IMG_0413I’ll start off by being very honest. Taking care of my car the way that it should does not come very natural to me. I’m probably this way for a lot of reasons, some of them good, some of them bad. However, I’ve recognized that this is an area of growth in my life. Actually, I need help. If I don’t get the help I need, I’m probably going to be one of those guys with a cracked engine block because I forgot to put oil in it. I’m probably not that bad, but you get the picture.

A few weeks ago (when I was going to get an oil change) I downloaded Car Minder, and app for the iPhone/iPod touch. I was sitting in the office of the oil change place wondering how I could do a better job of maintaining my car. What actually got me thinking about it was wen the oil change guy always comes out to show you your air filter and asks you if you want to change it. I have no rhyme or reason as to why I say yes or no, it probably depends on how convincing the oil changing dude is. I thought to myself, “I wonder if there’s an app for taking care of my car.” Yup. Several.

I downloaded the cheapest, just a few bucks. You can track the maintenance needs of multiple cars. It will track how often you need to rotate tires, change the oil, change the air filter, change windshield wipers and service the belts. It determines when this is needed based both on time or mileage.

In addition it allows you to document repairs, maintain a gas log to see what kind of gas mileage you are getting or just add various information about the car. You can also write specific notes under each of the maintenance items. For instance, I left a note that my CR-V takes a #20 windshield blade for the driver side and a #19 for the passenger side. So the next time I’m at Walmart, I don’t have to look it up.

Here’s the only thing I wish Car Minder did that it doesn’t. Due to the nature of being a pastor and having to file an itemized tax return, I get to claim work related mileage on my tax return. I wish there was a way to record mileage for these situations in Car Minder. I could easily make notes of it, but something automatic would be best. So, if you’re looking for something like this, Car Minder is a great app.

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