Pacific Motor Service: Vehicle Budget Tool

Pacific Motor Service is happy to offer you a free Vehicle Budget Tool to help you track and plan for regular maintenance for all of your vehicles. Below are the instructions that we've written for the using this budget planning tool, to help give you an idea of what it can help you do.



This file contains several worksheets shown in the diagram below. There are ten detailed worksheets to enable you to track up to ten vehicles. These are labeled, "Vehicle 1," "Vehicle 2," and so on. In addition, there are two summary worksheets called "Anticipated Costs" and "Historical Expenditures."

Vehicle Worksheets

This is the primary location for anticipating and entering each vehicle's expenses. While most households do not have ten vehicles at once, having ten worksheets will enable you to track both current vehicles and those you acquire in the future. The result will be a comprehensive picture of all your vehicle maintenance and repair over time.

Data Entry

Each vehicle will have its own "Vehicle Worksheet."
Within each "Vehicle Worksheet" you will need to enter the data specific to that vehicle. Any cell that is green or aqua will require data entry. All other cells are locked and will populate automatically based on the data entered into the green/aqua cells. Observe the example of "Vehicle 1" below.



Once all of these cells are populated, the worksheet will calculate the date (B10) and mileage (D10) of the vehicle's next service. The worksheet will also calculate the type of service needed and give details of that service (F10-G10).

Tracking Service Costs and Notes

Each time you take your vehicle in for scheduled service, fill in the "actual price" paid in the green cell in column K. Enter any "Notes" you wish to capture into the green cells in columns O-Q. For example, the diagram above shows the "anticipated approximate price" for the service in row 10 as $10.00. The "actual price" paid of $5.00 would be manually entered by the customer. The "difference" is calculated automatically so you can tell whether you spent more or less than anticipated. In the Notes section, you can type in the details of the service received. This is especially helpful if the service received is over and above the scheduled service items.

After entering the "actual price" and any "notes," it is important to lock the row. This is done by clicking on the oval to the right of the row. BE CERTAIN TO ONLY LOCK THE ROW CORRESPONDING TO THE SERVICE COMPLETED (e.g. Only click the oval aligned with row 10 in the diagram above). Once you have locked any given row, the data in that row is static or historical. You should not need to change it.

If you do need to change the data after you have locked a row, simply click on the oval. This action will allow you to re-enter data in the "actual price" paid in the green cell in column K. Remember to re-lock the row once you have completed data entry for that row.

Unanticipated Repairs

At times something on a vehicle can break or wears out before you are scheduled for your next service visit. When you have to take your vehicle in prior to your scheduled visit, use the following data entry process. Go to the row of the next date of scheduled service (row 11 in the example below). Enter the amount of the repair in the green cell. If you also complete the normal scheduled service, add that amount in the green cell ($75 for scheduled service + $250 for clutch repair = $325 in the example below). Be sure to enter notes in the "notes" column so you have a record of why the "actual price" is so much higher than the "anticipated price." If you do not complete your scheduled service at the time of the repair, you will have to add the scheduled service cost at the time of your next visit. DO NOT LOCK THE ROW UNTIL YOU HAVE ENTERED THE COST OF THE SCHEDULED VISIT AT A LATER DATE. For example, if your next scheduled visit is in June but you have a repair in May, enter the cost of the repair in May ($250 in the example above). When you take in your vehicle for scheduled maintenance in June, ADD THAT COST ($75) to the amount already in the green cell. The resulting total will then be $325 in the example above. BE SURE TO LOCK THE ROW AT THAT TIME.

Changing Weekly Mileage

If your vehicle use changes over time, you can recalculate the scheduled dates for servicing the vehicle. Since you lock each row after entering data, the history of each service visit is preserved. However, by changing the weekly mileage in cell I4, the dates for future visits are automatically recalculated.

Changing Worksheet Names

If you want to customize the name of your worksheets, follow the steps below.

1. Select the sheet you want to rename (eg. Vehicle 1)
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2. Click on the Format menu, point to Sheet and then click Rename.
3. Type the new name over the current name.

Note: Each worksheet must have a unique name. It is recommended that you give the charts the same name as their corresponding worksheet, followed by the word "chart." For example, if you change "Vehicle 1" to "Chevy," you should change "Vehicle 1 Chart" to "Chevy Chart."

Anticipated Costs Worksheet

Historical Expenditures Worksheet