Vehicle Maintenance Software - Which is best?

[davezG35]

I am looking for software that I can use to track the maintenance and upgrades to my G35, as well as our other cars. I have Googled and have come up with these options:

Auto Maintenance Pro - http://www.mtcpro.com/automtc.htm

Vehicle Manager - http://www.kzsoftware.com/products/v...FQGGDgodITFMEA

Ownersite - http://www.ownersite.com/Consumers.cfm

CarCare - http://www.carcaresoftware.com/intro.htm

Automotive Wolf - http://www.lonewolf-software.com/automotivewolf.htm

Does anyone have experience with any of these? If not, can you suggest an alternative that is not listed? I can't find any site that compares them side by side.

[cjs37xs]

A couple of those have free 30 day trial offers. If you are so inclined to use these, I would certainly go the trial offer usage. They all look like essentially the same thing, just a few differences. I would see if there's a google review on them or some kind of user reference that is available. If I were to be looking, I would spend a lot of time on each's site, and find out as much info as I can....like I see that you asked the same question (verbatim) on another forum...just by using google. But, I also didn't find a lot of reviews about them...just a few from people that are trying one of these.

Spend a good day at work...umm, I mean at home researching these bad boys and definitely take advantage of the freebies that they offer. Sorry to be a non-helper, but that is what I would do. When I need something for my car or motorcycle, I don't just hit up the first one I see (which it would seem you do not either...good on you!).

Research, my man! Research!

[Kendahl]

Which is best? None of them. To me, they are a solution in search of a problem.

Computers come with some sort of spreadsheet software, typically Microsoft Excel. Just set up a column for the date, a column for the odometer and columns for each thing you want to track. Whenever you get more data, such as a fill up or oil change, put it into the spreadsheet. If you want to get fancy, you can add more columns and use worksheet functions to calculate things like gas mileage and cost per mile and make a graphs of them versus the car's age or odometer reading.

Keep your paper receipts in a manila envelope. I think a future customer will be more impressed by them than by a computer print out that you could have faked.

You don't need software to tell you the service schedule. It's already in the owner's manual. Anyway, service is based on multiples of 7,500 miles. A computer program won't notice weird noises or drips on the garage floor that hint at problems.

[telcoman]

Which is best? None of them. To me, they are a solution in search of a problem.

Computers come with some sort of spreadsheet software, typically Microsoft Excel. Just set up a column for the date, a column for the odometer and columns for each thing you want to track. Whenever you get more data, such as a fill up or oil change, put it into the spreadsheet. If you want to get fancy, you can add more columns and use worksheet functions to calculate things like gas mileage and cost per mile and make a graphs of them versus the car's age or odometer reading.

Keep your paper receipts in a manila envelope. I think a future customer will be more impressed by them than by a computer print out that you could have faked.

You don't need software to tell you the service schedule. It's already in the owner's manual. Anyway, service is based on multiples of 7,500 miles. A computer program won't notice weird noises or drips on the garage floor that hint at problems.

Yup thats what I do.

I keep a sheet in the car and transfer the data into my spreadsheet. My 586 entries made it easy to use excel to calculate my average MPG. My last fillup at 143686 miles I used a total of 6019.558 gallons for an average MPG 23.8698 MPG. 44 Oil changes so far. No need to spend money on fancy software in my opinion.



Telcoman

[SVTCOBRA]

yep, spreadsheet here too! date/mileage/service performed.
Have 4 cars to keep up with and this really helps.
I highlight the major services - brakes - trannny - diff - coolant flush in different colors than oil/filter change

This way, I can call my kids for their mileage and know what needs to be done next.

I also keep all dealer service receipts in a folder by car. All oil/filter receipts go into another folder.

[telcoman]

yep, spreadsheet here too! date/mileage/service performed.
Have 4 cars to keep up with and this really helps.
I highlight the major services - brakes - trannny - diff - coolant flush in different colors than oil/filter change

This way, I can call my kids for their mileage and know what needs to be done next.

I also keep all dealer service receipts in a folder by car. All oil/filter receipts go into another folder.

Me too!

I need to throw out receipts for cars I no longer own

[SteveTheTech]

Interesting thread.
Interesting products.

Good stuff all around

Comparably I am lazy, I keep a draft email in my Gmail account to track the maintenance history on my G with dates, items, and mileage. I do not track fuel usage more than the long term computer in the nav screen. All the warranty repairs are recorded in the Infiniti system.

I take the spreadsheet level OCD approach to my workouts so I can totally appreciate the hard work.

[flexcar]

If you are a Mac and iPhone user check out.

Car Maintenance - http://www.traxxsoftware.com

There is also a web app that you can sync to in the cloud

Car Maintenance Web - https://car-traxx.com