Car Probe is an internal inspection tool built for CaRPM's car inspectors to assess and document vehicle conditions for owners looking to sell. I picked up the project mid-way — an early-stage codebase with basic structure and a design system in place — and built it into a fully functional offline-capable field tool over 6 months alongside a senior developer.
What the app does Inspectors use Car Probe to manage the full inspection lifecycle: create a new lead for a vehicle, schedule and set reminders for the inspection date, conduct the inspection using an OBD-II scanner connected via Bluetooth, capture photos of all aspects of the car, and close out the lead. Previous leads remain accessible for reference.
Offline-First Architecture Built the app to work fully offline — inspectors often work in garages or parking lots with no reliable connectivity. Implemented a local database layer to persist all lead data, inspection records, OBD scan results, and photos on-device, with a sync engine to push data back to the server when connectivity is restored. This was the same offline-first pattern I had applied at GarageBook, adapted for inspection workflows.
OBD-II Bluetooth Integration Integrated real-time vehicle diagnostics via OBD-II scanner over Bluetooth — reading fault codes and vehicle data directly into the inspection lead. This was my first hands-on experience with BLE + OBD-II hardware integration, which I built on later at OBDPulse.
My Contributions
- Implemented the full UI from the existing design system
- Built the offline-first local database and sync layer
- Integrated OBD Bluetooth scanning into the inspection flow
- Integrated Firebase Cloud Messaging for inspection reminders and push notifications
Note: The app was an internal tool and has since been taken down from public distribution.