TEXTING FOR OIL

       All your contacts are stored in your mobile phone, often with their birthdays and sometimes snapshots too, so you don't have to try to remember them all.
       But even if you have only one car, the length between scheduled services nowadays is so long that you can easily forget when it needs to be done.
       Worse, you forget where the car's service book is and where on the car to look for the sticker listing the recommended motor oil.
       That's why the oil company Chevron (known in Thailand as Caltex) has started a new text messaging service in the UK that can tell any car owner what type of motor oil (Chevron brands only, of course) to use for their car.
       All the confused owner needs to do is text his car's registration number to a an automated system which will text back the appropriate advice. This is possible because the company uses a database from the Department for Transport,so the reply should correctly give your model of car and suitable oils.
       But if a driver has no idea what oil he needs,will he remember the phone number for this service in the first place?
       In my opinion, what would be helpful is a timely SMS alerting you to take the car in for a service, say, seven days ahead of time and, as an incentive, maybe a small discount when you take the car in for its service to the garage that sent you the text.
       That's far better than a car dealer who employs a young lady to call me every six months reminding me of an impending scheduled service, and me wasting my time answering the call.