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Best car maintenance apps for iPhone

Five iPhone apps for tracking car maintenance, compared on service reminders, records and receipts, costs, privacy and price, with the facts from each App Store page.

Carumi is made by Lucernel.

On this page
  1. 1Short answer
  2. 2The picks
  3. 3What a maintenance app should do
  4. 4Free apps and what they cost
  5. 5Recalls are free to check anywhere
  6. 6FAQ
  7. 7Our pick

Short answer

Carumi is our pick for keeping a car’s whole service history in one private place: every service with its receipt, reminders by date or mileage, and a clean record to share when you sell. CARFAX Car Care is the strongest free option if you want recall alerts and repair cost estimates, and Car Cave if you want a one-time price.

Choose this if

Choose Carumi for a complete, private service record with documents and a shareable Vehicle Passport.

Choose CARFAX Car Care for free recall alerts and cost estimates, Car Cave to pay once, Fuelly or Drivvo if

Fuel economy and expenses come first.

The picks

  1. Carumi

    Best for a complete, private service record for every vehicleSee the official app page for current pricing.Made by Lucernel

    Keeps each vehicle’s services with receipts and photos, schedules maintenance by date, mileage or whichever comes first, tracks insurance, inspection and registration deadlines, and builds a Vehicle Passport PDF when you sell.

    Good
    • VIN and paperwork scanned with the camera, on the device
    • Maintenance by date, mileage or both
    • Deadlines for insurance, inspection, tax, registration and warranty
    • Shareable Vehicle Passport PDF with privacy controls
    • No Lucernel account; records stay on your iPhone, with optional private iCloud sync
    Watch out for
    • iPhone only
    • No recall alerts or repair cost estimates
    • Check Carumi’s official page for current store details.
  2. CARFAX Car Care

    Best for free service alerts, recalls and repair estimatesFree

    A free app that shows when your car is due for oil, tires, filters and inspections, keeps its service history, sends safety recall alerts, estimates repair costs and lists rated repair shops nearby.

    Good
    • Free, with no in-app purchases listed
    • Safety recall notifications
    • Repair cost estimates and shop reviews
    • Rated 4.8 from about 127,000 ratings
    Watch out for
    • Its privacy label lists data used to track you
    • Built around the CARFAX ecosystem, including trade-in offers
  3. Car Cave

    Best for paying once instead of subscribingFree download; Premium Features listed at $4.99

    A maintenance log with reminders by mileage, time or whichever comes first, color-coded status for upcoming services, cost tracking and cars you can share with family.

    Good
    • One-time Premium purchase, no subscription
    • Reminders by mileage, time or both
    • Share cars with family or a small fleet
    Watch out for
    • Smaller user base (about 370 ratings)
    • Requires iOS 17.5 or later
  4. Fuelly

    Best for fuel economy tracking with service remindersFree download; Premium listed at $0.99 a month or $7.99 a year

    Tracks gas mileage at every fill-up and keeps maintenance records with customizable reminders, attachments for photos and PDFs, charts of costs, and sync with Fuelly.com.

    Good
    • Detailed MPG tracking
    • Service reminders with presets
    • Privacy label: no data collected
    Watch out for
    • Last updated in June 2024
  5. Drivvo

    Best for expenses for many kinds of vehicles, including small fleetsFree download; subscriptions listed from $0.99 a month to $119.99 a year for fleets

    Records refueling, maintenance, oil changes and other expenses for cars, motorcycles, trucks, boats and equipment, with a separate fleet management plan for businesses.

    Good
    • Covers almost any vehicle or equipment, even by hour meter
    • Personal and fleet plans
    Watch out for
    • Its privacy label lists data used to track you
    • Many plans to compare

How we chose: We looked for iPhone apps that keep car maintenance records and ranked them for an owner who wants to stay on schedule and keep proof of the work, on five criteria: reminders by date and mileage, service records with documents, cost tracking, how data is handled according to the App Store privacy label, and price and upkeep as listed on the App Store on September 26, 2026. Facts about other apps come from their App Store pages. Carumi is made by Lucernel, the publisher of this page.

What a maintenance app should do

The job is simple: remember what was done and when, remind you before the next service, and keep the proof. Reminders should work by date and by mileage, because oil, tires and inspections follow different clocks.

Receipts matter more than they seem. A complete history with invoices helps with warranty claims, answers a buyer’s questions and often supports a better resale price.

Free apps and what they cost

CARFAX Car Care is free and sits inside CARFAX’s wider business, with repair shop listings and trade-in offers in the app. Paid apps charge you directly instead. Neither model is wrong; read the privacy label and decide which trade you prefer.

Recalls are free to check anywhere

Recall alerts are a real advantage of CARFAX Car Care, but any owner can check open recalls by VIN on NHTSA’s website at no cost. Our free VIN decoder also lists recalls for a car’s make, model and year.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best app to track car maintenance?

For a complete, private record with documents, Carumi. For free recall alerts and repair estimates, CARFAX Car Care. To pay once, Car Cave.

Is there a free car maintenance app?

Yes. CARFAX Car Care is free, and several others offer free versions with paid upgrades.

Can an app remind me of oil changes by mileage?

Yes. Carumi, Car Cave, Fuelly and CARFAX Car Care all remind you of services by mileage, and Carumi and Car Cave also by date, whichever comes first.

Why keep receipts for car maintenance?

They prove the work was done for warranty claims and buyers, and they show what the car really costs you over time.

Is Carumi available?

See the official app page for current availability and pricing.

Our pick

Carumi, every service, part and date in one record

If you want the whole history of your car in one place you control, Carumi keeps every service with its receipt, reminds you by date or mileage, and turns it into a Vehicle Passport when you sell.

  • Maintenance by date, mileage or both
  • Receipts, photos and documents per service
  • A shareable Vehicle Passport PDF
See how Carumi works

Sources · checked September 26, 2026

  1. App Store: CARFAX Car Care
  2. App Store: Car Cave - Car Maintenance Log
  3. App Store: Fuelly: MPG & Service Tracker
  4. App Store: Drivvo - Car Expense Tracker
  5. NHTSA recalls and VIN lookup