Car Care

On the Road With Ownersite: Wireless Functionality Adds a New Dimension to Vehicle Investment

Map-check. Music-check. Luggage-check. Full tank of gas-check. Ownersite-check? Yes, now you can take all the technology, service, and functionality Ownersite offers on the road so that you can continue to track expenses, record mileage, and access any vital vehicle information.

Value-Added Portable Information

You may already be aware that Ownersite enhances the vehicle ownership experience through a focus on increased safety, reliability, and value by helping subscribers with comprehensive expense and maintenance tracking, service reminders, fuel economy reporting tools, recall alerts, TSB summaries, and more.

As your vehicle maintenance and service provider, Ownersite also offers a repository for frequently accessed vehicle information, such as insurance, warranties and trip logs as well as gives you direct access to useful and money-saving preventive maintenance articles from the Car Care Council. Now, imagine bundling all that valuable real-time information access into your PDA or cell phone. It is possible because Ownersite has added wireless functionality so that services can be used through mobile devices at no additional cost to paid subscribers.

Why Wireless Works

Wireless technology has changed how we live, work, play, and interact with each other because it allows for an “always on” connection that has spread around the world, speeding communication and, at times, making it more effective. More people are growing accustomed to having this capability to access information and reach others in a real-time way. Wireless technology has made many activities more convenient, which is essential as all of us try to pack more into our already crowded, fast lane lives.

Ownersite’s service works with an Internet-connected device and has an interface that has been optimized for all types of wireless devices. As Judie Lipsett, one subscriber noted in a review of Ownersite’s subscription service that “The wireless version plays very nicely with the iPhone, iPod touch, Palm and Windows Mobile devices, and which makes entering information--particularly fuel-related--easy to do when you are on the go and nowhere near your computer.”

Attuned to Customer Trends

Today’s reality is that we are always connected in some way to information through a communication device. While e-mail has sped the flow of information, nothing has moved at such a rapid pace as the introduction of wireless technology, which allows people to access—and, sometimes, not escape—content and information that they need or must respond to as part of their professional and personal lives. The movement toward Web-enabled devices, including Smartphones, Blackberries, and PDAs, means that you do not have to wait to get to the home or office to receive a response or retrieve vital information. There is no doing it later. Today is all about real-time communication.

As a technology company, Ownersite has spent considerable resources on staying attuned with the latest consumer trends so that it continue to offer a relevant and valuable service to vehicle owners. The new wireless functionality gives Ownersite subscribers the capability to enter and review important vehicle information while they are at the gas pump or repair shop as well as input mileage figures as they arrive for their business meeting. With a Web-enabled mobile device, subscribers can add and review fuel records and log trips, update odometer readings, view complete maintenance histories, and check upcoming scheduled maintenance all in real-time.

Benefit Overdrive

Having wireless functionality provides other benefits as well. Because Ownersite offers reminder services and alerts, this new capability allows people to be reminded on the spot even if they are not at their home or office computer to get it. This is also beneficial for children that may be living away from home at college and need to receive reminders about oil changes or other minor maintenance issues. Now, parents can customize their Ownersite portal to send these messages to any number of wireless devices to ensure the information is received in a timely manner.

Being able to update your vehicle information, trip logs, repairs, service schedule, and fuel consumption on the spot makes for less work over the long term because you, in actuality, spend less time on record keeping and more time enjoying your vehicle. It also increases the likelihood that you will maintain the safety, reliability, and value that your vehicle came with as you drove it off the showroom floor.

No Manual or Software Required

While technology can be amazingly complex, some of the best ideas are the simplest ones. Although consumers are inundated with technology on a daily basis, it is a relief when it can be integrated without having to decipher large technical manuals or staring helplessly at a screen that is giving us complicated software installation instructions.

Ownersite wanted to keep it easy for subscribers. Unlike device or platform-specific solutions, this Web-based solution does not require any software installation and always incorporates the latest, micro-browser friendly version. Current subscribers can access the functionality immediately at http://mobile.ownersite.com. An animated GIF featuring several screenshots can be downloaded at http://www.ownersite.com/mobile.gif.