A car log dies when the setup is too ambitious: every receipt, every parking hour, every tyre brand. Start smaller.
Day 1. Add the car: make, model, plate, current odometer. Nothing else.
First fill-up. Full tank if you can. Save litres, km, price per litre, station optional until the habit sticks.
Same week. Add the next due service if you know it (oil, inspection). If you do not know, skip it — guesswork creates fake reminders.
First cost that is not fuel. Parking, a wash, or a bottle of washer fluid. One category is enough. You are teaching yourself to capture something besides the pump.
End of week. You should have 1–3 fill-ups and maybe one expense. That is a successful week. Trends need a month, not a weekend.
Rules that keep people going:
– Log at the pump, not at home.
– Partial fills are OK; mark them. The average still works over time.
– Do not backfill five years of PDFs. Start today.
If you use Car Reminder, this is the whole onboarding: create the vehicle, log the next tank, set one reminder. Features like reports and cost per km start meaning something after a few weeks — not after a perfect archive.
