Car Maintenance Log: What to Record and How to Keep It

For cars, trucks, SUVs and motorcycles

A maintenance log is the simplest thing you can do to make a vehicle cheaper to own. It tells you what is due, proves what was done, and turns "I think the brakes were done a couple of years ago" into a date, a mileage and a receipt.

The fields every entry needs

Date of the service.
Odometer reading -- most service intervals are measured in miles or kilometers, not months.
What was done, using consistent names: oil change, tire rotation, brake pads, coolant flush.
Parts and fluids: oil weight and brand, filter part number, tire model.
Cost, and who did the work (a shop name, or DIY).
The receipt, as a photo. Paper fades; a photo does not.

What to track beyond oil changes

Tire rotations, replacements and alignments
Brake pads, rotors and fluid
Batteries, with the install date (most give a few years of service)
Coolant, transmission and differential fluid
Air and cabin filters, spark plugs, belts
Inspections, registration and recalls
Repairs: what broke, what it cost, and how it was fixed

Paper, spreadsheet or app

Paper is free and always works, but it cannot remind you of anything and it is gone if the folder is. A spreadsheet is searchable and easy to total, but it is awkward on a phone and keeps receipts somewhere else. An app keeps the entry, the photo and the reminder together, on the device you already carry to the shop.

Habits that keep a log useful

Log it before you leave the shop. The receipt is in your hand and the odometer is in front of you.
Use the same names every time so you can filter and total later.
Set a reminder for the next service the moment you log the current one.
Back it up. A log that dies with a phone is not a record.

Keeping your log in Provauto

Provauto is a vehicle maintenance log built around a timeline: every service, repair, fill-up, expense and note in one chronological feed, with over 25 built-in service categories, photos attached to each entry, and costs in your currency with miles or kilometers. It works offline, the free plan needs no account, and backup and restore are available to everyone. Premium and Pro, both one-time purchases, add cloud sync across iPhone and Android and vehicle reports in PDF, Excel and CSV.

Download Provauto, or read why service records matter when you sell.