If you’ve ever car-pooled with a Perodua Myvi Advance owner you would be left in awe of their ability to go through tolls without needing to lift a finger.

The built-in SmartTag reader is the most thoughtful device ever to be included in a car and it has further given the Myvi a huge lead as the best value-for-money car in our market.

I know what you’re thinking, when you purchase a SmartTag device, we were given a holder to attach the device to our screens.

But the trend of breaking wind shields just to rob the car of its SmartTag device is still an ongoing issue causing owners to hide away their devices and only taking them out when entering toll booths.

Having the SmartTag reader built into the car meant that thieves looking to make a quick buck will not be able to make a quick job of breaking a wind shield and just stealing the reader away.

What about the RFID you may ask? Many are still not on board with the RFID trend and those who have taken the efforts to try it out has reported about the lack of reliability.

Another problem with RFID is that it also has the tendency to get in the way of other frequencies like when the car is entering a parking lot with a season pass.

The classic hand-held SmartTag reader has a large 9V battery and many has discovered that the new generation devices run on a shorter battery span.

9V batteries are not the friendliest batteries on the market. Quality ones are expensive and cheap versions meant that the reader would run out of juice faster.

The integrated SmartTag reader on the Myvi saves the need to change the device’s battery as the reader draws power from the car’s battery itself.

So if you want reliability, an integrated SmartTag reader is definitely the most useful thing to include in your car.

And looks like more car manufacturers are jumping on board with the trend as well. The limited edition Ford Ranger Splash has a SmartTag reader built into the truck!

Don’t worry if your car doesn’t come with built-in SmartTag though, there are plenty of after-market solutions.

If you’re a handy person, you can opt to purchase an integrated SmartTag system set off online and install the device yourself.

Or if you’re not too confident with your handy work, there are always experts like LokaTAG ready to assist!

Touch N Go is currently working to phase out the SmartTag readers to concentrate more on the RFID system, but while they perfect the system, we’ll remain loyal to the tried and tested technology that is the SmartTag device!