Vehicle Maintenance Tracker Help

Setup guide, answers to common questions, and a free assistant for the Vehicle Maintenance Tracker Google Sheets template.

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Hi! Ask me anything about the Vehicle Maintenance Tracker sheet: setup, service and odometer reminders, renewals, dates or linking Doyouok.

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  1. Vehicles tab: type over "Sample Car (rename me)" with your vehicle's name (its services, renewals and Service Log rows are renamed too) and its Odometer Reading. Add a row per vehicle.
  2. Service Schedule tab: the standard services are already listed for the sample car with typical intervals, "Every (Months)" and/or "Every (Distance)", whichever comes first. Check them against your owner's manual. For another vehicle use menu "Vehicle Tracker" > "Add standard services for a vehicle".
  3. Service Log tab: add the last time each service was done (date and odometer). The schedule then works out the next due date and odometer, and the status: Overdue, Due Soon, OK, or No History (nothing logged yet).
  4. Renewals tab: registration, insurance, inspection and so on, with their expiry dates.
  5. Press ENABLE TRACKER at the top of the Service Schedule. Google asks for permission once (see the FAQ below), then a test email is sent right away. From then on the sheet checks every day around 5:00 and emails you before each service and renewal is due.

Lite: calendar reminders, no scripts

  1. Lite has no scripts, so Google never asks for permissions and it works in the Google Sheets phone app. There are no buttons or menu: you edit the tabs directly.
  2. Rename the sample car on every tab at once: Edit > Find and replace, search "Sample Car (rename me)", tick "All sheets", Replace all.
  3. For another vehicle, copy the sample car's Service Schedule rows, paste them below and pick the other vehicle in the Vehicle column.
  4. Click "Add to Calendar" in a Service Schedule or Renewals row. Google Calendar opens with the reminder filled in: press Save. The event is placed 7 days before the due date (Settings > "Calendar Event Days Before Due"); if that day has passed, it is created for today. Services due only by distance have no date, so no calendar link.
  5. Done a service: add a Service Log row with the date and odometer, picking the same Vehicle and Service from the dropdowns. The next due date and odometer update; click "Add to Calendar" again for the next one. Renewed something: type the new Expiry Date. New odometer: update it on the Vehicles tab.

Pro: done a service, renewed something, new odometer

  1. Press OPEN DUE LIST at the top of the Service Schedule (or menu > Open due list). A side panel lists services that are overdue, due soon or have no history, renewals expiring within 60 days, and each vehicle's odometer.
  2. Done a service: press "Mark done". "Done on" is today; type another date or click the calendar icon to pick one. Enter the odometer (required for services due by distance) and the cost (optional), then Confirm. A Service Log row is added and the next due date and odometer are worked out again. An odometer higher than the vehicle's reading also updates Vehicles > Odometer Reading.
  3. Renewed something: pick the Renewal Term and press Renew, then Confirm. The expiry date moves forward by that term.
  4. New odometer: type it on the vehicle's card and save. It is stored with today's date. You can also type it on the Vehicles tab; the Reading Date is filled in for you.

Link Doyouok (free): know if reminders ever stop

  1. Sign up for free at doyouok.com.
  2. On the Doyouok dashboard create a check: Task Name "Vehicle Tracker", Timeout (hours) 26, then press Create.
  3. Press "Copy Link" on that check and paste it into Settings > "Doyouok Ping URL" in the sheet.
  4. In Doyouok > Notifications, connect Telegram, Slack or Discord.
  5. Press SEND TEST EMAIL on the Settings tab. The check turns "Up" on your Doyouok dashboard.
  6. You then get one message a day on Telegram / Slack / Discord listing what is due, and an alert (email included) if the sheet stops checking in or reports a failed reminder.

Frequently asked questions

Both have the Vehicles, Service Log, Service Schedule, Renewals and Dashboard tabs, by date or odometer, whichever comes first. Lite uses formulas only: you click "Add to Calendar" per service or renewal and there are no permission prompts. Pro adds automatic reminder emails by date and by odometer, a Due list side panel to mark services done and renew in one click, a monthly odometer email, renaming a vehicle on every tab at once, and optional Doyouok alerts if reminders stop.

On each tab (Vehicles, Service Log, Service Schedule, Renewals), select your rows from the Vehicle column to the last column you typed in and paste them into the same tab in Pro, starting at its Vehicle column: the columns are in the same order. Then press ENABLE TRACKER.

Yes. The script is your own private copy inside your spreadsheet, so Google shows this for every personal script. Click "Advanced", then "Go to (project name)", then "Allow". You only do this once.

Edit this spreadsheet (service log, odometer, expiry dates and the reminder log), send reminder emails from your account, run once a day, show the Due list side panel, and connect to an external service (only used if you add a Doyouok Ping URL).

Services and renewals with a date: Settings > "Reminders Before Due" = Multiple (30, 14 and 7 days before, and on the due date, the default) or Single (7 days before, and on the due date). Services due by distance: one reminder when the vehicle is within Settings > "Due Soon Distance" of the next due odometer. With "Keep Reminding When Overdue" = Yes, an overdue service is reminded again every 30 days until it is logged, and an expired renewal every day until it is renewed. The daily run is around 5:00 in the spreadsheet's time zone (File > Settings).

Nothing matching it is on the Service Log yet. Add a Service Log row with the date (and odometer) it was last done, picking the same Vehicle and Service as the schedule row from the dropdowns. Or press OPEN DUE LIST and "Mark done".

Pro: no. Type the new name over the old one in the Vehicle column of the Vehicles tab: its rows on the Service Schedule, Renewals and Service Log are renamed too. This works when you edit one name at a time; after pasting over several names, fix the other tabs by picking the vehicle from the dropdown. Lite: use Edit > Find and replace with "All sheets" ticked.

A Service Log row only counts when its Vehicle and Service match the Service Schedule row exactly; pick them from the dropdowns. Rows with other names (repairs) are kept as history and in the spend totals. Also check the Date and Odometer: the latest date and highest odometer are used.

Current Odometer on the Vehicles tab is the higher of the Odometer Reading and the highest odometer on the Service Log for that vehicle. Distance reminders are only as good as the latest reading, so with Settings > "Odometer Reminder" = Monthly you get an email when a vehicle's last reading is over 30 days old. Enter the new reading on the Due list or the Vehicles tab.

The service is due by distance, so the odometer when it was done is needed to work out the next due odometer. Type the reading from the dashboard; if it is higher than the vehicle's reading, Vehicles > Odometer Reading is updated too.

Yes. In "Mark done", type the date in the "Done on" box (in the same format as your sheet) or click the calendar icon next to it. You can also add or edit the row on the Service Log tab.

Dates follow the spreadsheet's locale, not your computer: e.g. 10/7/2026 in the United States, 07/10/2026 in the United Kingdom or Australia. Go to File > Settings, set Locale to your country, press Save settings and reload the sheet. The table, the Due list side panel and the reminder emails all use the same format. Dates you type are read with that locale too.

Settings > "Distance Unit" (miles or km), used in reminders. Enter odometer readings, "Every (Distance)" and "Due Soon Distance" in that unit. The standard intervals are the same numbers in either unit, so with km check them against your owner's manual.

They are common starting points, not manufacturer specifications. Your owner's manual is the authority, and towing, short trips or dusty roads shorten them. Change "Every (Months)" and "Every (Distance)" on the Service Schedule; leave one blank if the service only goes by time or by distance.

Check your spam / junk folder first; the email is sent from your own Google account, so add that address to your contacts. Make sure Settings > "Email Reminders To" has the right address (blank = your Google account email), then press SEND TEST EMAIL again.

Use menu "Vehicle Tracker" > "Check sheet for problems", then "Enable tracker" again; this recreates the daily timer and re-asks for permission if Google removed it. Link Doyouok (see above) to be told automatically next time.

Reload the spreadsheet; the menu appears a few seconds after it opens. Buttons and menus don't work in the Google Sheets mobile app; use a computer browser.

Yes. Click the small button in a column header to sort or filter, and add rows at the bottom. Don't delete the hidden ID columns or rename the column headers.

No. Everything stays in your Google account. With a Doyouok Ping URL, only service or renewal names, vehicle names, due dates and what is left are sent. Costs, notes, plates and VINs never leave your spreadsheet.

Free Gmail accounts can send up to 100 emails a day, far more than a personal tracker needs.

Menu "Vehicle Tracker" > "Disable tracker". Nothing is sent until you enable it again. To stop reminders for one service or renewal, set its Reminder column to Disabled.

Menu > Setup > "Rebuild template". Warning: this erases all your data and turns reminders off, so copy your rows somewhere first. Press ENABLE TRACKER again afterwards.