Maintenance reminders come in two flavors in Car Money: due on a date (oil change in 6 months, registration on Apr 12) or due at a mileage (tire rotation at 45,000, transmission service at 60,000). Both are useful. Picking the right one for each task saves you from over- or under-servicing.
Use date when the world enforces a deadline
Some things are deadlines, not wear-out items:
- Insurance renewal — your insurer does not care how many miles you drove
- Registration / inspection — same
- License / permits — same
- Brake fluid — moisture absorption is a function of time, not miles
For these, date-based reminders are right. Mileage is a coincidence.
Use mileage when wear is the trigger
For mechanical wear, mileage is closer to the truth:
- Engine oil (synthetic): every 7,500–10,000 miles
- Tire rotation: every 5,000–7,500 miles
- Brake pads: typically 30,000–70,000 miles depending
- Transmission fluid: 60,000–100,000
- Spark plugs: 30,000–100,000
For these, set a mileage trigger. Car Money uses your odometer log to decide when “due” actually means due.
When to use both
Some items are both: oil should change at 7,500 miles or every 12 months, whichever comes first. The right move in Car Money is to set two reminders — one for each axis — with the same name. Whichever fires first reminds you. Mark complete; both reset.
How “due” is calculated
Mileage reminders use the most recent odometer entry to estimate when you will hit the trigger, based on your average daily mileage from the last 90 days. Drive less than usual, and the reminder pushes itself out. Drive more, it pulls forward. This is why dropping a quick odometer reading every fill-up is worth the 5 seconds.
Repeating reminders
Most maintenance items repeat. Turn on Repeat after completion and the reminder will reset itself with the same interval the moment you tick it off. The previous instance gets archived for service-history purposes.