Confused.com has launched a new mobile app that uses GPS to rate and reward drivers.
Available on iPhone and Android, MotorMate is a simple promotional tool that has the potential for adding some variation to the morning commute.
Following the motoring theme, What Car also launched a new mobile app recently in iPhone, Android, Nokia and WP7. It allows users to value new and used cars and find dealers in their local area.
Both apps come as free downloads, so how useful are they?
What Car?
What Car's Valuations app allows users to check the prices of both new and used cars to make sure they are getting the best deal. Getting a valuation is a simple process that only requires basic model and mileage information.
The valuation screen gives you both dealer and private sale prices, and in some cases a part exchange and trade price. It also gives you the What Car rating, a reliability score and links to nearby dealers and a car history checking service.
Valuation pages also have a neat feature where if you turn the screen on its side you are shown a swipeable list of similarly priced cars.
Cars can then be saved in your garage or on your wish list for future reference.
The tools in this app are very useful and should come in handy for anyone looking to buy or sell a car, however navigating round the app is quite frustrating.
The major flaw is that the back button on the phone's handset doesn't have a consistent function. Sometimes it goes back one screen and sometimes it closes the app.
The same is true of the menu button on the bottom left of the handset. It can be used to access a menu for different functions, but only at certain points within the app.
This inconsistency damages the user experience and undermines what is otherwise a useful app.
Confused.com
Confused's app is a promotional tool that monitors your driving behaviour using GPS and rewards for driving certain distances.
Each journey is marked out of five based on the user's anticipation of the road, braking, acceleration and driving at an appropriate speed. Once the user has driven 250 miles they are given an overall score out of 100.
For those of us that don't use the car to commute every day it may take a while to clock up 250 miles, so Confused.com has incentivised users with rewards when they achieve certain distances.
After 20 miles users are given an in-car cradle and phone charger, and if they complete 250 miles they are given £25 cash plus a further £25 off if they buy an insurance policy form Confused.com.
In terms of the user interface it's an incredibly simple app and only has two tabs: one to start tracking a new journey and another to monitor your progress so far.
And as I haven't yet completed 250 miles, I can't give an opinion as to whether it actually works or not. But as a marketing tool it seems like a great idea.
It is essentially gamifying the morning commute by offering rewards and points for careful driving, which should find a decent audience if it is marketed correctly. It also promotes the idea that Confused.com wants to reward careful drivers.
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