There’s an old and very accurate adage that says the second you drive a car, it begins losing value the second you drive it out of the showroom. It also immediately becomes an ongoing expense. The biggest sign of that expense is the number of trips to the gas station. Most of us tend to tend to just pay for the gas, regular maintenance, and monthly payments and not think about whether we’re getting the best gas mileage possible.
Tracking fuel economy and other car expense data can ultimately save you a fair amount of money. Tracking gas mileage and common maintenance tasks can help you optimize when to have your oil changed for maximum oil life and fuel economy, encourage you to check your tire pressure, and even plan more fuel-efficient routes for your daily commute and other regular trips. All of that can add up to real savings over the long-term.
Keeping track of all that data so that you can spot trends, however, can be a big hassle. BitLizard’s CarXpenses can help you manage all that data. The iPhone app is clear cut and straightforward. It’s primarily based around tracking fuel economy and projecting how many miles you drive in a month or year and how much that ultimately costs you. It also offers the ability to predict regular maintenance and associated costs. That information can even help you predict accurate ownership costs when you shop for a new car.
Although consumer-oriented, CarXpenses does have some business value. If you drive your own vehicle for work trips and tasks, it can help you determine whether you’re better off taking the standard IRS per-mile cost or the actual costs when you file your taxes or submit a mileage report to your employer.
The latest version, released over the weekend, adds a few nice features:
- Data backup using Dropbox
- The ability to sync data between multiple devices
- The option to export as a .csv file that can be pulled into Excel, Numbers, and other spreadsheet or database tools for further number crunching
CarXpenses is available for $1.99 in the App Store.
Source: BitLizard
