How do you track your maintenance?

[99EBEXP]

I'm curious how you guys track your maintenance for your vehicles.

I use an Excel spreadsheet to note the maintenance schedule / intervals, and fill in the date / mileage / shop / service performed / cost / notes.

Not the fanciest way but it works pretty well.

How are other people doing it?

 

[watt9386]

masking tape and a sharpie

 

[Xplorer82]

a notebook titled "The Ex".

everything and anything done to my truck is written down in sections (along w/dates and miles things were done) I.E. - oil change section, tire rotation section, Suspension section, well you get the point.

 

[ranger7ltr]

I have done this for over 20 years...

Log books in the glove compartment in my Charger, my Explorer and my wifes' Kia...

Sharpie on any removable fliters with change dates, mileage, etc...

And since I do all the maintenance on our vehicles I have a portable in the garage which acts as a redundant system where any oil, filters, hoses, parts, etc. I register into a old Dbase IV file I wrote years ago...Anything that comes into the garage gets tallied by item, price, and destination so I determine yearly usage cost...

I use the Ex for work so I need to be able to track these costs...

 

[sabasigh]

I have a 3-ring binder that I put all invoices/receipts from shop work and any work I do myself.

Have a page from a manila folder in front that I write the timeline on. Date, work, and mileage.

Nothing fancy but that page tells me what I need to know. Then I can goto receipts and see where prices have gone up/down, etc.

 

[Maniak]

When I can't remember when I've done it last I look into it and see if it needs it again..

Course, with age and more vehicles I'm doing things more often. I always "want" to keep track of it.. I just never do..

I do at least put a label on the windshield with the last oil change mileage..

~Mark

 

[OneLever]

Good records pay off

I prefer a hard copy for such matters. I use spiral bound notebooks with all work assigned a name, date, job number, mileage, start and end time, and page number since jobs can take several days and pages. Major actions are separated by consecutively numbered steps which have lettered sub steps for every action performed. Record specs of bolts by number and size E.g. (6x10MM) for six 10mm bolts. Bag and tag with same notation and record torque specs when installing. That way reassembly is a breeze, I just read the removal steps backwards and record what I'm doing as I install.

Also use a sharpie to mark the install date on replaceable items like lamps, filters, etc. Keep all automotive related receipts in a separate folder with a cover sheet listing buy dates and warranty lengths of major items. I record everything from minute to major, car wash to radiator replacement, there's no way to tell what info I'll want in the future. I also take pictures with a digital camera at major steps. I can recreate what I did and how it looked for nearly everything I've done.

 

[drothgeb]

I prefer a hard copy for such matters.

Good idea...my hard drive on my laptop just imploded and I lost ALL of my records dating back the 4 years I've had my explorer. And before you criticize me for not backing it up..I did, but now I cannot find my flash drive that I had it backed up on.

New hard drive... $150
New copy of Windows 7... $200
Realizing that hard copys cannot completely destroy themselves...priceless

But I do still have all of my receipts in a small folder in the glovebox.

 

[briwayjones]

I use an Excel spreadsheet to note the maintenance schedule / intervals, and fill in the date / mileage / shop / service performed / cost / notes.

Same here. And I scan all of the receipts and invoices to PDF.