Do you track your motoring costs, or prefer not to know?

[Kilvo]

Hi everyone,

I started building Kilvo because I realised I honestly had no clue how much my car was costing me. You notice the fuel, but then there's servicing, tyres, MOTs, insurance and all the other bits that somehow empty your wallet without you really noticing.

I used to keep random notes and tell myself I'd sort it all out later, which never happened. So I ended up making a simple iOS app to keep everything in one place and make sense of it all. The first car is free to track, which seems fair enough.

I'm still working on it and I'd genuinely be interested to know how other people handle this. Do you track your motoring costs at all, or is it one of those things you'd rather not know? If you do track it, what works well and what annoys you about the way you do it now?

Happy to hear any opinions, even if it's just "I'd never use something like this". Sometimes that's just as useful.

Cheers.

 

[Scalloway]

If you are in business, which most of the users here are, vehicle costs will be recorded in the business accounts. Also most fuel etc will be paid by card so you can just download a CSV form the bank and analyse from there. Using an app sounds to me just a bit of extra faff.

 

[Kilvo]

If you are in business, which most of the users here are, vehicle costs will be recorded in the business accounts. Also most fuel etc will be paid by card so you can just download a CSV form the bank and analyse from there. Using an app sounds to me just a bit of extra faff.

Fair point if we're only talking about accounting Kilvo isn't meant to replace that — it's designed to help manage the vehicle itself: mileage, maintenance, reminders, service history, and the real cost of ownership, all in one place

 

[Newchodge]

Fair point if we're only talking about accounting Kilvo isn't meant to replace that — it's designed to help manage the vehicle itself: mileage, maintenance, reminders, service history, and the real cost of ownership, all in one place

Why do you thin that is only of interest to business owners?

 

[fisicx]

Why does it have to be an app. A website where you can create an account would be far more useful.

 

[Kilvo]

Why do you thin that is only of interest to business owners?

Not only business owners, but for a taxi company with 25+ cars it can be especially useful

 

[Kilvo]

Why does it have to be an app. A website where you can create an account would be far more useful.

The app is much more convenient for day-to-day use: you refuel — record it straight away, pay for parking — open the app and add the expense. You can also attach receipt photos, service records, and keep everything linked to the right vehicle

 

[fisicx]

Fair enough. Or you could just check your bank account each month.

It not really just cars that eat up your money. All those fancy coffees, buns, pies and snacks you get can cost a bomb.

Which is why there are already a number of cash tracking apps you can install. I’d possibly find this more useful that an app that just did car expenses.

 

[Kilvo]

Fair enough. Or you could just check your bank account each month.

It not really just cars that eat up your money. All those fancy coffees, buns, pies and snacks you get can cost a bomb.

Which is why there are already a number of cash tracking apps you can install. I’d possibly find this more useful that an app that just did car expenses.

I just started with cars. I spent a long time looking for something that gives a full picture of vehicle costs, fuel prices in one place, and the ability to call roadside assistance or a tow truck if needed — but I couldn't find it all in one app, so I decided to build it myself

 

[fisicx]

And that’s great. Your problem now is going to be finding enough people who want this sort of detailed breakdown of costs. Marketing is always the hardest part of promoting any product.

As an aside, I’ve just downloaded the app and it’s very confusing. Why do you need all that info just to track my expenses?

 

[Kilvo]

And that’s great. Your problem now is going to be finding enough people who want this sort of detailed breakdown of costs. Marketing is always the hardest part of promoting any product.

As an aside, I’ve just downloaded the app and it’s very confusing. Why do you need all that info just to track my expenses?

Yes, I understand the marketing problem — that’s definitely not an easy task.

1. You only need to add a car first. You can enter just the make and model; the other fields are optional. For example, why ask for tyre size? Personally, I always forget that information, so it’s easier for me to open the app and check it. Same with the VIN number, I made those fields editable, but you can also simply leave them empty
2. After that, you can just start adding expenses if a category is missing, you can choose “Other” or write your own.

 

[fisicx]

And that right there is where it all begins to unravel. You have built the app based on how you think and act.

Tyre size is written on the tyres. The only time you ever need this is when replacing a tyre.

VIN is something I’ve never needed in 50 years of driving. It’s on the V5 and on the car info plate.

Some rework on the UI would make things a lot simpler. And you need to sort out the App Store listing - it bears no resemblance to the actual app.

Good luck with the project - but you need to do a lot of work before it’s ready for launch. A simple example: the default is km but costing in dollars.

 

[Kilvo]

And that right there is where it all begins to unravel. You have built the app based on how you think and act.

Tyre size is written on the tyres. The only time you ever need this is when replacing a tyre.

VIN is something I’ve never needed in 50 years of driving. It’s on the V5 and on the car info plate.

Some rework on the UI would make things a lot simpler. And you need to sort out the App Store listing - it bears no resemblance to the actual app.

Good luck with the project - but you need to do a lot of work before it’s ready for launch. A simple example: the default is km but costing in dollars.

Thank you very much for the feedback. It’s really useful to hear an outside opinion, and I’d like to explain why I made it this way:

About tyre size — yes, you’re right, it is written on the tyres. I even took a photo so I could keep the tyre size handy, but that photo quickly got lost among other photos. Then on the website where I wanted to buy tyres, the size I had added to the basket simply disappeared, so I had to look for it again.

About the VIN — if I’m not happy with the quality of a garage, I simply change it. Sometimes one garage can’t do something, so I go to another one. Before doing any work, I usually want to know how much it will cost, and they often ask for the VIN to estimate the price. Instead of going to the car or looking for a photo, I can open the app, copy the information in one click, and send it.

The interface is the same as in the App Store screenshots — or do you mean something specific there?

Kilometres can be changed to miles, and the currency can be changed to pounds. I’ve launched the app in 100+ countries, so there are still a few localisation issues to fix.

Thanks again for taking the time to give feedback — I really appreciate it!!

 

[fisicx]

Any type of review is only permitted for business members.

There are multiple things need fixing with the app. Upgrade to your membership to get a full review.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I would imagine that the rest of the world is in the same frame of mind as me and not that bothered about breaking down personal motoring costs
I run new cars and classics I just know what stuff costs

 

[Kilvo]

I would imagine that the rest of the world is in the same frame of mind as me and not that bothered about breaking down personal motoring costs
I run new cars and classics I just know what stuff costs

I used to think the same — I always had a rough idea of what things cost. But I was genuinely surprised when I started looking at the real numbers and realised that sometimes taking a taxi was cheaper for me, because the cost per km of owning and running the car was higher

 

[fisicx]

That’s just you. Most people either don’t care or already know roughly how much it cost to run a car.

My car is over 50 years old. Cheap to run, spares off ebay, no tax and insurance just over £100/year. Don’t really care about costs.

Someone with an £80k car won’t care either.

Electric cars are cheap as chips to run.

 

[Kilvo]

That’s just you. Most people either don’t care or already know roughly how much it cost to run a car.

My car is over 50 years old. Cheap to run, spares off ebay, no tax and insurance just over £100/year. Don’t really care about costs.

Someone with an £80k car won’t care either.

Electric cars are cheap as chips to run.

I understand, but parts, insurance, and fuel aren't the only major expenses. For example, paying for parking in a city centre for 1–2 hours is also a cost, yet for some reason most people don't take it into account. The same applies to electric cars as well.

 

[fisicx]

Yes, but it could be considered a cost of the visit to the shops rather than a cost of motoring. And here in the UK many places will cover the cost of your parking.

After a while people will stop taking a picture of the ticket because it’s just too much faff for a £2 ticket. Even worse when your partner has the car for the day but not the app.

Not trying to be so negative but it’s a really niche product and will be difficult to market.

 

[Kilvo]

Yes, but it could be considered a cost of the visit to the shops rather than a cost of motoring. And here in the UK many places will cover the cost of your parking.

After a while people will stop taking a picture of the ticket because it’s just too much faff for a £2 ticket. Even worse when your partner has the car for the day but not the app.

Not trying to be so negative but it’s a really niche product and will be difficult to market.

But going to the shops can be done on foot, by public transport, or by taxi — there are plenty of alternatives. That's why I think that if you choose to use the car, those costs should be counted as motoring expenses.

The app also lets you create templates, so if the same amount comes up regularly, it's not a problem — you can add the expense with a single tap.

And yes, I completely understand how difficult the marketing side of it is. But at the same time, I use the app myself every day and I'm really happy with it))

 

[fisicx]

Once again, that’s how you think. You have built an app to meet your needs. Market research would maybe reveal potential users of the app are looking for something very different.

Another thought. Where is all the data stored? Is it only on the users phone or uploaded to some cloudy server? If that is the case, how secure is this data?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

That’s just you. Most people either don’t care or already know roughly how much it cost to run a car.

My car is over 50 years old. Cheap to run, spares off ebay, no tax and insurance just over £100/year. Don’t really care about costs.

Someone with an £80k car won’t care either.

Electric cars are cheap as chips to run.

50 years old
That's older than my Saab 900

 

[Kilvo]

Once again, that’s how you think. You have built an app to meet your needs. Market research would maybe reveal potential users of the app are looking for something very different.

Another thought. Where is all the data stored? Is it only on the users phone or uploaded to some cloudy server? If that is the case, how secure is this data?

I understand — that's how I think, while my neighbour thinks differently)) My goal is simply to find like-minded people or those who find this useful

All data is stored locally on the user's phone. You can manually create a backup and even save it to a USB drive if you want. I've considered adding cloud storage in the future, but I'm not fully convinced about the security implications, so this is how it currently works:

Auto Backup
This is a backup stored within the app itself. It's created automatically once a day. However, if you delete the app, this backup may be deleted as well.

Manual Backup
This is a file that you create yourself and save wherever you want: iCloud, Google Drive, Telegram, Files, etc. You can later select this file to restore your data.