I want to trust SAM
I like having access to as much information as possible about the things I own, and soon it seems I will be able to gather information about my car without having to pay a high price for diagnostic services.
The Smart Auto Management (SAM) system will be a kiosk at major oil-change shops that will allow you to connect a piece of equipment to your vehicles diagnostic port and scan the system for any existing or potential problems.
The SAM system will then give the user a printout with the faults that were found in the system – written in plain english along with any necessary technical details.
On the surface, I find it hard to trust a system named Sam, especially when the company’s URL is stolen from a movie about a mentally retarded man trying to gain custody of his daughter – iamsam.com. These few oddities aside, I think that this is a great move toward consumers having more information about what is usually the most expensive item (other than a home) that they will buy.
Perhaps now when you take your car in for service you can go armed with an unbiased, third-party opinion of what is and is not needed to be done you your car.