Bought my new car in December (CarPlay!) and this time I’m committed to keeping track of maintenance and repairs.
(I always start and always drop it when I forget or it’s a pain in the butt.)
I have all the general tools - but I’m wondering if anyone has any apps that lower the hassle factor of keeping track of auto maintenance. Or any workflows that people have created in more general note capturing apps that make it easier?
Thanks, everyone!
Thanks. Have you used it? From the web, it seems like fuel mileage is it’s main focus, which is something I don’t really need. But I’m open!
I have it. I am rather anal retentive about tracking my fuel mpg and Fuelly has stuck with me b/c input and review of fuel are both relatively easy on an iPhone. Fuelly also has inputs to track maintenance. I have once or twice added a maintenance record.
I suspect that you may not find an app that only tracks the latter (maintenance) without also tracking the latter.
The paid version of Fuelly provides benefits of automatically tracking the input location at fuel-up and other things. I am happy with the free version.
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JJW
I’m using Fuelly (free tier) and it does track more than mileage. It’ll give you alerts when it’s time for an oil change or tire rotation, for example. But that’s driven by the data you enter - for example, I have a 10K oil change interval and I just got alerted that I was due after I logged a fill-up that put me over 10K since my last oil change.
The app/service is only as good as the data you feed into it. Logging your fill-ups will get you the most benefit as it’s the car maintenance event you engage in most frequently.
Maybe consider using Automatic which connects directly to the data port under your dashboard.
I haven’t used it myself, but a number of people in podcast world have recommended it in the past. I think maybe @MacSparky was a previous user, so maybe you might want to hit him up for a recommendation.
I’ve been using Road Trip for years now. Pretty solid, no subscription, exports to CSV if you need it to. I like it.
Thanks. I’ll DL both Fuelly and Road Trip.
I had an an Automatic a few years ago (with my MPU discount code). I liked it, especially the few times when my Check Engine light came on, but didn’t use it for much else. I recently got an email that the prior version is being discontinued. I doubt I’ll spend the money for the upgrade - although it’s probably a great device for the right person.
I use Autosist to log all service done to my car. This also includes maintenance. It lets me log when things occur, the mileage the service occurred at, the shop, and attach pictures. I usually attach a picture of the receipt. You can also break out and itemize the cost of the service.
I’m old school and just use an Excel spreadsheet. I have a formula for the cost column so I know how much maintenance and repairs cost me each year. With a new car there are only a couple of items to enter each year. I have a five-year-old Subaru and just completed the first landscape oriented page of service and repairs. I’ve used this same spreadsheet template for two previous vehicles.
Also an Autosist user for many years - mainly for service tracking. I don’t love it though. I paid to upgrade years ago, then they changed the payment plans and didn’t help along those who paid prior. The cost is prohibitive now for what I am using it for, so I am technically looking for something also…