Tracking your car's mileage used to mean a paper logbook in the glovebox and a lot of guesswork at the end of the year. Today a phone in your pocket can record every trip automatically, tag it as business or personal, and produce a tidy export when you need to claim expenses or file taxes. This guide walks through what to look for in a mileage app, the difference between manual and automatic logging, and how to keep records that actually hold up.
Why Track Mileage at All?
There are a few common reasons people log distance, and they shape which features matter:
- Tax deductions and reimbursement. Freelancers, contractors, and employees who drive for work can often claim a per-kilometre or per-mile rate. Accurate records are essential if you're ever audited.
- Expense reporting. Reimbursing yourself or your team for business trips requires a clear, dated log.
- Vehicle upkeep. Knowing your real annual distance helps with service intervals, lease limits, and resale value.
- Personal curiosity. Plenty of drivers just like seeing where they've been and how much they actually drive.
Manual vs Automatic Logging
The biggest decision is whether you record trips by hand or let the app do it.
Manual logging
You start and stop a trip yourself. This gives you full control and is great when you only want to capture specific drives, but it relies on you remembering. Forget once and your log has a hole.
Automatic logging
The app detects when you start driving and records the trip in the background, then files it for you. This is the gold standard for anyone tracking for work, because nothing slips through. A solid car tracker records each trip's distance, route, duration, and timestamps without you lifting a finger.
Business vs Personal Trips
If you're tracking for taxes, the single most important feature is the ability to classify each trip. After a drive, you tag it as business, personal, or commute. The best apps make this a one-tap action and let you set rules, for example automatically marking trips during work hours as business, which you can then correct.
Keep these classification details in mind:
- Most tax authorities want the date, distance, start and end points, and purpose of each business trip.
- A continuous log is stronger evidence than reconstructed estimates.
- Round trips should be captured as the full there-and-back distance, not just one leg.
What a Good Export Looks Like
An app is only useful at tax time if you can get your data out of it. Look for:
- CSV or PDF export you can hand to an accountant or attach to an expense claim.
- A driving log format with one row per trip showing date, route, distance, duration, and category.
- Date-range filtering so you can pull just one quarter or one client.
- Raw route data like GPX if you ever need to inspect or re-import a trip. A GPX viewer is handy for double-checking a route looks right.
Privacy Matters More Than You Think
A mileage app sees everywhere you drive, including your home. Before you commit, check how the app handles your data: is it stored on a server you don't control, sold to advertisers, or shared with insurers? Choose an app that's clear about data ownership and lets you keep records private. PACE was built privacy-first in Germany under GDPR, with privacy zones that blur sensitive locations like your home address out of saved routes, so your logbook doesn't double as a surveillance trail.
How PACE Handles the Driving Log
PACE records every trip automatically with a speed-coloured route map, distance, duration, and stats, then lets you organise and export them. The built-in driving log is aimed at exactly the business-versus-personal use case: tag trips, filter by date, and export a clean mileage report. Because it's metric-first but supports miles, it works whether you're claiming per kilometre or per mile. Free to start, with the log and export features available to Pro users at €3.99 a month.
Choosing the Right App for You
If you only need occasional records, a manual logger or even a spreadsheet might do. If you drive for work regularly, prioritise automatic detection, easy business-personal tagging, and a clean export, because those are the features that save hours and protect you in an audit. And whatever you choose, check the privacy policy before you trust it with a map of your daily life. Download PACE to try automatic trip logging for yourself.