Difficulties keeping on top of service histories
Discussion
Hey everyone,
My name is Harry, I have been lurking on these forums for a while now, all be it without an account but I thought it was about time to post a message for myself.
I have a 1.8L soft top Mazda mx-5 mk3 Niseko in Sunlight Silver. I have had it for almost 3 years now and it is wonderful. But one of the things I noticed was that keeping on top of service history is difficult/annoying. I have always been a neat freak, I love keeping things clean and tidy and organised so it has always annoyed me that my service history is just a bunch of disorganised piles of paper in a folder in my cupboard. I like to do my own servicing (as I am sure many of you do to) but that means its even more important for me to keep on top of what I have done, when I did it, what I used to do it, any pictures of what I did, things like this. Not just this it was a royal pain in my ass to figure out in the first place what had and hadn't been done, when it had been done etc... What I wanted was just one place where I could easily search through my history and add to it. I quickly found out that I shared this deep hatred of paper folders with a few friends and family as well, and that sparked an idea.
soooo, I started making a simple web application for me to digitise and keep on top of my cars history. This started out as just a tool for myself but I figured perhaps other people would like/be interested in it too so I decided to start posting about it. Since this is a new account I cant post any images for 2 weeks but once that is up I will send some pictures for anyone who might be interested.
The main idea is, you add different vehicles to your "driveway", then you can see various bits of information about your vehicle, and then of course you can upload new service entries. To upload you can add them manually or take pictures of your paper history and there is an AI image processing step to digitise it for you which is convenient. Everything is searchable of course too. The main big thing I would really like is automated emails to alert when a car needs a service or what parts are due to be replaced soon etc... The problem is sourcing vehicle service schedules. If enough people were interested this could maybe be solved with a bit of crowed sourcing? Anyway, everything is very much up in the air, I am still deciding if this is really worth my time so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps you guys already use something else? I would be interested to know what you use and why you use it. I just want this to be a nice easy thing for people to use (I am thinking about my girlfriend when I say that lol because she is terrible of keeping on top of MOTs and services).
My name is Harry, I have been lurking on these forums for a while now, all be it without an account but I thought it was about time to post a message for myself.
I have a 1.8L soft top Mazda mx-5 mk3 Niseko in Sunlight Silver. I have had it for almost 3 years now and it is wonderful. But one of the things I noticed was that keeping on top of service history is difficult/annoying. I have always been a neat freak, I love keeping things clean and tidy and organised so it has always annoyed me that my service history is just a bunch of disorganised piles of paper in a folder in my cupboard. I like to do my own servicing (as I am sure many of you do to) but that means its even more important for me to keep on top of what I have done, when I did it, what I used to do it, any pictures of what I did, things like this. Not just this it was a royal pain in my ass to figure out in the first place what had and hadn't been done, when it had been done etc... What I wanted was just one place where I could easily search through my history and add to it. I quickly found out that I shared this deep hatred of paper folders with a few friends and family as well, and that sparked an idea.
soooo, I started making a simple web application for me to digitise and keep on top of my cars history. This started out as just a tool for myself but I figured perhaps other people would like/be interested in it too so I decided to start posting about it. Since this is a new account I cant post any images for 2 weeks but once that is up I will send some pictures for anyone who might be interested.
The main idea is, you add different vehicles to your "driveway", then you can see various bits of information about your vehicle, and then of course you can upload new service entries. To upload you can add them manually or take pictures of your paper history and there is an AI image processing step to digitise it for you which is convenient. Everything is searchable of course too. The main big thing I would really like is automated emails to alert when a car needs a service or what parts are due to be replaced soon etc... The problem is sourcing vehicle service schedules. If enough people were interested this could maybe be solved with a bit of crowed sourcing? Anyway, everything is very much up in the air, I am still deciding if this is really worth my time so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps you guys already use something else? I would be interested to know what you use and why you use it. I just want this to be a nice easy thing for people to use (I am thinking about my girlfriend when I say that lol because she is terrible of keeping on top of MOTs and services).
I have a 2006 MX-5, also sunlight silver; there is no service book. Mazda went to storing the data on a database. Dealers and those specialists who pay to be able to do it, can update it. It stops fake histories. I do like to put all the receipts and invoices in chronological order though, in a binder. One of the fun things I get to do with every change of car. 
Some people will be interested, but I'm surprised how many people keep nothing or just chuck stuff in a folder, or the glovebox with no organisation.
Many more recent cars have reminders built into the car display that prompts you anyway about servicing.
Some people will be interested, but I'm surprised how many people keep nothing or just chuck stuff in a folder, or the glovebox with no organisation.
Many more recent cars have reminders built into the car display that prompts you anyway about servicing.sixor8 said:
I have a 2006 MX-5, also sunlight silver; there is no service book. Mazda went to storing the data on a database. Dealers and those specialists who pay to be able to do it, can update it. It stops fake histories. I do like to put all the receipts and invoices in chronological order though, in a binder. One of the fun things I get to do with every change of car.
Some people will be interested, but I'm surprised how many people keep nothing or just chuck stuff in a folder, or the glovebox with no organisation. Many more recent cars have reminders built into the car display that prompts you anyway about servicing.
You have a great taste in cars lol.Some people will be interested, but I'm surprised how many people keep nothing or just chuck stuff in a folder, or the glovebox with no organisation.
Many more recent cars have reminders built into the car display that prompts you anyway about servicing.Yeah you're right about the brand specific digital stuff. I personally don't like that because its brand specific, if I have a mazda and my girlfriend has a Fiat 500, there isn't 1 single place to manage everything nicely. I have not actually used the mazda digital history, but I am assuming it doesn't let you note down things you have done yourself?
Also yeah modern cars do reminders, but I guess a lot of people don't have a car that will remind you of services. As well, yeah, basically everyone I know just uses a folder and calls it a day. Most people might not care? I don't really know. But I do know that a nice neat clear history helps with selling a car and maybe enthusiasts might find it useful? for keeping track of what they have done and any notes etc...
brillomaster said:
Nah just the folder of paper invoices and a calendar works for me to be honest. Mot is the same time every year, and service is based on time or miles, whichever comes first.
Not really that difficult for me, never felt the need to AI or digitise it...
Yeah I understand that. I think most people are the same.Not really that difficult for me, never felt the need to AI or digitise it...
A lot of Apps already have this function. The AA app lets you add all your cars and put all the info like insurance MOT service dates etc in and it will remind you. Obviously it’s used for data farming but it’s quite useful with having 4 cars and 3 motorbikes to keep on top of.
I would use an independent App that could prove it wasn’t going to spam my data to everyone so my email inbox gets filled.
I would use an independent App that could prove it wasn’t going to spam my data to everyone so my email inbox gets filled.
I keep a note of when I service my car, what I've done and at what mileage. If I remember I keep receipts, a lot of online purchases don't come with anything more than a packing list.
I tend to buy a fairly fresh, low mileage car at 3 or 4 years old then drive it, doing all my own maintenance. By the time I come to sell many years later it's pretty low value and a fsh is not expected.
If a buyer is interested they can have the records, if they want a fully dealer stamped history they'll not be buying from me.
Not sure why I bother, I know that it's been serviced, by me, on time, with decent parts.
Don't think I could be bothered filling in spread sheets and scanning receipts.
I tend to buy a fairly fresh, low mileage car at 3 or 4 years old then drive it, doing all my own maintenance. By the time I come to sell many years later it's pretty low value and a fsh is not expected.
If a buyer is interested they can have the records, if they want a fully dealer stamped history they'll not be buying from me.
Not sure why I bother, I know that it's been serviced, by me, on time, with decent parts.
Don't think I could be bothered filling in spread sheets and scanning receipts.
Nicetobenice said:
A smartphone can already scan and file documents, photos and videos
Create a calendar for your cars and set reminders
You can set yourself tasks
It's all there already really
yeah that is definitely true but I would say that is more general document stuff. Also I would say, even when people can do something their self on their phone, it doesn't make it a good option or a reason to not use something else. Like people can cook, but they go to restaurants or get a takeaway because its convenient and handled for them and just a bit easier. I personally don't think I would want to use my phone to manage my service history because its then either on my phone or taking up space in my cloud storage, if I sold my car how do I pass on the documents easily? Phones can scan documents but storing tabular data in a structured searchable way is a separate thing etc... I think you make a fair point, but I also think that having a dedicated platform specifically tailored to managing this is more convenient and easier to use.Create a calendar for your cars and set reminders
You can set yourself tasks
It's all there already really
Do you think there is anything in particular that you would say your phone does really well to make it well suited for this?
Semperagressus said:
A lot of Apps already have this function. The AA app lets you add all your cars and put all the info like insurance MOT service dates etc in and it will remind you. Obviously it s used for data farming but it s quite useful with having 4 cars and 3 motorbikes to keep on top of.
I would use an independent App that could prove it wasnt going to spam my data to everyone so my email inbox gets filled.
Yeah I have heard this from a couple of people, the auto trader app also does reminders for like service and MOT etc... but you do have to manually add in the dates and remember to update them. I completely agree on the data point. I don't have any intention of sending peoples data to companies willy nilly, but I suppose I would say that wouldn't I lol. But yeah, no this is not meant to be a data scraping exercise, just a free tool of convenience for people. I am aware there are lots of different apps that do lots of different things but maybe people are using more than one app for different things, and if I can tie it together that might be useful and convenient for people.I would use an independent App that could prove it wasnt going to spam my data to everyone so my email inbox gets filled.
Do you have any features in mind that you would think you'd definitely need to see to even consider using a platform like this?
LightweightLouisDanvers said:
I keep a note of when I service my car, what I've done and at what mileage. If I remember I keep receipts, a lot of online purchases don't come with anything more than a packing list.
I tend to buy a fairly fresh, low mileage car at 3 or 4 years old then drive it, doing all my own maintenance. By the time I come to sell many years later it's pretty low value and a fsh is not expected.
If a buyer is interested they can have the records, if they want a fully dealer stamped history they'll not be buying from me.
Not sure why I bother, I know that it's been serviced, by me, on time, with decent parts.
Don't think I could be bothered filling in spread sheets and scanning receipts.
Yeah that's fair. My dad has been using a spreadsheet but I do not like it at all, its annoying to add to, difficult to read through, don't get me wrong its better than rummaging through paper in a folder but, yeah its not ideal.I tend to buy a fairly fresh, low mileage car at 3 or 4 years old then drive it, doing all my own maintenance. By the time I come to sell many years later it's pretty low value and a fsh is not expected.
If a buyer is interested they can have the records, if they want a fully dealer stamped history they'll not be buying from me.
Not sure why I bother, I know that it's been serviced, by me, on time, with decent parts.
Don't think I could be bothered filling in spread sheets and scanning receipts.
I don't completely agree with the stuff about buying a car though. I personally always look for a good service history, because passing an MOT is easy, but if I am going to buy a car, I want to know what things have been done, what things might I need to do in my ownership. Getting a good FSH is important to me really. That being said, I accept you are less concerned with it and I don't think that is a bad thing, I think most people are probably the same.
I am curious though, if a garage put your service history into a digital record, would you like that? Would you not really care? Would you still ask for paper copies?
There are already various apps available for keeping track of important dates.
I’m old fashioned and use a paper diary ( remember them ?) and have a folder for each car in a filing cabinet where everything is kept.
Every invoice , every mot , all purchase docs etc.
Not very forward thinking but it works.
Clearly I’m not your target market though.
I’m old fashioned and use a paper diary ( remember them ?) and have a folder for each car in a filing cabinet where everything is kept.
Every invoice , every mot , all purchase docs etc.
Not very forward thinking but it works.
Clearly I’m not your target market though.
Not sure if you're aware, but Custodian does something very similar + more?
https://www.custodian.club
https://www.custodian.club
I am fortunate enough that the two cars in our family and my sons car which I also service have the old style service book with the little boxes for a stamp etc. I simply record date, mileage and then write Service by owner, then I list exactly what I have done last one was a big list, oil, oil filter, air, pollen filter, cam follower, blacked the underside, i list literally every little thing I do.
We tend to keep cars a long time and when we sell them which I always do privately never part ex the cars are only worth 2-3k.
Personally I would rather see a written record of what’s been done, it’s not practical to keep all receipts so there is an element of trust but that’s where human nature and gut feeling come in, but ultimately it is buyer beware.
Also when I do the servicing I know it’s done heard too many horror story’s of franchise dealers ticking boxes and not doing work.
We tend to keep cars a long time and when we sell them which I always do privately never part ex the cars are only worth 2-3k.
Personally I would rather see a written record of what’s been done, it’s not practical to keep all receipts so there is an element of trust but that’s where human nature and gut feeling come in, but ultimately it is buyer beware.
Also when I do the servicing I know it’s done heard too many horror story’s of franchise dealers ticking boxes and not doing work.
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