The 6 Best Apps for Car Maintenance and Tips
Owning your own car gives you a feeling of independence, but keeping up all the required maintenance for that car can be overwhelming. From oil changes to tire rotations to fluid flushes, there’s a lot that goes into maintaining your vehicle.
Luckily, there are apps out there that can help you manage everything. You might get maintenance reminders from your local car care center or sometimes have a sticker inside your windshield with a recommended date for your next oil change. But having an app that’s on your smartphone, which you have with you every day, keeps you updated with all the important info you need.
So, it’s time to check out the six best apps for car maintenance and tips.
1. AUTOsist
The AUTOsist app helps you manage your car with an interface that’s easy to use. When you open the app, you’ll see all the cars you’ve entered in your virtual garage. With the app’s free version, you can only add one vehicle.
If you want to add up to five vehicles, you’ll have to pay a one-time fee of $19.99 for the Pro version; if you want to add more than that, you’ll need the Gold plan, which costs $49.99 per year.
With each vehicle, you can add the type, trim, odometer reading, license plate number, VIN number, and a nickname for the vehicle for easy organization. You can also snap a picture of your vehicles so you can quickly identify them.
Selecting a vehicle on the home screen allows you to access service records, fuel records, trip logs, personal notes, reminders, and more. Adding a new service, like an oil change, takes about five minutes or less, depending on how detailed you get. You can add pictures, the odometer reading, which shop was used, and notes to any service entry.
Download: AUTOsist for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
2. Fuelly or aCar
The Fuelly app and the aCar app are the exact same app, just on two different operating systems. If you have an Android phone, you’ll download aCar, and if you use an iPhone, you’ll use Fuelly.
The home screen is colorful, bringing a little life to something as mundane as servicing your car. Similar to AUTOsist, Fuelly lets you keep track of records related to fuel, service, and trips, as well as write out detailed notes and set up reminders for yourself.
You can also keep up with any vehicle-related expenses, accidents, vehicle parts that have been replaced, and even the sale of your car. If there are services you’ll know will be repeated, like oil changes and tire rotations, you can add them to your Services section. Then, when you need to enter an oil change service record, you can quickly select Oil Change from your menu.
Download: aCar for Android (Free, premium subscription available)
Download: Fuelly for iOS (Free, premium subscription available)
3. CARFAX Car Care
CARFAX is a popular service when it comes to purchasing a new car, so most people are probably familiar with it. What you might not know, however, is that there’s a CARFAX Car Care app that can help you keep track of every service performed on your car without you even having to lift a finger.
Well, you’ll have to enter your car’s VIN number to find your car, but after that, you’re golden! Because of how CARFAX naturally works, it pulls all of your car’s service information and displays it for you to see. From there, it’ll recommend when you should get your next oil change or tire rotation, when your registration needs to be renewed, and more.
There’s also a helpful section of the app that helps you estimate costs on certain repairs. This can help immensely if you’re unsure of what things cost so that you don’t get ripped off by an untrustworthy service center.
If you’re buying a used car, the CARFAX Car Care app is especially helpful because it pulls up records based on the VIN number. So even if you don’t have physical records of the work that’s been done on a vehicle, you can likely see a virtual record through CARFAX’s system.
Download: CARFAX Car Care for Android | iOS (Free)
4. Simply Auto
Simply Auto is another great app to keep your car up-to-date with all services. Maintaining your car is typically a stressful task, but Simply Auto makes it, well, simple!
First, you’ll need to enter your vehicle, and then you can start keeping records of everything pertaining to that vehicle. There’s a plus sign on the home screen that makes it easy to add new records. From the home screen, you can enter new fill-ups, services, expenses, trips, or odometer readings.
To get an overview of all the services and costs related to your vehicle, you can switch from the Dashboard tab to the Stats & Charts tab. There, you can see Total Stats, Average Fuel Stats, Trip Stats, and more.
Through the Simply Auto app, you can also use a feature called Auto Trip Logging. If you enable this, it’ll automatically detect vehicle motion and enter your trips for you. You can track 15 trips for free, or upgrade to the Platinum plan for $9.99 per year or a one-time fee of $29.99.
Download: Simply Auto for Android | iOS (Free, premium subscription available)
5. Drivvo
When you open Drivvo, you can immediately see an overview of all the previous dates of service for your vehicle. This is an incredibly helpful way to keep track of when you last took your car in for an oil change or how long ago you got your tires changed.
Tapping the plus sign at the bottom of the screen allows you to enter records of income, service, expenses, refueling, routes traveled, and reminders for the future. When entering a new service record, there’s a long list of service types already preloaded in the app, making the process even easier.
On the reports tab, you can see an overview of collected information and charts that represent your data. There are general reports and reports specific to refueling, expenses, income, and services.
Download: Drivvo for Android | iOS (Free, premium subscription available)
6. myEZ Car Care
The myEZ Car Care app has a simple interface that may look outdated, but it functions well and makes it easy to keep track of your car’s maintenance needs. Certain features of the app are locked behind a VIP subscription plan starting at $9.99 per year. But the majority of the features are available to use for free!
Every time you take your car in for an oil change, a fluid flush, new brake pads, or anything else, you can enter it as a new record. You can also set reminders for yourself to get push notifications on your phone every time you need to take your car in.
Then, if you enter information when you fuel your car up at the gas station, the app can automatically calculate your gas mileage for you. Staying up to date with your car’s gas mileage is one of the best ways to make sure you’re not wasting money on gas. And if you’re after more ways to save money, there are apps out there dedicated to helping you be thrifty and save money on your car’s expenses.
Download: myEZ Car Care for Android | iOS (Free, premium subscription available)
Taking Care of Your Car Has Never Been Easier
As a car owner, there’s a lot involved in properly maintaining your car. Just like with your own body, you have to make sure that you’re getting regular checkups, fueling up with the best stuff, and mending things when they’re broken or failing.
Having an app that you regularly use on your smartphone makes having and maintaining a vehicle much easier. You don’t have to worry about going through paper records in your filing cabinet because everything is right there on your phone!
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