Auto Maintenance Plus

Auto Maintenance Plus covers every angle of an automobile's expenses and helps track these costs. While the program aims high, its interface left a little to be desired.

We made an immediate trip to the Help file because of this program's directionless interface. Even after reading command descriptions, we still needed several minutes of experimenting with the various tools before we understood how everything worked. The program was basically a collection of databases, all revolving around our various cars. After entering data ranging from our car's make and model, to its VIN and insurance information, the program provided areas to track maintenance and its expenses. While these were a handy way to eliminate our reliance on paper files for tracking our car's information, there were no reminders or alarms for future work, which would have been helpful. In addition, we were able to track expenses related to parts, fuel and other items, which were viewed in easily read bar charts. The program's strongest feature was its loan calculator, which helped us figure out a car loan's payment. While tracking our expenses will require a lot of diligence over the life of a car, it was worth the effort for the amount of detail showcased.

Auto Maintenance Plus comes with a 15-use trial. It comes as a compressed file, installs desktop icons without permission and leaves behind folders after uninstall. While it takes a lot of data entry, its excellent results lead us to recommend this program.