Blue Eclipse BluCare Auto app review

REVIEW – Designed for do-it-yourselfers, Blue Eclipse’s BluCare Auto app promises to make you the “Go-To” expert in your car’s maintenance, and record-keeping, and even remembers where you put it!

What is it?

The BluCare Auto app is a software package that provides vehicle location, maintenance records and reminders, trip information, and easy access to thousands of tutorials and maintenance instructions.

Design and Features:

After installing the software and creating an account, cars can be added.

Can’t remember your car’s info? It’s all right here.

BluCare features include Trip and Mileage. The implementation of this feature is slick – BluCare uses a connection to your vehicle’s Bluetooth to let the app know you are in the car. The app then uses your phone’s GPS to determine distance driven to keep track of your vehicle’s actual mileage.

I must admit, my memory is shot. There have been many times where I went somewhere, but could not remember where I parked. BluCare includes a very handy “Where did I park?” feature that provides the location and how to get there.

Need your insurance card? Photos of your insurance are kept inside the app for easy access.

There is a handy ledger for keeping track of your car’s maintenance and fuel expenses.

You can add photos of receipts, manual pages, schematics… anything that’s helpful for the upkeep of your chariot.

Now, if you are a person who likes to figure things out on their own, this is where this app shines! The BluCare app links publically available tutorials for your vehicle, putting thousands of solutions at your fingertips.

As an avid “weekend warrior,” I’ve spent hundreds of hours over my lifetime looking for information on fixing my own and countless other people’s vehicles. BluCare has aggregated this valuable information into one location making maintenance magic! The accumulation and organization of this much information is nothing short of staggering.

I would consider myself very knowledgeable regarding the functionality of my vehicles, yet I easily spent several hours perusing BluCare’s tutorial section, finding dozens of articles, tips, and tidbits of information and only scratched the surface of the resources available in this app.

I had the opportunity to speak with Blue Eclipse founder and CEO, Craig Tieman about BluCare. Craig, who has decades of engineering and several automotive patents under his belt, came up with the idea of BluCare after being the “Go-to Guy” for his family’s maintenance needs. His concept for BluCare is to make the vast amount of on-line data and expertise easy to access, effectively making the “Go-To Guys” available to everyone.

Tieman comments, “BluCare aims to make everyone an expert on their cars, and has the potential to save the owner thousands of dollars over their vehicle ownership.“  As I tend to keep my cars for as long as I can, I have experienced this phenomenon myself and can personally attest to this statement’s veracity.

As the platform evolves, Tieman plans to include manufacturers manuals, additional diagnostic tools and reporting, and even troubleshooting guides when that pesky “check engine” light pops up on your dash. He also intends to launch BluCare Home to be the same type of Go-To for homeowners.  When is the last time you had to dig for the warranty card and proof of purchase for your dishwasher? Tieman eventually hopes to integrate other home devices such as appliances into the app, making manuals and repairs a much easier and less frightening concept.

I first became aware of Blue Eclipse when taking interest in their “BluRemote Auto” campaign on Indiegogo. BluRemote uses a smartphone’s connection to operate the buttons of a spare key fob kept inside the car. This allows older cars to be retrofitted with some high-end features without the need to make any wiring changes to the car.  Unfortunately, like many products, development has been stalled due to COVID-19, but Tieman is now continuing that development which will continue over the coming months.

I shop so much at my local auto parts store that I’m on a first-name basis with the staff. I have been told that coronavirus has many people working on their cars to a significantly greater degree than in previous years. Without a doubt, BluCare fills a mighty need in helping to increase your vehicle’s trade-in value, keeping maintenance costs down, and has the added benefit of being a lot of fun!

What I Like:

• Free! (how often do I get to say that!)
• Convenient location for storing insurance cards, registration…
• So… many… repair… videos!!!

What I Would Change:

• Nothing

Final Thoughts:

Occasionally an app is released that is “just what the doctor ordered.” BluCare’s well thought out interface helps to keep your car purring like a happy kitten. It’s great to have all my car’s IDs in one place and help to remember where I put the darn thing! Best of all, the tutorials make many mundane maintenance matters mundane!

Price: Free
Where to buy: App Store, Play Store
Source: Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Website: Blue Eclipse BluCare

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Car Gear

Blue Eclipse BluCare Auto app review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 27, 2020 at 11:00 am.

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