From Web Platform to Mobile Experience: Bringing Vehicle Insights to GoodCar Users

Executive Summary

Client: Good Car (InfoPay, Inc.)

Industry: Automotive Data, Consumer Tech

Engagement: Mobile Application Development (iOS and Android)

Country: USA

Project at a Glance

GoodCar had built a strong web platform for vehicle history reports, VIN lookups, and car-buying tools, but their users were increasingly making decisions on the go. VOLO partnered with GoodCar to bring the full platform to mobile, delivering native iOS and Android apps that consolidate the company's core features and add capabilities purpose-built for mobile, including in-app subscriptions and on-the-spot VIN scanning.

About the Client

GoodCar is a US-based vehicle history data company headquartered in Boston, operated by InfoPay, Inc. As an officially approved NMVTIS data provider, the company offers consumers and businesses the tools they need to research a vehicle before buying, selling, or owning it: vehicle history reports, license plate lookups, VIN decoding, recall checks, residual value tools, and lease and loan calculators.

Positioned as a more accessible alternative to legacy providers, GoodCar serves a wide audience of car buyers, sellers, and businesses who rely on accurate vehicle data to make confident decisions. With strong web traction and a growing customer base, the natural next step was bringing that experience to where users actually shop for cars: their phones, on the dealership lot.

Our Engagement

GoodCar's web platform was working well, but mobile was a different problem. Buyers on a dealership lot don't want to type a VIN into a desktop browser; they want to scan a license plate or VIN sticker and get a report in seconds. Beyond parity with the web experience, the mobile apps needed to introduce mobile-native capabilities like camera-based scanning, social sign-in, and in-app subscriptions through the App Store and Google Play.

VOLO partnered with GoodCar to deliver native applications for iOS and Android, bringing the full suite of vehicle research tools into a mobile-first experience. Our scope covered the end-to-end mobile build, from architecture decisions through release and ongoing iteration.

Our scope included:

iOS and Android apps built with Swift, XCode, and Dart, delivering the full GoodCar feature set on mobile

VIN and license plate scanning using the device camera for instant vehicle history lookups
Vehicle History Reports with details on accidents, ownership, title issues, and salvage records
VIN Decoder surfacing vehicle specifications and hidden details
Recall Lookup to flag safety issues during the car-buying process
Lease and Loan Calculators for in-the-moment financial decisions
Mobile subscriptions integrated with Google Play and App Store billing
Social Sign-In and Sign-Up for frictionless account access

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Key Takeaways

Mobile parity isn't enough; mobile-native capability is the point.

The win wasn't replicating the web experience on a smaller screen; it was unlocking what only mobile can do: scanning a VIN with a camera, checking a recall while standing next to the car. 

Established platforms need careful translation.

GoodCar had years of web product decisions baked in. The mobile build had to honor that product logic while reshaping the experience for the mobile context. 

Native delivery still wins for performance-sensitive use cases.

Camera-based scanning, real-time data lookups, and a polished feel on both platforms benefit from native implementation, particularly for users making purchase decisions in seconds. 