Best app for tracking car maintenance?

[Fru-Gal]

The new 20-year-old car I just bought came with a CarFax report. CarFax is suggesting that I sign up for their app that tells me when to do maintenance. A cursory search revealed some other apps but CarFax seemed to be the only one that would tie the recommendations to the actual model, year, and mileage. Is it a privacy nightmare or OK to use? Or is there another good option?

[NotJen]

Why do you need an app for this?  What were you doing for your previous car?

In the olden days, I tracked maintenance in my car's owner's manual.  Nowadays, I keep track of services in a spreadsheet, with a few formulas to tell me the current mileage on various wear items.

[JLee]

I just use a Google Sheet and the manufacturer's recommendations for maintenance.

[Fru-Gal]

Dang. So what you’re all saying is my method of waiting till something breaks is not optimal?

[NotJen]

Dang. So what you’re all saying is my method of waiting till something breaks is not optimal?

Oh, I 100% wait until something breaks (except for oil changes and tire rotations, and if something seems urgent when I get an inspection in conjunction with those two things).  But it's still nice to have a one-stop reference for services.

[Dave1442397]

I just use an Excel spreadsheet.

I just had tires installed at a local shop, and they sent me a link to their own service history website, which keeps track of work done. My usual place for oil changes still hand writes everything, and doesn't send any info to CarFax.

I always keep my paper receipts in a folder, which is handy when selling a car. We sold a car last year, and the buyer had lots of questions about what work had been done on the car. I just handed him the folder and let him read through it. I had put the car up for sale at 3:30pm that day, and the guy who bought it drove an hour to come see it, arriving at 8:30pm. He drove home with it that night.

[Sandi_k]

Dang. So what you’re all saying is my method of waiting till something breaks is not optimal?

There are a few things that I replace prophylactically - the water pump and thermostat at 100k miles, the EGR valve, and the fuel filter.

[Fru-Gal]

Yeah I keep the file folders too. And we are religious about oil changes/fluids.

Just other stuff like timing belt and plugs, brakes, that kind of thing.

[GilesMM]

Apps come and go. I track cars (and everything else) in Excel.

[kite]

Everyone loves their spreadsheets & their apps.

I lost 5 loved ones since the beginning of the pandemic. I personally had to settle the affairs for 3 of them, my sister did the other 2.
We couldn’t get to any apps to figure anything out.
But a little spiral notebook with things written down was a timesaver. In fact, a beautiful thing about my Mom slipping into Dementia somewhat slowly is that she knew something was going on with her own mind (at first) and she wrote lots of things down. They made sense until they didn’t and eventually she couldn’t really figure out how to write or no thought would stay long enough for her to put it on to paper.
But what she wrote was priceless.
By the time you think you’ll be able to hand over the reigns, you might already be out of it.
Paper & pen. Notebook.
Include a calendar of car maintenance, when to change the filters in the heating & AC. When the home-owners insurance gets paid and the dog needs another Rabies vaccine, etc.


I’ve got my own little Bullet Journal.

[Askel]

I have a good mechanic. Most maintenance is roughly around the oil change intervals, so whenever I drop the car off for an oil change, he'll let me know if anything else comes due and his opinion on whether or not it really needs it.  The software he uses to run his shop, do estimates, billing, etc tracks this based on car model and lets him know. I can also hit him up for a complete maintenance record if I ever need it for any reason. 

[dang1]

knock on plastic, i keep buying toyotas and negligible problems. I replaced my yaris at 300k+ when I wanted, lol: power windows,  auto high-beams, dynamic cruise control - with a 2018 corolla.

oil / filter change every 5k miles; tire rotation every 10k, inspection every 20k

[ChickenStash]

I just use a spreadsheet with columns for date, mileage, and notes on what I had to do - maintenance, repairs (proactive or reactive), what store I got the parts from if there's a warranty, etc.

Before spreadsheets, my Dad used a sheet of thick card stock and basicically drew out the same thing. He'd store it in the file cabinet along with any important paperwork or receipts for the car. I essentially copied his method but went paperless for the record sheet.

[Just Joe]

I use LibreOffice Calc (free).

If you don't drive alot, you might be able to get by with annual or bi-annual oil changes. Timing belts every 80K. Annual tire rotations.

Sometimes one maintenance item leads to other items i.e. timing belt leads to water pump, belts, new antifreeze, etc.

I change oil anytime I check it and it is too dark to see the crosshatch marks on the dipstick. Mostly relates to the normal change intervals. 

[innkeeper77]

I keep a notebook and pen in the glovebox- if that gets destroyed I think that I will have bigger issues to worry about in terms of the health of the car!

My 4x4 notbook has a lot more in it than our hybrid economy vehicle... but I still keep notes in there for tire rotations etc. I don't like depending on the maintenance lights in the dash.

[Fru-Gal]

To @kite ’s point about paper, I googled the maintenance schedule for my model + PDF. I pulled up a vintage booklet on my computer. Then later I was checking the car and found in the glove box that exact booklet, totally pristine, plus the original sales ticket.

The dealer lied to me about a few things* (what a surprise) but hopefully the CarFax was correct (sadly I read that it too can be manipulated). At the very least, in 20 years the car did not leave my area, which is reassuring!

*E.g. He said it had ABS, I assumed that meant it was standard on this model, but no I figured out later it was still only an option at that time.