How to track vehicle maintenance expenses separately for each truck?
The simplest method is creating sub-accounts under vehicle maintenance for each truck. In QuickBooks, your chart of accounts would show Vehicle Maintenance as a parent account with sub-accounts like Truck 101 Maintenance, Truck 102 Maintenance, and so on. When you enter an expense, you pick the specific truck’s sub-account instead of the general category.
This structure gives you per-vehicle totals automatically. Your profit and loss statement shows total vehicle maintenance as one line, but you can expand it to see what each truck cost individually. No special reports needed.
If you have a large fleet and don’t want dozens of sub-accounts, use classes or tags instead. Set up each truck as a class, then assign that class when you enter maintenance expenses. The expense stays in a single vehicle maintenance account, but you filter reports by class to see per-truck costs. This keeps your chart of accounts cleaner.
The tracking only works if you code expenses correctly when they happen. When the shop invoice comes in, assign it to the right truck immediately. Waiting until month end to sort through a pile of receipts means you’ll guess wrong or forget which vehicle had the work done. Logistics and transportation companies with multiple trucks need this discipline or the data becomes useless.
Track more than just repairs. Include oil changes, tire rotations, inspections, brake work, and anything else specific to each vehicle. Some businesses also track fuel by truck using the same sub-account or class approach. Over time, you build a maintenance history that shows which trucks are money pits and which ones run cheap.
Review per-truck reports quarterly to spot problems. A truck that cost $800 in maintenance last quarter and $3,200 this quarter needs attention. Either something is wrong mechanically or the vehicle is aging out and replacement planning should start.
If setting up the tracking structure feels complicated, a Findlay bookkeeper can configure your QuickBooks correctly and show you how to code expenses going forward. The setup takes an hour or two but pays off every time you need to decide whether to repair or replace a vehicle.
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