Car fuel/service log template (spreadsheet tool)

Was filling in data for my car’s fuel and service logs for the past year when I thought I’d post it here in case someone else needs it too. It’s simplistic and is accompanied by a fuel log that you can print and keep in your car’s glove box to keep a record (in case you don’t have fancy PDAs that do it already).

What the spreadsheet provides (after all your data entry hard work):

1. Estimated average (Km/L) of your car
2. Spot average – this is exact (when you top your tank twice in a row)
3. Cost per Km

Here’s the spreadsheet: car-fuel-service-log-template.xls (Excel sheet – you can use the free OpenOffice Calc to use it). Directions of use are included in it, though I’d list them out here too:

1. Enter date of fuel fill (column A), kilometer reading (column B), total fuel filled (column F) and whether the tank was topped to be full (column E).
2. Other fields are optional, but will help if you enter data.
3. Column D (used %age), is the estimated used %age that you see from the fuel tank indicator – this value is used in case the used %age cannot be calculated (in column M).
4. Copy paste formulae in columns K (Left), L (Spot Mileage) and M (Used %age) from  the above rows to fill in values automatically (this is pre-filled till row 75).
5. Make sure you edit the tank capacity in the sheet as per the tank capacity of your car.
6. Total trip cost for particular trips can be summed and indicated in column M.

There’s an additional service sheet in the spreadsheet file that you can use to log your car’s service job details. I use it to keep a log of all the service jobs, what was fixed/replaced etc.

To maintain the fuel logs, I have this document: petrol-log-template.doc that I print out, trim to border with scissors and harden it by pasting two of them together. This is kept in my car until it fills up completely and then I enter data into the spreadsheet I mentioned above. At every fuel fill, I just have to ensure the discipline of filling in the fields and later filling them into the spreadsheet I maintain.