The Rise and Fall of In-Car Faxes

A Forgotten Era

Once, the car phone was an excellent way to show the world that you were better than others. It clearly indicated that you had money to spend and suggested that others might consider you valuable and speak to you occasionally. However, there were ways to appear even more important than the car phone user. All you needed was to show up in the parking lot with your own in-car fax.

The In-Car Fax

Today, the fax machine is a rare object, popular mainly in doctors' offices and largely in Japan. We rely on emails to send documents, and forms are completed through dedicated online systems that input our details directly into necessary databases. The idea of printing a document, putting it in a fax machine, and sending it to be replicated at a remote location? It feels truly anachronistic and much more complicated than using modern digital methods.

In 1990, Mercedes-Benz offered a fully equipped mobile office in the S-Class, which included a phone, fax, and computer, all ready to be used from the back seat.

Popularity in the '90s

In the '90s, the communications landscape was very different. If you had a company director on the road, the only way to contact him was through his mobile or in-car phone. If you needed a document to be checked or signed, you were in a bind. Even if your company was up to speed with emails, you couldn't connect from a gas station for another 20 years. This is where the in-car fax came in. You could send a document via the regular cellular network, the in-car fax would print it, and the recipient could review and return it.

The Final Years of the In-Car Fax

Despite its initial popularity, in-car faxes were never a very common option. A small portion of people actually needed mobile faxes. Compared to car phones, which were useful for almost anyone, faxes had a much smaller user base. Fax options were never in high demand and nearly disappeared by 2010. Nowadays, recreating an experience similar to an in-car fax would only require a small printer and scanner, but the world no longer operates on paper.

Thus, the in-car fax was a technological curiosity that survived for about a decade, during which it had real utility.