How to use car maintenance apps

Car maintenance is one of those things that is so easy to neglect until there is a problem and your car needs immediate repair. Once you’ve found a good mechanic, you can stay on top of your car’s service schedule with the help of a car maintenance app. A vehicle maintenance app tracks everything from regular oil changes and tire rotations to some of the longer interval service requirements for modern cars.

Car maintenance tracking apps allow you to record past service events and get a notification when your car is due for some TLC, whether checking your car’s fluids or changing your car’s air filter. While the scope and functionality will vary from one app to another, they perform similar functions. We’ve selected four well-reviewed car maintenance apps that are free (albeit with in-app purchases) and offer solid options for both Apple iOS and Google Android users. All references to ratings, number of reviews, and prices are current as of January 2023.

Top 4 car maintenance apps

Fuelly

With a 4.5-star rating after more than 4,500 reviews, this iPhone-only car maintenance app is a popular option. Fuelly’s main functionality is tracking fuel costs and consumption for your car, but this vehicle maintenance app lets you set up reminders for service and track other vehicle information.

Fuelly can keep track of multiple vehicles, sync to the cloud at fuelly.com, and export all information for additional reporting. Fuelly is free, but the $4.99 premium version of the app removes ads and offers unlimited attachments.

aCar

aCar is essentially Fuelly for Google’s Android platform and remains one of the most popular options on the Google Play Store, with a 4.4-star rating following more than 20,000 reviews and over 1 million downloads. Like Fuelly, drivers can use aCar to track multiple vehicles for fuel consumption, mileage, service records, and service interval tracking. It can also sync to the cloud at fuelly.com.

Whether you’re a weekend driver with a single vehicle, a vehicle enthusiast, or a professional that drives for a living, aCar offers a wide range of useful and cost-saving functionality. aCar is free, but aCar Pro is available for $6.99. The premium version includes integration with social media, additional widgets and tools for the Android interface, and the ability to export your data for further reporting.

Autosist

Autosist is a popular car maintenance app available for Android and iPhone and well-reviewed on both platforms. Autosist is cloud-based and offers the usual suite of mileage, fuel, service records, and planned service interval tracking. You can use Autosist to manage other vehicles like planes, RVs, and boats. With functions that span from the simple to the more in-depth, Autosist’s main limitation is that the free version of the app only allows for managing a single vehicle. Those with multiple vehicles will need to pay anywhere from $9.99 to $19.99, depending on the number of vehicles they would like to manage with Autosist.

Drivvo

With versions for both Android and iPhone, Drivvo has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times and currently holds a 4.6-star rating after more than 44,000 reviews. Drivvo, which offers similar functionality to most vehicle maintenance apps, distinguishes itself by its efficient interface. The free version includes fuel pricing, mileage, consumption, service records, and service internal tracking for multiple vehicles and a range of reports and statistics. The Pro version of Drivvo costs $6 a year on an annual plan. It offers the ability to sync your data to the cloud (and to multiple devices), no ads, excel exporting, and access to technical support.

With the help of one of these apps, you’ll never again forget an oil change or hunt through a glove box full of receipts and forgotten handwritten notes from your mechanic. If you love tracking apps, learn how Snapshot from Progressive helps you monitor your safe driving habits and earn auto insurance discounts for being a safe driver.