Car Maintance tracking

[GMCAMARO]

About 10 years ago, I wrote a C++ program for myself that tracks oil changes for our 6 cars. A few weeks ago a neighbor saw it and wanted a copy, indicating that possibly, there is a market for such a program.

On the web there are free programs that do this, I know. The difference is my program, is more up to date in terms of miles driven daily calculations. Also, some of my cars, I change their oil on different schedules, the program accounts for this. The program also tracks tire rotation and maintenance items like that.
The point to this, is to understand if there is a market for such an application, if the app were 19.95 would you pay? Other thoughts would be appreciated?

 

[twiggles]

I use acar, which is an android app. I believe it has most of the functionality you mention, it was priced at $6 I think, and is well worth it IMO. I use it mainly for gas mileage tracking, which is fairly sophisticated.

I truly believe if you go down this route, you need to make it compatible with android and/or iOS, because that's what people are using. Also, with so many newer cars having maintenance minders, it makes a lot of that functionality obsolete. For instance, my Honda element, tells me exactly when and what i need to do maintenance-wise.

 

[spotco2]

We use those little free stickers in the corner of the windshield to remind us when oil changes are due on our daily drivers.

The garage queens get oil changes twice a year if they need it or not. Tractors and mowers get it at beginning of each season.

Tires get rotated every other oil change on daily drivers.

There are folks though that like to track things like this more than we do.

 

[Higgins]

IMHO, I would suggest you identify who the target market is! Is it the market like all the folks on GJ or the weekend warrior who needs to keep track of his auto wax!

Yrs ago I had a DOS program that was great! however that fell by the wayside as computers were upgraded!!! Right now I use a spreadsheet that I can put in the date, task, etc.. Works but is clumsy. Wish I could find something I like, but haven't found it as yet! Just my 2 cents!!!

 

[Sureshot]

Too pricey. People will do the 99 cent apps etc and no big deal if it is not what you thought. The most technical in-depth apps are $20.

It is a volume game.

 

[LAROKE]

I've been using "Care Care" for several years now to track and maintain my four rides.

http://www.carcaresoftware.com/

 

[ffjosh]

$2 maybe - $20 hell no.

 

[Blue XJ]

Check out the app called FuelLog, it sounds almost identical to the one you are thinking of making, and this one is free.

 

[RECox286]

You should make it a shareware with a trial period, then ask for a

donation, or a set price, if the user likes the program, to get a password.

One nice thing would be to have a print out of all the maintenance

done to each fleet vehicle, rather than try to keep it all in ones'

head. I used to use a program (Q & A) which would allow me to

design such a "fill in the blanks" type of data base, that was

searchable, and would do reports. However, it was a DOS

program, and when windows 6 was introduced, the program

would not work any more. I kept a DOS machine running until

I no longer had need of the program.

Good Luck

Uncle Bob

 

[Daedalus]

I've been using "Care Care" for several years now to track and maintain my four rides.

http://www.carcaresoftware.com/

+1 Been using it since Palm Pilots were cool, over 10 years now I think. It tracks every car-related expense, not just miles and oil changes.

 

[mrodgers]

I have a free app on my phone as well. All I want to do is log mileage and oil changes. I can add when I do other maintenance as well, but I don't really care when I put tires on the car, when they're bad, I know it's been years. Same with just about everything else. No one else cares either when I sell my car for a few hundred with hundreds of thousands of miles on it.

 

[pmiranda]

I just keep a log in a text file on my phone, synced to the computer just in case.
To sell it, I think you'd need to rewrite for Android and/or iOS, give away a free ad-supported version with an in-app upgrade to remove the ads for a buck or two.

Not much return on a sale but if it's noticeably better than the other ones out there you'll make plenty on volume.

 

[dmeadow]

There are apps that do all you say for less. I wouldn't recommend the one I have (Car Minder) because the developer has stopped supporting it and his customer service was pretty lousy, anyway.

 

[GMCAMARO]

My app calculates when you will need an oil change. This is done by putting the mileage and the dates of the oil change into the APP. It Calculates the days elapsed and you now know how many miles per day you have drivin per oil change.
So with in a week or so before the actual calculated date, it prompts you to prepare for the oil change. Additionally it already takes apart various web pages to provide you with your choice of oil filters. So in the case of Wix and fram it provides you with a choice of 3 of their oil filters part numbers. It already gives you a complete print out all maintenance logs. The program is already written, I have been using it for about 10 years.

Just thinking of packaging it, writing the help and uploading it.

 

[ilovevocs]

I use gas cubby on iphone. It tracks fuel milage and service criteria / intervals. It doesnt sound to be as intelligent as your program but i appreciete the fact that it runs from my phone which is almost always in my pocket.

 

[signcrafter]

I must be old school! I have a notebook in the garage and each vehicle gets a page in it and whenever I do anything I write down the date and milage and part numbers for future reference. Sorry I wouldn't pay for your app. Autozone or advance has something like that where I entered my milage and they guess based on average miles when my next oil change is. They are always sending me emails saying I need to do something, they are always way off.

 

[rponfick]

I'm with Signcrafter on this. I am too old to change. I write my info in the back pages of the owner's manual that lives in the glove compartment.

A couple of years ago when I bought a new Honda, I looked through the owner's manual to check the maintenance schedule. There was no maintenance schedule. Talked to my dealer and he said the computer will tell you what to do/when. I said BS, and this is another sign of the "Dumbing down of America". Wrote to Honda to get maintenance schedule. Never heard from them.

Now, I keep two sets of books: the one on the car computer and the manual notes in the glove box. I still change oil at about 4000mi, and the computer won't say so until after 10K.

IMPORTANT POINT, I learned if I reset my computer to "Zero" oil life at 4K, it screws up the computer, and all the other maintenance intervals are out of whack. So much for technology.

Ralph

 

[ilovevocs]

I must be old school! I have a notebook in the garage and each vehicle gets a page in it and whenever I do anything I write down the date and milage and part numbers for future reference. Sorry I wouldn't pay for your app. Autozone or advance has something like that where I entered my milage and they guess based on average miles when my next oil change is. They are always sending me emails saying I need to do something, they are always way off.

My shop guy uses a book but in addition he writes the milage and date on the oil filters / air filters with a sharpie. It makes it simple to check when your on the road or away from your note book. It doesnt work for everything, e.g. tire rotation ect, but for oil and filter changes it is worth the 5 seconds it takes.

 

[bdamico]

Nope. In any event, my new cars look at my driving habits and tell me when to change oil, which varies from a standard interval.

 

[Super Sport]

My app calculates when you will need an oil change. This is done by putting the mileage and the dates of the oil change into the APP. It Calculates the days elapsed and you now know how many miles per day you have drivin per oil change.
So with in a week or so before the actual calculated date, it prompts you to prepare for the oil change. Additionally it already takes apart various web pages to provide you with your choice of oil filters. So in the case of Wix and fram it provides you with a choice of 3 of their oil filters part numbers. It already gives you a complete print out all maintenance logs. The program is already written, I have been using it for about 10 years.

Just thinking of packaging it, writing the help and uploading it.

In your opinion it may be 'the ****', but no matter how good it is few people will pay anywhere close to $20 for an app. I only know a handful of people who will even pay for an app when it costs anything over free. It doesn't make much difference how good it is.

It does sound good, but it isn't really that complicated to do everything it does with other means. The people who care about car maintenance are most likely already set in their way or don't care to learn how to work a new program. Most young people who are computer savvy or have smartphones don't really care. They are lucky to get their oil changed at all, and all they are really concerned with is where the cheapest place is to have it done.

 

[Sureshot]

My shop guy uses a book but in addition he writes the milage and date on the oil filters / air filters with a sharpie. It makes it simple to check when your on the road or away from your note book. It doesnt work for everything, e.g. tire rotation ect, but for oil and filter changes it is worth the 5 seconds it takes.

I used to write the filter changes, oil quantity, antifreeze tests etc under the hood with a white marker.