With the introduction of apps for Smartphones in 2008, the automotive industry was quick to hop on the bandwagon. Thousands of car-related apps exist, from driving games to educational tutorials, to route planners. There’s even an app that makes the sound of an revving engine every time you accelerate so that you can pretend your little Ford Fiesta is a turbo-charged Porsche zipping down the highway. Given the wealth of options out there, it’s hard to know which ones are worth your time. If you want to skip the games and find the practical, here are 5 apps that you’ll wish you’d have downloaded yesterday.

1. Cheap Parking. (Free) Sick of paying a fortune for parking? Download this app to get the find the best prices for parking even as you drive. All you have to do is feed the application your location or destination and it’ll find the cheapest rates parking station rates within your vicinity.
2. GasBag Australia. (Free) Perhaps the only thing better than finding cheap parking is finding cheap petrol. Or at least, the least expensive prices in your area. GasBag Australia uses pricing information entered by users to come up with the best petrol prices near you on a daily basis. It also plots these stations on a map so that you can easily find them, and even tracks your fuel usage and economy. You may also enjoy the GasBag Australia promotional video for more information about this handy new app. [Editor’s note: may be worthwhile embedding the video in place of an image]
3. ParkDroid. (Free) With this app, you’ll never again have to spend frustrating minutes wandering around trying to remember where you parked. ParkDroid allows you to save the location of your car after parking and find it again with GPS. It also points out the closest parking spaces and has a parking meter alarm which alerts you to when time on the meter is running low.
4. Car Minder Plus. ($2.99) If your car has ever been long overdue for an oil change because you kept forgetting to do it, this is the app for you. Car Minder Plus helps you keep track of both past and future car maintenance needs, including repairs performed or needed, and your next tyre rotation, tune-up, or oil change date. It also monitors fuel consumption and provides your average mileage, enabling you to quickly detect any problems with the gas tank.
5. iWrecked. (Free) Nobody wants to have a car smash but if you do, this app is one you’ll want to have on your phone and could help your car accident lawyers to win your case. iWrecked acts as a data collection point for all details relating to the accident. It prompts you to record information that you might be too dazed to remember at the time, including details about where and how the accident occurred, essential information about the other driver and his vehicle, and the names and telephone numbers of any witnesses or police officers at the scene. The app also allows you to take and store an unlimited number of photos with your iPhone, find nearby taxi or towing services, and even create a PDF report of all the information stored.

We certainly hope you enjoyed this introduction to five useful car apps for iPhones and Android’s. If you like a particular car app that’s not included in this list, please recommend it to us in the discussion comments underneath this post. Thanks!

This guest post is by Michael Law. Mike has extensive experience as a freelance journalist and legal copywriter, and has worked with a wide variety of clients ranging from compensation lawyers to insurance companies. If you’d like to get in touch, you can send Mike an email.