Car service / maintenance record keeping software

[HanSooloo]

Now this might be on the fringe, but looking for software that would allow me to input my entire service record history. I have 17 years worth of documents, being the original owner of my 2004 M3.
Ideally speaking, the software would do this:

1. Support macOS (well, if it is Windows, I guess I could run it inside a VM), or better yet, be a browser based cloud app.
2. Ability to scan / import documents.
3. Record the date of service.
4. Record the service items, e.g., changed spark plugs, made 4 wheel alignment, etc.
5. Come with pre-loaded set of standard items (not a big deal, probably free form test entry is OK)
6. Record the parts and labor (nice to have)

At the end of the day, trying to get rid of paper wherever I can … just having digitized copies of service records would be a good starting point.

[bigjae46]

I just use excel and take pics of hard copies to file.


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[Cubieman]

I've been thinking of this lately, I just have a bunch of post it notes thrown into a folder, when I did what and why, parts used etc.

One day I'll buy a nice notebook to consolidate everything and have a copy of the receipts of purchased parts as well in there.
Digital would be nice as well, excel sounds as good as any.

[oceansize]

I have a three ring binder of every receipt, and I have a ton, from day one sorted by date with a table of contents that I update after every new addition plus a google spread sheet for maintenance.

Nothing to offer concerning software but I wouldn't bother overcomplicating it.

[mrgizmo04]

I use excel/google doc mainly.

Lately I started using the free version of Carfax, the "Carfax car care" app (android). It ties all my cars to my email, keeps reminders for registration, oil intervals, tire rotations, automatically syncs work from most shops (when smoging for example), and if some service is not available from the app's list, allows me to enter manual notes by date/car mileage. I am yet to verify how/if it pulls all that "DIY" info when running an actual CARFAX on the car, but I find it super helpful for tracking things done on the car.

I use it in addition to the google sheet, google sheet is just easier to search, keep part numbers, for reordering parts, etc.

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[ridebikes]

+1 to Google sheets...

...and I keep these tabs:

• "To do"
• Service history - everything from fuel stops to Inspection II gets listed chronologically with vendor, cost, and mileage
• Spec - basically my build / mod list to keep track of what's actually on the car
• Wish list - self explanatory, but this is where I plan longer term stuff like 100k refresh, diff rebuild, etc

Add in a 3 ring binder for paper copies. Good luck!

[ZiMMie]

I use an app called sprint monitor.

[Tbonem3]

Just don't put a "price" or "cost" column in excel like this idiot

[thegenius46m]

Just don't put a "price" or "cost" column in excel like this idiot

Or this bigger idiot

OP I use google sheets and have hard copies of everything. Can access it on any device to constantly update.

[STAATS]

I made quite an extensive Excel Spreadsheet tool for tracking Servicing and Vehicle modifications for our car. It incorporates data from the BMW NA E46 Used car check sheet to provide healthy scales for various readings and also has the BMW servicing checklist built in, if you use the service check sheet input macro it updates a register and automatically builds trending plots... I built this about 5yrs ago now and I still haven't got around to fully converting all of my service history into it, To get full advantage of it you would want to have a file structure beside it as the file can have hyperlinks to any of the service docs you have linked to each file. So if you are an Excel aficionado then this file is a very good starting point...
I keep a template version here for anyone to publicly access:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...f=true&sd=true

This was built when I had a job doing Completion Management for a large project so a lot of the theory and structure of how it is built is Completions Management / Audit oriented but obviously tailored for DIY servicing. I 100% guarantee you will not find a servicing tracker / tool anywhere near as extensive or exhaustive as that tool... the only problem, as with all Excel tools that aren't built from the ground up with the the lowest common end user in mind is that you will need some intermediate Excel knowledge as I didn't write a guide for it... Maybe one day when i have time I will pick it all up again... the original intention was for it to link to a Google Drive or DropBox type setup so as you input service / modification information it could automatically link to files on the cloud so basically you would host this file and its folder structure on the cloud for easy access, its currently built for a local setup, but wouldn't require too much tweaking from someone who knows what they are doing to make this full cloud compatible... should be even easier if you have an Office365 account with cloud storage...

Anyway aside from my lack of time since i left the job where I built that tool, I also started to use some software called Autosist (https://autosist.com/) and Fuelio (https://www.fuel.io/). I use Fuelio to track all my fuel fill-ups since my engine rebuild and then Autosist to track servicing and modifications, as well as load in manuals and other files I want to keep at hand. Neither is perfect... well actually, I think Fuelio is kind of the best most perfect fuel tracker I have used... but I think its servicing trackers are too simple... Autosist is a reasonably simple product, I like that it keeps files on its own server, you can transfer the account to a new owner when/if you sell and it will spit out a servicing summary report at will... again, even here i haven't had enough time to fully set this up with all my history yet but i will get there.

I started to use these 2 tools mainly because i could have them loaded on my AVIN Avant-3 HU so it was easy to plug in Fuel fill-ups as I did them and was kinda cool to check servicing details right on the HU... this is the main feature that started to pull me away from using my custom built tool as aside from a INPA laptop i don't really have a home computer anymore, and every work computer I have ever had blocks cloud sites now (Google Drive, GMail, DropBox, OneDrive, etc) so something that was easy to use on a phone and the HU became better and better... If you have a home computer and some Excel knowledge then I think my tool is all round far superior but it definitely lacks some of the creature comforts of the App based tools I am using now... one day when I have time I will probably replicate my entire service history in both as my tool allows you to track trends and actually focus on trying to monitor vehicle health / issues over time (if you put the effort into recording certain things) but something like Autosist is a litle easier to just track the headline information and whack on some attachments to one day fling to a new owner... I never plan to sell so haven't been in a rush to set them up... all my records are around... somewhere...

[jet_dogg]

I have never done this and refuse to ever do it. I use common sense intervals for shit and once I replace all the normal preventative items I will move to an exaggeratedly shorter interval.

Basically I keep everything in my head and don't give a shit if nobody believes me if I ever decide to sell. There will be other documented things though nothing derived from a sense of work to do it.