My Son Kept Telling Me To Buy A New Car. Here Are The 7 Reasons I Put A $119 Screen In My 2011 Camry Instead — And Why The Old Girl Isn't Going Anywhere

By Judy Patterson, 69 — Brisbane, QLD
Last updated August 3, 2026 · 6 min read

Every Sunday lunch, same conversation. "Mum, the car's ancient. You can't even see a map. Just buy something new."

Here's what my son didn't understand. The Camry is paid off. I know every sound she makes. She starts first turn of the key, every morning, and has for fifteen years. You don't trade that in because a salesman has a shinier one.

But he had a point about one thing, and I knew it. My "navigation" was my phone, balanced on my knee, with me squinting down at it at red lights. I'd missed turn-offs. I'd had a horn blast at me at the lights in Chermside. And a friend from bowls got done for touching her phone in traffic — the fine in Queensland is now over $1,200. More than a fortnight of the pension, for one glance.

So I priced the "proper" fixes. A new car: $40,000 or more, to solve a screen problem. The car audio shop: about $1,100 to cut a new stereo into a dashboard that's never given me trouble, plus a day without the car. A $20 phone cradle from the servo: the same tiny screen, the same fine if I touch it.

Then my son — to his credit — changed his tune. He sent me a link and said, "Fine, keep the car. This is $120, it plugs into the cigarette lighter, and they give your money back if you hate it."

The BetterGardens 7" Touch Screen has been in the Camry for five months now. Here are the 7 reasons it worked — and why my fifteen-year-old car now does something my neighbour's brand-new SUV does.

1. If your car has a cigarette lighter, it's not too old. That's the whole test.

This was my first question and probably yours: "Will it even work in my car?"

Here's the answer that sold me. It doesn't care what year your car is. It doesn't plug into the radio, or the computer, or anything a mechanic needs to touch. It plugs into the cigarette lighter — the same socket that's been in every car since before I got my licence. It runs on anything from 7 to 32 volts, so old sedans, utes, 4WDs and trucks are all fine.

2. My maps went from my lap to eye level — and my phone went in the glovebox.

The screen connects to my phone — iPhone or Android — and puts the maps up big, right in my line of sight. Calls come through the screen, hands-free. I ask Siri to ring my daughter and both hands stay on the wheel.

The phone itself? In the glovebox. Which means the $1,200 question is off the table. I'm not glancing down at red lights anymore, and I'm not doing the guilty phone-shuffle when I see a police car. One glance at a screen at eye level is legal. One glance at a phone in your lap can cost more than ten of these screens.

3. It took ten minutes. My tea was still warm.

I was braced for wiring diagrams and a weekend of swearing. Here's what actually happened: the mount went on the dash, the plug went into the cigarette lighter, my phone connected, done. Under ten minutes.

No mechanic. No dashboard teardown. No stranger cutting holes in a car that's never given me a day of trouble. In the ad that got me here, a lady set one up for her 71-year-old mum. I believe it — I did mine alone on a Tuesday morning.

4. The free reversing camera gave my old car a new-car feature.

Every new car comes with a reversing camera now. There's a reason: they work. But nobody tells you an old car can have one too.

The camera is included free — worth $80.00 — and when I put the Camry in reverse, the screen shows everything behind me with coloured guide lines. Backing out at the shops went from my least favourite moment of the week to just... reversing. My neighbour paid $40,000 to get this feature. Mine came free with a $119.99 screen.

5. The maths embarrassed every other option.

Let's lay it out the way my son did, on the back of an envelope at Sunday lunch:

New car: $40,000+, and I'd spend the first year finding out where they hid the wiper controls. Audio shop install: about $1,100, plus a day without the car. This kit: $119.99, delivered free, fitted by me before my tea went cold.

Same big screen. Same reversing camera. Same hands-free calls. The only thing missing is the extra zeros.

6. The car I trust gets to stay.

This is the reason nobody puts in the brochures. I didn't want a new car. I wanted my car, with one thing fixed.

The Camry has taken me to Bundaberg and back more times than I can count. She's paid off. Insurance is cheap. I know exactly what every rattle means. The only thing she was missing was a screen — and it turns out that part costs $119.99, not $40,000.

7. If I'd hated it, I'd have got every cent back.

Half my bridge club has a story about a gadget from a Facebook ad that took six weeks to arrive from overseas and broke in a fortnight — with nobody answering the emails.

Better Gardens is an Australian company that ships express from Brisbane. Mine arrived in three days. There's a 30-day money-back guarantee — plug it in, try it in your own driveway, and if you don't love it they refund you. If anything goes wrong in the first 90 days, they replace it free. There's a real support team on the other end of the email. I checked before I bought. You should too.

My son still comes for Sunday lunch. He doesn't mention new cars anymore. Last visit, he sat in the driver's seat, looked at the screen, and said "righto, fair enough." From him, that's a rave review.

The Exact Kit I Bought — Today's Offer

BetterGardens™ 7" HD Touch Screen CarPlay	$200.00
Reversing Camera + Cables (FREE)	$80.00
Shipping Insurance (FREE)	$9.99
Total Value	$289.99
Today's Discount	− $170.00
Your Price Today	$119.99

YOU SAVE $170.00 — CLAIM IT ▶

• Free reversing camera included — worth $80.00, with all cables and the extension lead
• Free shipping insurance — worth $9.99. Lost or damaged in transit? A replacement ships free. Applied automatically at checkout
• Works in any car with a cigarette lighter — simple plug-in setup, no mechanic, no dashboard teardown
• Wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto — maps, calls and music on a 7" HD screen
• 30-day money-back guarantee + 90-day free replacement warranty
• Australian owned — shipped express from Brisbane, free, in 2–6 days

CLAIM THE $119.99 OFFER NOW ▶▶Free shipping insurance applies automatically at checkout · Offer ends when the timer hits zero

⚠ Only 43 kits left at this price

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