Kar Kare Vehicle Mileage and Maintenance Tracking Log Software v2.6
©1997-2003 Lee W. Golden ([email protected])

INTRODUCTION

Kar Kare is a shareware tool for the PalmPilot that reminds you when it’s time to perform maintenance, helps you track your fuel economy, and lets you see how much you’re spending to keep your vehicles on the road!

Program Features

• Fuel usage and maintenance tracking for up to four vehicles
• Note attachments so you can save detailed information about an event
• Flashing, recurring maintenance reminders (triggered by odometer reading and/or date)
• Vendor name and location tracking
• Fuel octane tracking
• Database import from Kar Kare 1.0 and 2.0
• Support for partial fill-ups
• Statistics based on fuel and maintenance cost/usage for a chosen date range
• Vehicle Log export to MemoPad for HotSync to your computer
• International support, including L/100Km, L/Km, Km/L computation
• One-time maintenance or information records can easily be added to the Vehicle Log

Program Requirements

Kar Kare v2.6 has been tested on all hardware versions of the PalmPilot. The program requires PalmOS Version 2.0 or higher, 50k of free space on your PalmPilot for the main Kar Kare application, and 20k for KKSetup (which can be deleted after you set up your databases).

How to Register the Software

I hope you enjoy the trial version of Kar Kare v2.6! If you use it regularly, please register the software at your convenience. The trial version is functionally identical to the registered version, except that you can only enter 12 fill-up and/or maintenance records into the Vehicle Log database.

Registration entitles you all future versions of the software at no extra charge. The About screen will no longer pop up every time you start the software, and you can enter unlimited records into the database. In addition you will get the satisfaction of supporting my hundreds of hours of programming and my Diet Pepsi habit! :-)

You can register with a personal check drawn on a U.S. bank, a money order, or by using a Credit Card or Pay Pal account. Registration instructions can be found on the Main Screen menu and on the Internet at: http://www.geocities.com/leemon1/register.html.

USING KAR KARE

Installation:

The Kar Kare software has two parts -- a program called KKSetup.prc that you use to set up your databases, and the Kar Kare program itself called karkare2.prc.

Follow these steps to set up Kar Kare:

• HotSync "karkare2.prc" and "kksetup.prc" to your PalmPilot.
• Run KKSetup. KKSetup initializes the Kar Kare database files and converts Version 1.0 and 2.0 records into the new Version 2.6 database format. KKSetup can be removed from your PalmPilot to free up memory space after you set up the databases. When KKSetup exits, it should launch the Kar Kare application for you.
• When Kar Kare starts, press the MENU button on your PalmPilot and choose Preferences from the Program menu. On the Preferences Screen [FIGURE 1] you can choose your fuel economy calculation method, enter a currency symbol to use, choose whether you want your Kar Kare databases to be backed up when you HotSync (you should leave this checked) and you can enter a name for each of your vehicles. Press the OK button when you finish setting up the Program Preferences.

FIGURE 1 – The Preferences Screen

• In order to compute your fuel economy, you first have to use a full tank of fuel. The first time you fill up your tank, just enter your odometer setting into the "Miles (or Km) at Last Fueling" box on the Main Screen [Figure 2]. At each fill-up after the first one you can start tracking your fuel economy by entering data as shown below.

The Main Screen

The first thing you see when you start Kar Kare is the "About Kar Kare" screen (unregistered version only). Click "OK" and the Main Screen will appear.

Figure 2 – The Main Screen

Please don’t be intimidated by all the buttons and bitmaps, it’s pretty easy to use!

• The title bar of the Main Screen shows the name of the vehicle you’re working with.
• The 1234 buttons in the upper left will show the data for any of four vehicles that you can track.
• The INFO tab will open an information page for the selected vehicle. You can use this page to store your license tag number, insurance policy number -- whatever you think is important information.
• The wrench is a shortcut to the Maintenance Log screen where you can set recurring maintenance reminders.
• The "Miles (or Km) at Last Fueling" box should be set the first time you fill up your tank (see "Quick Start" above). This box is not changed after your first fill-up.
• The center section of the screen is where you enter data each time you put fuel into your vehicle (except for the first time). Enter the odometer reading, the amount of fuel put into the tank, how much it cost, the name of the Vendor where you purchased the fuel and the octane level of the fuel purchased (L/M/H/D stands for Low, Medium, High and Diesel).
• The "Add" button and economy rating on the line below the center section will only appear when you've entered the new odometer setting and gallons used.
• If you don't fill the tank completely, uncheck the "Fill-Up" box to enter a partial fill-up. Partial fill-ups are saved in the log, but the fuel economy rating isn't computed until the next time you fill up the tank. The program will then compute the correct fuel economy *including* all of the previous partial fill-ups. When you press "Add", your fueling information will be added to the database.
• The next line contains the date of service. Click the date box to change the date of service from the default (today's date). To the right of the Date are four maintenance alert boxes. When a maintenance event is due, the event's "Alert Code" will blink here. If you click on any of these boxes you will be taken to the Maintenance Log screen.
• The final line shows the version number of the program for registered users or the number of records left in the Trial Edition for unregistered users.
• The "View Log" button takes you to the Vehicle Log screen.

THE LOG SCREENS

The Vehicle Log

When you add a new fuel entry or click the "View Log" button, you’ll be taken to the Vehicle Log screen [Figure 3].

Figure 3 – The Vehicle Log Screen

This screen shows the fuel and maintenance entries for the Vehicle shown at the top of the screen you can click on any of the entries to view it in greater detail..

The "New" button on the Vehicle Log screen creates a blank record for you to fill in. This can be used to mark a milestone in your vehicle’s life, or to enter unscheduled maintenance events (for example: New Wipers).

If you have more than one screen full of Vehicle Log records, up and down arrows will also appear at the bottom of the screen. To scroll to the next/previous page of records you can click on the arrows OR press the up and down buttons at the bottom of your PalmPilot.

The small icon next to the "Maintenance" entry on the above screen shows that a note is attached to this record [Figure 3a]. To add a note to a fuel or maintenance record, open the record by clicking on it in the Vehicle Log and then click the Add button to attach a note.

Figure 3a – A sample note entry

The Log Page icon (the little sheet of paper to the right of the "New" button on the Vehicle Log screen) will toggle between the Vehicle, Maintenance, and Vendor Logs. The Bar Graph icon (which only appears when the Vehicle Log is showing) is used to generate statistics for the current vehicle [Figure 4].

Figure 4 – The Statistics Screen

Statistics are based on a date range you specify, and include the total distance traveled, the average distance per tank, total fuel cost, average fuel cost (new for version 2.6), fuel cost per mile (or Km), total maintenance cost for the period, maintenance cost per mile (or Km), and the average fuel economy rating for the period.

The Vehicle Log Menus

There are three different Vehicle Log views available. Press the MENU button on your PalmPilot, and use the "View" menu to choose between Odometer, Fuel Usage, and Distance Traveled views.

The "Log" menu has options to export your Vehicle Log to a PalmPilot memo, sort the database records, and remove fuel and/or maintenance entries for a range of dates.

The Log->Export to Memo Option

You can export your Vehicle Log database entries to the PalmPilot Memo Pad and import them into an appliction on your computer. When you export, you'll be prompted to separate the data fields by Spaces or Tabs. Choose "Tabs" if you intend to import your vehicle logs into a word processor or spreadsheet program. You will also be asked if you want to include note attachments in the vehicle log.

The Vendor Log

To access the Vendor Log screen [Figure 5], click the Log Page icon on the Vehicle Log screen until the Vendor Log appears. You can also get to the Vendor log if you click the Vendor box while viewing a fuel or maintenance entry.

Figure 5 – The Vendor Log Screen

The Vendor Log holds a list of all the vendors that you purchase services from. Unlike the Vehicle and Maintenance Logs, a single Vendor Log is shared among all of your vehicles. Use of the Vendor Log is optional, but it allows you to track where you purchase things. The Vendor name and location appears in each fuel and maintenance entry, and in the exported MemoPad report. The "New" button adds a new vendor entry to the database.

Note: If you remove a vendor, it will also be removed from all of the records in your Vehicle Log.

The Maintenance Log

To get to the Maintenance Log screen [Figure 6], click on the Wrench symbol or any of the four maintenance reminder boxes on the Main Screen. You can also get to the Maintenance Log by pressing the Log Page icon while you are viewing the Vehicle Log.

Figure 6 – The Maintenance Log Screen

Each entry in the Maintenance Log is an event that is triggered when you get to a particular odometer setting or date. Each shows a description of the maintenance item, the mileage (or Km) when it becomes due, and optionally the date when it falls due.

If the maintenance item is due, then a "!" will appear to the left of its description. To modify a Maintenance Log entry just click on it [Figure 7]. A new Maintenance Log entry can be created by pressing the "New" button at the bottom if the screen.

Figure 7 – Entering/Modifying a Maintenance Log Entry

There are several fields for each entry in the Maintenance Log:

• The "Description" shows up on the Maintenance Log screen, and is entered into the Vehicle Log when you perform the selected maintenance event on your vehicle.
• The "Alert Code" is what flashes on the Main Screen when a maintenance event is due. If you don't enter an Alert Code, the event will NOT appear on the main screen when it's due.
• The "Due At" checkbox lets you enter the mileage (or Km) when the maintenance item will be triggered.
• The "Due On" checkbox lets you enter the date when an item will be due.
• If you check either the "Due At" or "Due On" checkboxes, lines will appear in the "Repeat every" section so you can enter how often a repeating maintenance item should be performed.

Example: You perform an Oil Change at 12000 miles on 15 March 2000, and the "Repeat every" fields are set to 3000 miles and 3 months. When you enter your maintenance event into the Log, a new "Oil Change" maintenance event will automatically be created and set for 15000 (12000+3000) miles and 15 June 2000 (15 March 2000 + three months).

Click the "Enter Service Info" button when the maintenance is done on your vehicle. This will pop up a Service Info screen [Figure 8] where you can enter all of the relevant data for the maintenance entry.

Figure 8 – The Service Info Screen

After you enter information about the maintenance, press the "Log Service" button. The Maintenance entry is then entered into the Vehicle Log, and a new maintenance log entry with an updated due date and/or odometer setting is created in the maintenance log. If you press the "Cancel" button you will just be returned to the Maintenance Log screen.

In Closing…

This document was intended to give you a brief overview of the Kar Kare software. Try it out! If you need additional information, please email me: [email protected], or visit my PalmPilot software page at http://www.geocities.com/leemon1/index.html. I will get back to you as soon as possible. I hope Kar Kare proves to be a useful application for you!

Lee Golden
Olney, MD USA
August 2000

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