Most car problems can be headed off early if you just follow a regular maintenance routine. That said, you can find that it’s quite different to keep up with all of the work that your car needs to get done when you take into account all of the repairs, extras, services and legal tests.
Step in, car maintenance apps!
These let you remember, schedule and organize a maintenance schedule, keeping track of all of the things that you need to action.
In this blog, I waded through countless maintenance apps to find the 10 best iPhone and Android offerings that will help you keep your car in a good condition. Let’s get started.
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5 best car maintenance apps for iOS
Even though you’re forced to rely on the App store if you’ve got an iPhone, there’s still a pretty good collection of maintenance apps on offer – even if a lot of them are paid ones. Here are 5 of the best I’ve come across.
Car Minder Plus
- Review Score: 3.6 / 5
- Download: App Store
The child of a maintenance log and a fuel efficiency calculator, Car Minder Plus gives you the benefits of both with only a few drawbacks (namely the fact that this app hasn’t been updated in a while). That withstanding, it’s still a pretty powerful app that can analyse your data and help you predict potential problems which is pretty nifty.
AUTOsist
- Review Score: 4.3 / 5
- Download: App Store
Essentially, AUTOsist is a maintenance log – it lets you record details about your repair and service history so that you can save it for referring back to in the future. One of the best things about AUTOsist is the fact that you can take pictures and upload them to records in the app – surprisingly, that’s not a feature that you’ll find in the majority of car maintenance apps, so it gets my seal of approval for that alone.
AutoCare
- Review Score: 4.6 / 5
- Download: App Store
Don’t let the cute colour scheme fool you – this app is a fierce little thing. Capable of recording all of your service history, fuel records and then generating a maintenance schedule from this, AutoCare is really simple to use and is pretty intuitive. It syncs with iCloud so that your data is always backed up and it only costs $2.99 which isn’t too much in the grand scheme of things.
Fuelly
- Review Score: 4.7 / 5
- Download: App Store
myCARFAX
- Review Score: 4.8 / 5
- Download: App Store
Admittedly, this app is more geared towards the American market, but it’s still worth a look at for the sheer comprehensiveness of its maintenance log features. With a simple, easy to navigate interface, it’s pretty straightforward to add and schedule your car maintenance details. The perfect app for technophobes.
5 best car maintenance apps for Android
If you’re on the Android side of the fence when it comes to operating systems, and you’ve got a phone like the Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy or Huawei, there’s a pretty good selection of car maintenance apps in the PlayStore – enough to give Apple a run for its money anyway.
DIY Car Repair
- Review Score: 3.2 / 5
- Download: Google Play
So, this particular app is a bit different to the other ones that are on offer. You’ll probably find that most apps are designed for monitoring the health of your car – this one is actually designed to help you learn about your car so that you can fix it!
Using step-by-step instructions that are written in a simple and easy to understand way, it will guide you through the basics of some of the most simple car maintenance tasks, like replacing a tyre, changing the oil or checking your engine fluids.‘Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day,’ as the saying goes, ‘Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.’ In other words, you’ll probably save yourself a few trips to the mechanic with this app.
Car Maintenance Reminder Lite
- Review Score: 3.9 / 5
- Download: Google Play
The incredibly creative name of this app doesn’t do justice to how easy it is to use. Built around automated reminders, you just need to detail your services and repairs and the app will send you updates when you’re due another one.
The beauty of this app for me is how easily you can customise it to meet your requirements. Changing between units isn’t a hassle – and that should be enough to have any international traveller breathing a sigh of relief.
Car Problems & Repairs
- Review Score: 4.3 / 5
- Download: Google Play
First things first. This diagnostic app is a free one so you’re going to have to put up with a fair few adverts in it. I’d recommend digging your heels in and persevering with it though because this is a really powerful app overall.
It splits cars by manufacturer and further segments it by common problems to each, like battery, transmission, engine cooling etc. The idea is that you just scroll through the information until you find the symptoms that describe what’s up with your car.
aCar
- Review Score: 4.4 / 5
- Download: Google Play
The million plus downloads that aCar has had probably speaks more for the popularity and success of the app than I could. The thing that sets it out from the competition is probably how easy it is to use. It benefits from a really simple, clean and focused layout/ design, letting you schedule your services and repairs quicker than ever.
Drivvo
- Review Score: 4.75 / 5
- Download: Google Play
Drivvo collates all of your car expenses records into one handy app and lets you monitor your regular car maintenance whilst also calculating your mileage and fuel costs.
After you’ve entered some details about your car, like it’s make, model and fuel type, you’ll then just have to log in to the app and record expenses, as and when they happen.In a few weeks, after having diligently recorded all of your expenses, you’ll be able to access an incredibly informative range of data about stats like your average fuel efficiency and your average repair and maintenance costs.
Like most apps, you’ve got the options of free and paid-for versions. The free version is obviously a bit more basic than the paid one which is pretty comprehensive.
About the Author
Tom Butcher is a freelance writer, covering a wide range of topics, including finance, business and motoring. At the moment, he is helping LeaseFetcher educate the world about car leasing.
