Recording maintence

I keep a log book recording every gas fill up, every oil & filter change, and every other service event.

When you have tires mounted, make sure the put date on outside.

Many vehicles owner's manuals have a maintenance log in them. One truck I used a small notebook. I use that to record date, mileage, and work done - including things like tires. Until the kids moved out, we had multiple cars and trucks and I couldn't keep track of everything unless I wrote it down.

When (or if) you end up selling the vehicle, it looks really good to a buyer when you can show maintenance records.

Oh... and it is a good thing to mark parts like oil filters. I've had work done at shops that I questioned (to myself) if all the work had actually been done. Marking the parts confirms if they've been replaced or not.

I also use a paper gripe log that stays in the coach that I use to record maintenance, repairs and events as they occur. From time to time (I have a calendar event set to remind me) I'll transfer the written notes to electronic format. The electronic log also has triggers, such as dates or miles, when preventative maintenance is needed.

Marking or tagging the items sounds like a good idea but I really need a bit more to help remind me that I need to do something and the calendar event to update the logs solves that problem.

I keep everything in an Excel spreadsheet on my computer.

My memory went up in smoke in the '60s
Most of my life I have kept records of what was done, when and the cost on trucks. Still keep a file on the vehicles.
But now I tear the tab off the oil filter box, with the number on it. Write date, mileage, oil wt, on it so I get right stuff. Also write the plug wrench size, and which filter wrench works best. This means I can make 1 trip under to get job done.

atsrmf wrote:
I keep everything in an Excel spreadsheet on my computer.

This, I keep the file on my google drive and can get it on my phone device as well.

I too am a record keeper of all things for my vehicles.

I have always kept a simple car mileage book I originally bought at a store years ago. I duplicated it in Excel and printed my own book, custom fit for me.
Every single thing ever done to my current truck is in there, right down to plugging coins into a machine to park or wash it.

Tagging the various things with stickers is a good idea, although you have to crawl under to read a filter, and you have to go physically look to see.

A spreadsheet works well, I have done that for a lot of things over the years.

But? Have you considered getting an app for your phone?

I did a lot of research on this about 2-3 years ago. I tried a few, and arrived at one called Fuelio. This app is so good, so detailed that I went back through all my paper records to August 15, 2006 when I bought my truck and I entered every single fuel fill, capital cost payment, insurance, R&M etc into it.

The app has a search function, so I can quickly check to see when I bought tires and how many miles are on them, when I last had it serviced, filters and so on. It gives me a tank to tank analysis of my exact fuel economy.
And there is a feature to run reports, which can be customized by date, category and more. It gives overall cost of operation, how many times I have put fuel in it etc etc. Touch "Costs" and you can see exactly when you last serviced it, date, mileage, everything.

You are probably not as anal about record keeping as I am, but Fuelio is a wonderful way to keep track of it all. And most everybody has a smart phone in their pocket. And it is free with no ads!

At a glance, I can tell you that my total cost of ownership, everything in, is $247,056.80 since new. 412K on the odometer, works out to 60c a K over 14 years.

Fuelio is Android only. If you use Apple there are apps for that too.

i use software to track fuel, repairs, maintenance schedules, etc.

Vehicle Manager

I have an EXCEL file I use to record maintenance on my vehicles.