As a car repair expert at carw.store, I often get asked about various car diagnostic tools. The Carly scanner is one that frequently comes up, touted for its ability to unlock features on German cars and perform diagnostics. Having spent time with the Carly scanner, I wanted to share my experience and offer a frank assessment of whether it lives up to the hype, and more importantly, if it’s worth your money.
From my perspective, the Carly scanner presents itself as a premium, feature-rich tool. However, after using it, I found its functionality to be surprisingly basic. Yes, it can read and clear fault codes, and it does offer some customization options for certain German vehicles. But when you get down to brass tacks, its core capabilities are not significantly different from what you can achieve with a generic OBD2 reader that costs a fraction of the price – you can easily find these for around £10 on platforms like eBay. This raises a critical question: are you paying for genuine advanced functionality, or just clever marketing and a slick app interface?
My main concern isn’t even the somewhat limited functionality for the price. It’s Carly’s subscription model, specifically the automatic renewal. Like many, I was aware of the annual subscription fee when I purchased the device. However, what wasn’t clearly highlighted enough was the automatic renewal policy. I was caught off guard when a renewal payment of £125 was automatically deducted from my PayPal account. Upon contacting Carly, I was informed about their policy, citing German law, stating that cancellation requires at least one month’s notice prior to the renewal date.
This timing was particularly unfortunate for me, as a self-employed individual who had just taken unpaid paternity leave. To find myself out of pocket by £125 for a product I already felt was overpriced and underperforming was incredibly frustrating. While I have disputed the charge with PayPal, I’m not optimistic about a successful reversal.
In conclusion, my experience with the Carly scanner leads me to believe it’s essentially a basic OBD2 scanner dressed up with a fancy app and a premium price tag. While the app is user-friendly, the underlying functionality doesn’t justify the cost, especially when compared to cheaper alternatives. Furthermore, the automatic subscription renewal policy feels predatory and is, in my opinion, highly misleading. Even someone usually careful with subscriptions like myself missed this detail. If you’re considering a Carly scanner, be aware of these points and seriously weigh up whether the perceived benefits outweigh the cost and the risk of unwanted automatic renewals. For many users, a less expensive OBD2 scanner will likely provide similar diagnostic capabilities without the ongoing subscription fees.
