Vehicle Maintenance Log Spreadsheet: What to Track and How

A vehicle maintenance log is the cheapest insurance a fleet can have. Breakdowns rarely come out of nowhere: they come from an oil change that slipped by 5,000 km, a tire nobody rotated or a brake job postponed “until next month”. A simple spreadsheet that records every service and warns you before the next one is due prevents most of them.

What every maintenance entry should record

Field	Why it matters
Date	Builds the service history and supports warranty claims
Vehicle (plate)	Always from a drop-down list, never typed
Odometer	The single most important field: intervals are measured in km/miles
Type: preventive or corrective	Shows whether you’re preventing problems or reacting to them
Service performed	Oil change, brakes, filters, alignment, suspension…
Parts replaced	Helps detect parts that fail too often
Supplier / workshop	Lets you compare price and quality between workshops
Cost (parts + labor)	Feeds cost per vehicle and cost per km
Next service odometer or date	The basis for alerts

Preventive maintenance intervals

Always follow the manufacturer’s manual for each model. As a starting point, many fleets plan their schedule around intervals like these:

Service	Typical interval
Engine oil and filter	Every 5,000–15,000 km (3,000–10,000 miles), depending on oil and use
Air and fuel filters	Every 2 to 3 oil changes
Tire rotation	Every 8,000–10,000 km (5,000–6,000 miles)
Brake inspection	At every oil change
Alignment and balancing	Every 10,000 km or when tires are replaced
Coolant, belts and hoses	Inspect at every service; replace as the manual specifies

Heavy use (short trips, heavy loads, dusty roads) usually means shorter intervals.

How to build alerts in Excel

1. In the maintenance log, add a column Next service (km): =[@Odometer] + Interval.
2. In the vehicle register, find each vehicle’s latest planned service with MAXIFS.
3. Compare it with the vehicle’s current odometer (the latest value from the fuel log).
4. Apply conditional formatting: yellow when less than 1,000 km remain, red when overdue.

=MAXIFS(Maintenance[Next service km], Maintenance[Vehicle], [@Plate])

Do the same with dates for time-based items such as inspections, insurance and license renewals.

Don’t forget the tires

For trucks and vans, tires are one of the biggest costs after fuel. Give each tire an ID (or use its serial number) and log:

• vehicle and position (front left, rear right inner…)
• install date and odometer
• removal date, odometer and reason (wear, puncture, damage)
• retreads

With that, distance = removal odometer − install odometer tells you exactly how long each brand and position lasts, which is the data you need to negotiate with suppliers.

Reading the maintenance numbers

• Corrective share above ~30% of maintenance cost usually means preventive services are being skipped.
• The same corrective service repeating on one vehicle points to a root cause (driver behavior, a bad part or a bad workshop).
• Maintenance cost per km rising year after year is the clearest sign that a vehicle is approaching replacement.

Those indicators are covered in more depth in Fleet KPIs in an Excel dashboard.

Ready-made option

The Fleet Control Worksheet 7.0 includes preventive and corrective maintenance control, mechanical and electrical maintenance totals, tire control and dashboards with maintenance cost averages per vehicle, so you don’t have to build the formulas and alerts yourself. For the complete picture of running a fleet in Excel, see our fleet management spreadsheet guide.

FAQ

Is a paper logbook enough? Paper records the past but doesn’t warn you about the future. A spreadsheet calculates the next service and highlights what’s due.

Should I log maintenance by date or by mileage? Both. Most services are mileage-based, but vehicles that drive little still need time-based services (oil ages, rubber dries out).

How long should I keep maintenance records? For the whole life of the vehicle. A complete service history also increases resale value.