[Cliffj]

Greetings folks. I have been lurking here and at Bimmerfest for a while. I just ordered what will be my 4th 3 series.

Alpine white 335i, Manual, Terra / Poplar, Sport, Premium, heated seats, sat radio, HD radio, 6FL. It is "on order", so the wait begins.

I was wondering if anyone had developed an Excel spreadsheet to track maintenance expenses and service performed? I intend to keep this car a long time, as I have my others, and expect to have this car about 8 years and 200K miles. I intend to track my expenses and utilize the spreadsheet as a record of all the service performed.

I did a search, but could not find anything. I have been using a simple PALM OS application on my Palm T/X, but would like to switch over to a spreadsheet for various reasons.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

TIA

Cliffj

[raleedy]

Seems like a waste of time and effort. Maintenance and expense for the first four years are very limited, and BMW keeps track of it all through its computer system. That's one of the great virtues of the car. You can make a project if you want, but that effort might be used more productively on something that actually matters.

[Cliffj]

raleedy - appreciate your response. Time and effort is subjective. Not a waste for me, since I intend to perform a lot more frequent maintenance than the "free" stuff BMW provides. I don't believe in 20K mile oil changes and "lifetime" fills on manual transmission and rear end differential fluids.

Thanks for the input though.

[LEDZEP]

I keep a spreadsheet for mileage, etc. I make comments in it for when certain maintenance is performed, but don't really track it seperately (anymore).

Do you use Quicken or MS Money for personal finances? If so, you can always create the appropriate category and track the expenses that way.

[sbw]

I also run a spreadsheet for mileage. But not maintenance.

[Cliffj]

Thanks guys. If I develop one, I will post it up. I am looking for a spreadsheet such that I can enter my current mileage, and then it will notify me if any maintenance is due, such as break fluid flush, oil change (I am going to change oil about every 7500 - 10000 mi), trans or diff fluid, etc. I will also use it to track who performs the service and the cost. I will also use it to track any non-routine service.

I currently have a Palm OS application that does all these functions, but it is old and has not been updated in some time.

Cliffj

[sa8901]

Originally Posted by raleedy

Seems like a waste of time and effort. Maintenance and expense for the first four years are very limited, and BMW keeps track of it all through its computer system. That's one of the great virtues of the car. You can make a project if you want, but that effort might be used more productively on something that actually matters.

now what do you mean by limited? I thought you can get maintenance done whenever where ever?

[Buttercup]

I too am looking for a maintenance spreadsheet, if you come across or create one I am interested. I am new to this forum, not certain how it all works yet.

Thanks so much

[bimmertt]

Why do you need some special template to record this stuff?

I have an excel spreadsheet and I just record the type of service performed, date, mileage, and cost.

I also record modifications, cost of modifications, date/mileage installed, etc.

Can't afford excel? Use google docs.

[Tom K.]

The Excel files I've set up basically have a sheet for fuel mileage & cost, a sheet for maintenance and a sheet for annual costs (useful for business purposes) with cross-links as necessary.

Tom

[Buttercup]

Thanks guys, I did create a spreadsheet. Just curious how others did theirs.

I'm trying to get a handle on managing the maintenance economics, my free maintenance recently expired. It seems the BMW dealer fees are nearly twice that of what I am use to. For instance, they charge $50 to reset the software counter. I had a state inspection done and I don't need the software counter reset, that is easy enough to keep track of myself. Same for the cabin microfilter, every (2) years right? Just figure that there are times I don't need the automatic notices for the fee. Another example of why I prefer keeping my own record is that the car does not communicate everything to the dealer. It won't communicate when your battery needs replaced; they wanted $60 just to check the charge. I can keep track of replacing the battery every 5 years on my own. Just trying not to pay out the wazoo all the time.

[Tom K.]

For both State Emission and/or Safety Inspections, you can reset the (date) counter yourself. Check under "Roadworthiness Test" in your manual - in my '07 (iDrive) manual it's on p.79.

Tom

[Crusader]

Do your own, modify it as your experience in maintaining your bimmer increases. You might want to download the "old school" schedule which reflects maintenance for those who actually want to keep their cars after the warranty expires.