What's Happened to Reg2Car?

[STS-101]

Does anyone know what's happened to the Reg2Car app?

I bought it a month or so ago and it showed loads of data including the BHP of vehicles if you typed in the registration mark. Now all it gives is make, type, colour and transmission. I've also searched for the app in the app store and it appears to have gone.

[STS-101]

I've tried that too but the page is now blank other than the following message "Account Error: Inactive".

I guess there may have been some legal issues with the way he was getting the data or possibly costs involved in getting it. Shame as it was really handy when looking at cars on auto trader.

[soulghost]

Still working great here ........including the full info bhp etc

[STS-101]

Hmmm, that's strange. I've tried with my own cars and a few other registrations which I know, all of which I was previously getting full results for including BHP but for some reason now don't. All I get is the make, model, colour and transmission.

Is anyone else having this problem?

[Knox]

Still working great here ........including the full info bhp etc

What reg are you trying? I can't get anything other than the basic info as well.

[Hicks.]

I was going to buy this app too :mad:

[soulghost]

What reg are you trying? I can't get anything other than the basic info as well.

It's working fine whatever reg i use......there's always a few where the year is missing, but most of the time i'm getting the full info.
Give me a reg that's not working and i'll give it a go.

[Knox]

It's working fine whatever reg i use......there's always a few where the year is missing, but most of the time i'm getting the full info.
Give me a reg that's not working and i'll give it a go.

LC54VVT

I just get this:

201540

That comes up for everything, but not the BHP etc. that it did before.

[soulghost]

I get the same screen as yours followed a few seconds later with this one.

[psneddon]

Hi,

I am/was the developer of Reg2Car.

I just wanted to set the record straight as to what happened to the app, why it happened, and what is going to happen in the future.

I had the idea for the app for a while and thought I'd would be of interest to a small minority of people. The app started off as a programming experiment to see if it was possible to write a distributed, real-time, data aggregation app. Even though the app might have seemed simple, it wasn't!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the app gleamed it's data from a number of sources, publicly available sources with no disclaimers, on one level the app was a simple a custom internet browser...on another level it was a clever bit of iPhone programming and a clever idea.

The app became so successful (largely due to piracy of the app) that big companies started to notice what was going on, I was giving away data which they made alot of money from basically, and they did not like it one bit!

So rather than a try and square up to a big company, I withdrew the app.

I have spend the last few weeks thinking about what I'm going to do with the code etc, so we'll see what happens.

Paul

[andylyon]

Hi,

I am/was the developer of Reg2Car.

I just wanted to set the record straight as to what happened to the app, why it happened, and what is going to happen in the future.

I had the idea for the app for a while and thought I'd would be of interest to a small minority of people. The app started off as a programming experiment to see if it was possible to write a distributed, real-time, data aggregation app. Even though the app might have seemed simple, it wasn't!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the app gleamed it's data from a number of sources, publicly available sources with no disclaimers, on one level the app was a simple a custom internet browser...on another level it was a clever bit of iPhone programming and a clever idea.

The app became so successful (largely due to piracy of the app) that big companies started to notice what was going on, I was giving away data which they made alot of money from basically, and they did not like it one bit!

So rather than a try and square up to a big company, I withdrew the app.

I have spend the last few weeks thinking about what I'm going to do with the code etc, so we'll see what happens.

Paul

Another story of the little man losing out to a large corporation?

[psneddon]

Another story of the little man losing out to a large corporation?

Well it seemed that way, from my research and looking in to this type of stuff at length these companies make big money out of their near monopoly with mostly public data....however..

I received an interesting call today from a company who where interested in what I was doing (in a good way - phew) and they are willing to try and help me in several ways, most importantly seeing if they can secure me with a source of data at a reasonable cost! So there is hope that Reg2Car will be back!! The hope is that I can gain access to the data at a reasonable fee as I really don't think what people are currently trying to charge me for a simple search on vehicle information is reasonable.

Anyway, I'll keep this thread updated as to what is happening.

Paul

[musio]

Just wanted to say good luck Paul - i hope to see this app back! Don't loose out on the great idea (first of it's iphone kind?) and hard work, you can make money out of this i'm sure and i'm willing to buy this.

Keep posting updates. I've subscribed to this thread!

[andylyon]

Keep posting updates. I've subscribed to this thread!

Ditto

[Hicks.]

Just tried out the Parkers App. Shame Reg2Car can't be assimilated into Parkers. It would be far easier- and more accurate to just enter a car registration to get car specs AND prices.

[soulghost]

Just found out why the app still works for some.
If you're still using the original 1.0 version, it works fine.
The 1.1 version doesn't display the full info.

[andylyon]

Just found out why the app still works for some.
If you're still using the original 1.0 version, it works fine.
The 1.1 version doesn't display the full info.

Anyway we can still get the 1.0 version?

[m4rkie23]

interested to see what happens with this. i used it quite a few times before this happened!

[buzzerboyroy]

i had to do a factory reset on my phone last week loosing most of the apps on my iphone and i lost reg2car, i thought it was a great little app and am sorry to see it go.
ok i have lost a few pence buying it on itunes (that does'nt bother me) but it would be nice to see it back, the lads at work loved it and was amazed how it got the info so quickly.
please keep us upated paul.

Roy

[jHamshaw]

Hi Paul, and all

I joined just to post to this thread, but will stick around!

In my business (vehicle remapping) this little app was a godsend - many of our customers don't know which model/engine size/variant they have, but most can manage to read their Registration Number :D

Very keen to get all of the previous details back into 1.1, or get a new version which I'd be happy to pay for!!

Please keep us updated with progress,

Regds

Jim

[psneddon]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies and support.! I thought I'd give everyone some more information about the reasons its so hard to bring this app back on sale, been banging my head off the wall for weeks on this!

There are only 4 or 5 companies in the UK that are allowed to "resell" DVLA data. Most of these companies don't simply sell it on, they cleanse and enhance the data then sell it on. However they don't sell on the actual data, they sell on services to query the data.

And to give you an example, on average EACH query for data is charged at around 20p - 80p. So as you can see, i'm trying to fit a square peg in a round house selling an app for 59p! :)

Also I am not allowed to simple sell on the raw results of a query, you are really meant to use the data to enrich something.

So far I have paid for 2 commerical car databases (e.g. Makes, Models, Specs, etc) but they are full of missing data and there is no consistancy with regards to model names (e.g. Mazda RX8, RX-8, RX8 231).

My goal just now is 2-fold.

a) Get access to a good car spec database (containing thing like BHP, MPG, etc)

b) Find a provider who will provide me a service where I can pay a small free per search (say 5p) and they will give me back limited data which I can thing link to the car spec database and bring back loads of useful data.

If the about 2 were in place then I could provide the app for free and sell the searches in bundles, for example 10p-15p a search or something sold as a bundle of say 10 searches for 99p. Although I imagine the cost would be slightly more than that since the cost of the server-side infrastructure, database costs, dev costs etc would push it up a little.

Anyway, there is another little mind dump for you all to read :) If anybody has any suggestions then I would love to hear them!

Paul

[musio]

The only ways i can think around your problem are these ways:


1: Use ads from admob to help fund your costs

2:Use ads from the database companys and link in their site/services to your app.

3:Re-brand your app as one of the database providers. I'm sure one of the only 5 databases would jump at have the best and only iphone app to compete against the others....

4: National Rail have an app - approach the DVLA to brand your app and get a share of the pie

[psneddon]

Hi Musio,

Thanks for your input. The DVLA don't provide the data directly other than through their public website, which is do-able and was implemented in Reg2Car but its tricky and I'm sure they make it so for that reason.

When I had the ad's in the app it was generating about $5 - $10 dollars a day, and that was for about 10,000 - 20,000 requests. Not enough to cover costs.

To tell the truth, I'm seriously thinking about making the app open source. From a programmers point of view there is alot of clever stuff in it (trying to be modest). And if it was open source then people could post their own config files (as I would give a tutorial on how the app actually managed to do what it did). Its the only way around the legal threats I faced!!

Paul

[Knox]

If it was open source would it require a jailbroken phone to run, or could people submit their own versions to the App Store?

My worry would be that you'd still attract attention from whatever sources those versions of the app were getting the data from. I suspect they might want to make things uncomfortable for you, and you'd not be gaining anything from it :(

[jHamshaw]

Hay Paul - still listening? Any Update for us??

Just a thought - now that the app's been gone from the app store for a while is there any way that the full functionality can be restored for those of us that already have it?? :cool:

[soulghost]

Hay Paul - still listening? Any Update for us??

Just a thought - now that the app's been gone from the app store for a while is there any way that the full functionality can be restored for those of us that already have it?? :cool:

Version 1.0 still does full functionality.

[jHamshaw]

Version 1.0 still does full functionality.

I'm well aware of that, but those of us who took the 1.1 upgrade now just get some very basic information returned, leading me to suspect that a quick back end change could restore the original usefulness... If you can add any value to your post, i.e. tell us how we can downgrade to 1.0, then please share....

[STS-101]

I'm well aware of that, but those of us who took the 1.1 upgrade now just get some very basic information returned, leading me to suspect that a quick back end change could restore the original usefulness... If you can add any value to your post, i.e. tell us how we can downgrade to 1.0, then please share....

Agreed this would be really handy. Version 1.1 is now pretty much useless and has been deleted from my phone. If we could get the data still available to 1.0 users then it'd be back on my phone. Is this possible Paul?

[jHamshaw]

I'm guessing it must be, technically, as it was a back-end change that "crippled" 1.1 in the first place....... :cool: However, other commercial difficulties are appreciated...

[SpicyNikNaks]

I use the MyCarCheck app on my iPhone.

The app is free and gives a lot of information on cars.

It's also pretty fast at retrieving the car info and it's so easy to use my kids use it in the car.

[jHamshaw]

I use the MyCarCheck app on my iPhone.

The app is free and gives a lot of information on cars.

It's also pretty fast at retrieving the car info and it's so easy to use my kids use it in the car.

Thanks for that - this meets my needs perfectly!!

[rburly]

I use the MyCarCheck app on my iPhone.

The app is free and gives a lot of information on cars.

It's also pretty fast at retrieving the car info and it's so easy to use my kids use it in the car.

Do you have a link to the iTunes store? I did a search and came up with CarCheck. Is it even in the US iTunes store?

[andylyon]

I use the MyCarCheck app on my iPhone.

The app is free and gives a lot of information on cars.

It's also pretty fast at retrieving the car info and it's so easy to use my kids use it in the car.

I'll be looking at this!

EDIT: Seems good and reliable at providing a vehicle's basic info!