Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Approached by the developer of the Fuel Monitor App in Apple Store

I received an email from the developer of the Fuel Monitor App available in the Apple Store. Initially I thought this was simply spam. But the reality is if another business has a legitimate sales pitch should they be treated as a spammer. It is a hard call. Email is treated differently than snail mail. Of course the app developer could avoid the issue of being a spammer by sending a written letter. Then there is no question. Always be careful when approaching others using email that you have not had contact with. Even if you don't consider what you are doing is spam, they may.

I decided the offer of using their database (which contains figures for 60,000 vehicles) is not what the Petrol Cost Calculator is about. As the developer stated the user has to enter their figures manually and they usually don't know their information. However that is the whole point of the Petrol Cost Calculator. Of course you can look up the manufacturers figures. The government also provides such figures. But the reality is I don't believe figures are that useful. They are at best a guide. The problem from what I've read are tests are performed in a laboratory following a serious of test over short time intervals. Yep, that really equates to how we drive out cars – NOT. In addition I've read manufacturers even remove weight from the cars, such as the spare tyre, to improve the fuel consumption figures.

How you drive and where you drive will significantly affect your fuel consumption. How many passengers you have in the car will affect your fuel consumption. To me the best way to find out realistic figures is to perform some simple tests. Again the result is only a guide because the environment we travel in is quite variable, but they measure 'your' fuel consumption, in 'your' vehicle, as 'you' use it, and to me that is what I want to know. Not what someone else supposedly provides to the government as I simply don't trust that figure. I've seen the energy rating figure for two washing machines differ where in fact the physical machines were identical, except one was labelled 7 litres and the other 7.5. The energy figure used the information as provided by the manufacturer which means one machine was wrong.

It really isn't that hard to record the distance you travel on the back of the receipt for three tanks of petrol, average those figures and you then have a good estimate of your car, in the current condition, for how you drive. Not totally accurate, but a better figure than something determined in a laboratory. If you'd like to have a better estimate of the cost of using petrol in your car use the Petrol Cost Calculator and use the L / 100 km Calculator. If you just want to get a quick idea, check the government site, or even use and estimate and enter the figure into the Petrol Cost Calculator. No need to install yet another app in you mobile device. Just visit the Petrol Cost Calculator which you can find on the JustLocal site www.JustLocal.com.au.

Happy motoring.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

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