Diagnostic Code Reader - Essential Tool For Car Maintenance?

I'm writing buying guides for automotive stuff right now for one of my private clients. The guides are for individual parts, tools, etc. I'm curious as to what some members of this community have to say about this little dispute...

My topic was X Essential Tools Used For Car Maintenance.

I pick how many tools and provide descriptions/what they are used for.

I put a code reader in my list just because they are convenient. My husband is a mechanic and he thinks anyone who owns a car should have one, lol.

Anyway, the editor told me it was not an "essential tool" then proceeded to tell me it is not something that would be needed until several years into owning the car. My initial thought was... It must be nice for her to be able to afford a brand spanking new car. I could go buy a used car that has already been used for several years!

Check engine light comes on - you can use the code reader instead of taking a trip to AutoZone or some other place to get your vehicle scanned. Seems like a good diagnostic tool to have to me.

Thoughts?

 

I don't know about "essential." It's definitely a nice tool to have, but people get by without having one every single day, especially when you can take your car to an AutoZone and have them do it for free. Having your own saves time, but then you're going to have people who don't know how to read them. It's something you'll mostly find on mechanics or people who do their own car maintenance. It's like, everyone should have a jack for their car, but not everyone owns jack stands just because the most they'll be doing is changing a flat, anything else and it's taken to a shop.

I would recommend everyone have the Torque app installed if you have an Android device. There's tons of them for iPhone, too, but I use Torque. It was under $5 and it'll tell you any information you need, and sometimes where you can look it up. You still have to buy the adapter, but it's cheaper and more user friendly.

 

And a lot of cars come with free roadside assistance when you purchase a new car, so you don't really even NEED that (though they do come with them) since you can just call and wait for someone to come do it for you. I have 2 years of roadside assistance from buying a car, plus AAA since it's so cheap I haven't bothered to cancel it.

Glad you found one available for Blackberry. It's not a necessity, but it's useful. I used mine a lot just for the speedometer, because the one in the Taurus didn't work. Torque was off about 1-2 mph, but it was better than 30 mph off haha.

 

Oh, yeah, I was more thinking about people who wouldn't be able to. If you don't have a jack or a wrench, it's not coming off. Or someone like my mom, who wouldn't physically be capable of lifting a spare or something. So it's handy if you don't have friends/family to come help. Let me know how you like Torque if you decide to download it

 

I think it should be an essential tool if you drive for a living. If you commute to a 9 to 5 type job, then no. But if your vehicle is what puts food on the table and you're in it for upwards of 10 hours a day, it is a necessity.