5 Outstanding Apps to keep Control of your Car Budget

If you’re lucky, your car will cost you little more than your gas/petrol, insurance and car payments. If you’re unlucky, however, your car costs will burn a hole right through your pocket. So, to help you keep control of your car budget, I’ve collected five outstanding apps to help you track everything from your fuel expenses to your service history. Enjoy!

AutoCare

• Rating: 8 / 5
• Available on: Apple, Android

The first app on my list is AutoCare, a wonderful app available on both iPhone and Android.

The best thing about AutoCare is how easy it is to use. Fire it up and everything just makes sense. There are no complicated menus or weirdly intricate options. You can easily swipe between the different panels to control the different aspects of your budget — fuel costs, service records and reports.

I used AutoCare for a little over a week and had no problems adding, editing and removing details about my car.

Oh, it also supports multiple vehicles in the app, which is great if you’re looking after a business’ fleet or multiple cars in a household.

Fuelly

• Rating: 6 / 5
• Available on: Apple, Android

Fuelly is actually an app I’ve had on my phone for years. Back when it started, Fuelly was a simple fuel efficiency tracking app that allowed you to log fuel costs and the mileage on your odometer. With that info, Fuelly calculated your real world fuel efficiency, which is usually a fair bit lower than the manufacturer’s claims.

Related: 5 Student Lifestyle Hacks for Effective Personal Finance Management

Nowadays, Fuelly is so much more than just a fuel efficiency tracker. You can record your service history and schedule appointments/reminders for the future so you’re prepared for stuff like tyre rotations; oil changes interim/full services and so on.

myCARFAX

• Rating: 5 / 5
• Available on: Apple, Android

This app is — surprise, — developed by the US vehicle information giant, Carfax. Enter your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and Carfax digs into its massive data chest and populates the app with loads of super useful information like its ownership history, inspection data, open recalls and so on.

When you’ve entered your car into the app, it’ll automatically send you updates for upcoming routine maintenance like oil changes, tyre rotations etc.

My favourite thing about the myCARFAX app isn’t the data, though. It’s the repair cost estimator. Simply plug-in your ZIP code and select a repair type and the app will tell you how much you should expect to pay. It’s an excellent feature for non-technical people like me who just know that their car isn’t working properly.

DIY Car Maintenance

• Rating: 6 / 5
• Available on: Android

The DIY Car Maintenance app isn’t like the other apps on my list. While the other ones are all about logging services, predicting maintenance and tracking fuel efficiency, this app is all about education.

Fire up the app and you can access hundreds of simple step-by-step guides covering a bunch of simple car maintenance tasks, ranging from changing the oil and replacing tyres to checking fluid levels and replacing your cabin filter.

Drivvo

• Rating: 7 / 5
• Available on: Apple, Android

Drivvo is probably the least exciting of the apps on this list. It doesn’t do anything particularly exciting or unexpected but what it does do it does exceptionally well.

When you get down to it, Drivvo is a motoring expense tracker that pulls together everything from fuel and routine maintenance to cosmetic enhancement and repairs.

You start off by entering a few details about your car — make, model, license plate, fuel type, VIN number and so on — and then log any motoring expense.

If you’re diligent, the app provides a load of great data like average fuel efficiency and repair costs.

Related: Effective personal finance tips resources

About the Author:

Tom Butcher is a freelance journalist, focusing on business, finance and the automotive industry. He is currently helping LeaseFetcher raise awareness about car leasing.