online site also has a diagnosis page like the one above. This page is meant to provide an extremely in-depth explanation of not only what the problem is, but also what could have caused it. This is perfect for someone like me who knows almost nothing about the engine of a car. Furthermore, it went right along with what the mechanic told me when I took my car in before I even showed him the printout from CarMD. Oh, and yes, the webpage does make it extremely easy to print out a few pages containing all of this information to show other people such as mechanics.

Overall, my experience with this product was fantastic. Not only was it extremely simple to learn how to use, the data it provided me with was right on target with the auto mechanic in pretty much all regards. The web interface for the product is easy to follow. My only real issue with the experience was the desktop software. The only real use of it is telling you which firmware you have on the hardware connector device (and probably for updating it). Other than that, it basically just provides links to various parts of the CarMD website and doesn’t even close with the system wide Cmd-Q hot key. While the need for it is there, it is very small, so CarMD could improve this software to make it as useful and seamless as the rest of their product.

CarMD does also sell an extension cable for the hardware connector in case the connector on your car is harder to get at than mine was. I highly recommend the CarMD to anyone who is frustrated by the confusion of car repairs what exactly is needed when the check engine light comes on. However, it’s also useful just to check in on your car every once in a while to see what the engine’s computer has to say.