If you’re anything like me, you can have real trouble keeping track of how much money you’re spending on your car each month.
Fuel, insurance, tax, repair services – they all add up. And it’s only natural that unexpected costs grace you with their presence at the worst possible time.
Don’t worry though. I’ve trawled through everything the internet has to offer and I’ve come up with a selection of the best 5 automotive budget apps to help you keep track of your car budget.
Let’s have a look at them in more detail.
Car Maintenance Service and Fuel Record
Rating: 4 out of 5 (Play Store)
This Android app is one for those on a budget– it’s completely free on the Google Play store! Okay, it doesn’t have the sexiest name in the world but it’s simple, clean and really easy to find your way around which is what you want in an app like this, to be honest.
Helping you keep track of everything from your insurance payments and servicing costs to your fuel expenses, Car Maintenance Service and Fuel Record even lets you set integrated reminders for each of these, as well as giving you the option to back-up all data online too.
All this and you don’t have to pay anything!
Gas Manager
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 (Apple Store)
A really nifty app if you own a lot of cars, Gas Manager lets you keep track of the gas expenses, fuel consumption and mileage for each vehicle separately. It has a pretty simple dashboard that makes it easy to use and the option of an email export makes using the data from this app easier to use as well.
If you’re worried about your impact on the environment, you’ll be glad to hear that Gas Manager has a carbon footprint calculator too, which lets you see how much CO2 your cars have emitted per km.
Fuel Monitor
Rating: 4.5 out 5 (Apple Store)
This one’s only for iOS annoyingly so Android users will miss out, but it’s too good to ignore.
A pretty comprehensive app, Fuel Monitor lets you track your cost per mile/km, your fuel consumption and your costs for repairs, services and maintenance.
Using it is pretty simple. Your data is simplified into clear charts which you can further break down into spend per month, giving you a pretty wide view of your finances.
If that’s not enough, you’ve even got the option of printing information straight from the app too, as well as exporting information via email and Dropbox too.
Fuelly
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 (Apple Store)
It might have a cute name, but don’t underestimate this powerful little app.
In terms of coverage, Fuelly lets you track pretty much everything you need to when it comes to keeping track of your auto budget.
If you want to find out more about your fuel consumption, you can add litres and price per litre when you fill up at the pump and generate efficiency charts to give you a better overview of your cost. You can also add maintenance and servicing costs too, setting reminders so that you know exactly what needs to be done and when.
Fuelly comes in two versions: a free and a paid one. The paid version is ad free and lets you import photos into the app itself. There’s no denying that the iOS version of Fuelly is miles ahead of the Android version, but this app is constantly developing so it’s likely that we’ll see massive improvements in both over times.
Drivvo
Rating: 4.7 out of 5 (Play Store)
This is probably the best app that I’ve come across when it comes to keeping on top of your auto finances and motor expenses.
All of the information that you input into Drivvo is analysed by the app and used to created custom charts to give you a proper overview of your expenses.
You can dive a lot deeper in terms of budget information in Drivvo too. The app lets you generate average information about all of your main stats which is great for gaining an overview about your spending habits over time. You can create data like average fuel efficiency, average cost of repairs and fuel stations with the cheapest petrol or diesel.
The only bugbear for me is the adverts in the free version (a perennial annoyance) but you can easily escape these by upgrading to the paid version, which lets you sync your app with other devices and upload info to the cloud too.
Start saving money today and download your favourite
Get in the driving seat of your auto finances and check these apps out! You’ll probably find something there that suits what you’re looking for– whether it’s a basic app to just calculate your monthly costs, or a more complex one that gives you a broader overview.
What’s your favourite option?
Tom Butcher is a freelance writer who recently escaped the world of print journalism. He covers a wide range of topics, including business, motoring and digital. He is currently working with Lease Fetcher to tell the world about car leasing.
