How Do You Keep Track of MOT, Tax, Insurance, and Servicing?
Discussion
Hi all,
Curious how everyone actually keeps on top of all the admin for their cars - MOT, tax, insurance, servicing, etc.
Do you use an app, a spreadsheet, a calendar, or just hope for the best?
I’ve nearly missed an MOT date before, and it feels like there’s always another renewal or bit of paperwork lurking.
Would love to hear what routines, tools, or clever tricks people here actually use to avoid missing stuff.
Anything that genuinely works - or is it just organised chaos for everyone?
Curious how everyone actually keeps on top of all the admin for their cars - MOT, tax, insurance, servicing, etc.
Do you use an app, a spreadsheet, a calendar, or just hope for the best?
I’ve nearly missed an MOT date before, and it feels like there’s always another renewal or bit of paperwork lurking.
Would love to hear what routines, tools, or clever tricks people here actually use to avoid missing stuff.
Anything that genuinely works - or is it just organised chaos for everyone?
advancespace said:
Thanks, CloudStuff useful to know it works well for you.
Is there anything you wish VehicleSmart did differently, or features you d want that it doesn t cover (especially in the free version)?
Always interested in what actually helps in real life!
Well, if it were to enable me to track MOT, tax, insurance, servicing, breakdown cover, scan my paintwork for swirls using satellite imagery, ring camera footage and google earth image aggregation and provide me with a passive income, all for no outlay that would be splendid :-)Is there anything you wish VehicleSmart did differently, or features you d want that it doesn t cover (especially in the free version)?
Always interested in what actually helps in real life!
But in all seriousness, it sounds like you are maybe tempted to develop something similar?
Haha, you got me—I am building something like this, mostly because I was fed up with juggling all the dates for MOT, tax, insurance, and servicing myself. None of the current apps really did what I wanted, so I started putting together my own tool on the side.
No satellite scans or Google Earth features (yet!), but I’m aiming to keep it simple and actually useful for the real admin headaches - one stop for all car related stuff. Don’t want to hijack the thread or do a hard sell, but if anyone’s interested in trying it out or wants to see more, just shout and I’m happy to share.
No satellite scans or Google Earth features (yet!), but I’m aiming to keep it simple and actually useful for the real admin headaches - one stop for all car related stuff. Don’t want to hijack the thread or do a hard sell, but if anyone’s interested in trying it out or wants to see more, just shout and I’m happy to share.
I ve got a spreadsheet with a simple conditional formatting using today date function. I have it as yearly and monthly cost and then if I pay yearly I can budget per month so I m not hit with a huge bill without some form of saving
I have green for over 9 months for renewal
Amber for 3 months or less
And red for 1 month or less or past
I use it for all bills and outgoings, the amber allows me enough time to shop around before the required date. I find I ended up spending a lot more money if renewing last minute. (Insurance is a good example)
Also it s worth noting down which provider you need to contact , as I rarely stick with any supplier out of loyalty so it can get confusing remembering who you are with
And I record the last years price so I can see what I paid before, probably just to punish myself hahaha
I do this for everything in my life, subscriptions, house bills. I actually don t know how I would budget or run my life without it. No way my memory could keep up. The driver for the spreadsheet was not understanding where my money started to disappear to each month
I have green for over 9 months for renewal
Amber for 3 months or less
And red for 1 month or less or past
I use it for all bills and outgoings, the amber allows me enough time to shop around before the required date. I find I ended up spending a lot more money if renewing last minute. (Insurance is a good example)
Also it s worth noting down which provider you need to contact , as I rarely stick with any supplier out of loyalty so it can get confusing remembering who you are with
And I record the last years price so I can see what I paid before, probably just to punish myself hahaha
I do this for everything in my life, subscriptions, house bills. I actually don t know how I would budget or run my life without it. No way my memory could keep up. The driver for the spreadsheet was not understanding where my money started to disappear to each month
Edited by mintmansam on Saturday 5th July 16:53
For five cars its fairly straightforward. I have a trello board with a column for each month to track services, MOTs and insurance. Insurance also email me reminders or sometimes renew automatically. All my tax is monthly direct debit so I don't have to worry about that. I have no desire to keep track of how much I'm actually spending, beyond making sure there's enough in the account when I need it.
advancespace said:
Haha, you got me I am building something like this, mostly because I was fed up with juggling all the dates for MOT, tax, insurance, and servicing myself. None of the current apps really did what I wanted, so I started putting together my own tool on the side.
No satellite scans or Google Earth features (yet!), but I m aiming to keep it simple and actually useful for the real admin headaches - one stop for all car related stuff. Don t want to hijack the thread or do a hard sell, but if anyone s interested in trying it out or wants to see more, just shout and I m happy to share.
I use Caura to keep track of MOT, tax, insurance and servicing for my cars. Works well but could undoubtedly be improved up but as a basic and free service, it’s not bad. No satellite scans or Google Earth features (yet!), but I m aiming to keep it simple and actually useful for the real admin headaches - one stop for all car related stuff. Don t want to hijack the thread or do a hard sell, but if anyone s interested in trying it out or wants to see more, just shout and I m happy to share.
Take a look at that, if you haven’t already - might be able to grab an idea or two?
We have five vehicles in the household, so we have a comprehensive spreadsheet that shows expiries for MOT, tax and insurance. At the beginning of the year, all these dates are added to the new kitchen calendar in red ink, so it's obvious when an expiry is approaching.
The spreadsheet also includes details of insurance providers, policy numbers, online portal "memorable words" and such like, as otherwise I'd never remember.
We also include a mileage column for 1st Jan each year, so we can keep track of how many miles each vehicle is covering in a calendar year, which is interesting.
Finally there's another column with private plates, and the expiries of various retention certificates for plates that aren't on vehicles.
It works for us, there's probably an app out there that could do it but we're quite happy with a more manual method.
The spreadsheet also includes details of insurance providers, policy numbers, online portal "memorable words" and such like, as otherwise I'd never remember.
We also include a mileage column for 1st Jan each year, so we can keep track of how many miles each vehicle is covering in a calendar year, which is interesting.
Finally there's another column with private plates, and the expiries of various retention certificates for plates that aren't on vehicles.
It works for us, there's probably an app out there that could do it but we're quite happy with a more manual method.
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