LETTER: Apps aren’t always the answer

History is littered with millions of ideas that sounded great at conception but foundered on the reef of reality — and many wannabe entrepreneurs have burnt their fingers.

Having been a petrolhead all my life and having owned a car workshop for a long period, I remain unconvinced that Obins Choudhary’s Carscan app (Fox, March 10-16) can replace a human who has knowledge and experience when examining a used motor car.

When we began to use diagnostic computers, our customers were under the impression that we plugged these into a vehicle and — hey presto! — the faults jumped out onto the monitor for instant repair. The reality is that the faults discovered can only point the technician in a general direction.

Unless Choudhary’s app has connectivity with the car in question, it will be impossible to diagnose faults — the more so with those only visible to a trained eye, such as a damaged drive shaft boot.

It would be interesting to see what percentage of the many "groundbreaking" ideas last past the initial euphoria and become indispensable tools in our lives.

Tony Ball
Gillitts

The FM welcomes concise letters from readers. They can be sent to fmmail@fm.co.za