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Managing Vehicles

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homelabforge edited this page Oct 18, 2026 · 10 revisions

Managing Vehicles

Complete guide to adding, editing, organizing, and managing vehicles in MyGarage.

Adding Vehicles

Every vehicle needs its 17-character VIN. MyGarage can decode it to fill in the details, or you can type them yourself.

Method 1: VIN Decoding (Recommended)

The VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) decoder automatically populates vehicle details from the NHTSA database.

Steps:

  1. Click "Add Vehicle" from the dashboard
  2. Enter your 17-character VIN
    • Where to find VIN:
      • Dashboard (driver's side, visible through windshield)
      • Driver's door jamb sticker
      • Vehicle registration/title
      • Insurance card
  3. Click "Decode VIN"
  4. MyGarage fetches data from NHTSA vPIC API:
    • ✅ Year
    • ✅ Make
    • ✅ Model
    • ✅ Trim
    • ✅ Body Class
    • ✅ Drive Type
    • ✅ Doors
    • ✅ Displacement
    • ✅ Cylinders
    • ✅ Fuel Type
    • ✅ Transmission Type and Speeds
  5. Click "Next" to review and edit the decoded data (some fields may be missing)
  6. Fill in the rest:
    • Nickname (required, prefilled as year, make and model) - "Daily Driver", "Weekend Car", "The Red Rocket"
    • Vehicle Type (required)
    • License Plate - Current registration
    • Color - Exterior color (not always decoded)
    • Purchase Date - When you acquired the vehicle
    • Purchase Price - What you paid. Garage Analytics adds these up as Garage Value
  7. Optionally add photos (the first becomes the main photo), then click "Create Vehicle"

VIN Decoding Notes:

  • Only works for vehicles sold in the United States (NHTSA database)
  • Some older vehicles (pre-1981) may not decode properly
  • Commercial vehicles, motorcycles, and RVs may have limited data
  • Data is pulled in real-time from NHTSA vPIC API

Method 2: Manual Entry

For vehicles that don't decode or international vehicles:

  1. Click "Add Vehicle"
  2. Enter the 17-character VIN and click "Next" without decoding
  3. Fill in the required fields:
    • Nickname
    • Vehicle Type
  4. Fill in optional fields:
    • Year, Make, Model
    • License Plate
    • Color
    • Trim, Body Class, Drive Type, Doors
    • Displacement, Cylinders
    • Transmission Type and Speeds
    • Fuel Type - chosen from a fixed list (Gasoline, Diesel, Electric, Hybrid, Plug-in hybrid, E85 / Flex fuel, Propane / LPG, CNG, Hydrogen, Other); unknown values are rejected
    • Purchase Date
    • Purchase Price
  5. Click "Next" through Photos and Review, then "Create Vehicle"

Adding Vehicle Photos

Uploading a Photo

  1. Go to vehicle detail page
  2. Open Media, then Photos
  3. Click "Upload Photo" or drag-and-drop (one photo per upload)
  4. Supported formats: JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC
  5. Max size: 10MB
  6. Recommended size: 1920×1080 or larger
  7. Optionally add a caption and tick Set as main vehicle photo
  8. Click "Upload Photo"

MyGarage generates a thumbnail and keeps the original (HEIC is converted to JPEG).

Organizing Photos

In the gallery, each photo has:

  • Set as main photo (star icon) - The main photo shows on the vehicle card
  • Edit caption - "Engine Bay", "Custom Wheels", etc.
  • Delete photo - Click trash icon

The main photo comes first, then the newest.

Photo Best Practices:

  • Use well-lit, high-quality photos
  • Include multiple angles (front, rear, sides, interior)
  • Capture modifications or custom features
  • Update photos after major changes (new paint, body work)

Editing Vehicle Information

You edit a field by clicking the card that shows it. Each card on the vehicle's Overview tab opens a slide-in panel containing just that card's fields, so you change what you're looking at instead of hunting through one long form.

Click this card To edit
Basic Information Year, make, model, licence plate, exterior/interior colour, assembly location
Vehicle Details Trim, body class, drive type, doors, GVWR class, wheel and tire specs
Powertrain Displacement, cylinders, engine and transmission description, transmission type/speeds, drivetrain
Warranty Warranty coverage details
Pricing Purchase and sale dates and prices, plus the MSRP figures
Fluids & Torque Oil viscosity, oil capacity, oil and fuel filter part numbers, lug nut torque, coolant, brake and transmission fluid types, plus free-text notes

Make your changes and click Save.

Standard and optional equipment are edited from the Standard and Optional buttons under Equipment, next to the vehicle's actions.

Fluids & Torque

Added in v3.3.0. The maintenance numbers you look up in a manual and then forget: oil viscosity and capacity, oil filter and fuel filter part numbers, lug nut torque, and coolant, brake and transmission fluid types.

Two things worth knowing:

  • Every value is entered and shown in your own units. Lug nut torque follows your torque unit (Nm or lb-ft). Oil capacity follows your volume unit, with one deliberate exception below.
  • Oil capacity is read in quarts wherever fuel is read in gallons. Nobody quotes an engine in gallons. If your volume unit is US gallons you enter quarts, and a UK volume unit gets the Imperial quart. A litre reader is unaffected. Before v3.3.0 this shared the fuel unit, so entering 12 for a twelve-quart engine stored 45.4 litres and the card read 12 gal straight back again, which hid the error completely. If you entered an oil capacity before upgrading, check it.

The fuel filter field is offered on every vehicle, not only diesels. A diesel's filters are a scheduled item and an older petrol vehicle's inline filter is a real service part. Leave it blank and the card omits the row.

These fields also feed Ask My Garage, which answers oil and torque questions from what you have recorded rather than guessing from the year, make and model.

Vehicle Settings

A handful of settings aren't shown on any card. Those live in the Vehicle Settings panel, opened with the Edit button in the vehicle's actions:

  • Nickname and vehicle type
  • Usage tracking (distance, engine hours, or both)
  • Odometer unit - the unit this vehicle's odometer reads (see below)
  • Fuel type and DEF tracking
  • Window sticker upload
  • Torque Pro sources

Click Save Changes when done.

Note: Editing core vehicle info (year, make, model) does not affect historical service records - they remain associated with the vehicle.

Note: The VIN cannot be changed after a vehicle is created — it's the vehicle's permanent identifier. Add the vehicle again if you entered the wrong VIN.

Odometer Unit

Set Odometer unit to Kilometres (km) or Miles (mi) when this vehicle's odometer reads in a different unit from your account. Its distances and speeds are then shown and entered in that unit; fuel economy and cost per distance keep your account setting. Account default (the default) follows your units. See Units.

Archiving Vehicles

Mark sold or inactive vehicles as archived instead of deleting them:

Why Archive Instead of Delete?

  • Preserves complete service history
  • Useful for tax records and documentation
  • Can restore archived vehicles later
  • Keeps data for future reference (resale value, maintenance patterns)

How to Archive:

  1. Go to vehicle detail page
  2. Click "Remove" (red button in the actions row), then choose Archive (Recommended)
  3. Select a Reason (required): Sold, Totaled, Gifted, Trade-in, or Other
  4. Optionally add notes. Sale price and date are offered for Sold and Trade-in only
  5. Choose visibility with Show in main vehicle list with watermark:
    • Ticked (default) - stays in the main list with an "ARCHIVED" watermark
    • Unticked - removed from the dashboard, widgets, and lists
  6. Click "Archive Vehicle"

Archived vehicles:

  • Service history remains intact
  • Can be restored to active status

To View Archived Vehicles:

  • Go to Settings → System → Archived Vehicles
  • Click the restore icon (Restore to active) to bring back to active status
  • When deleting from this list, Export before delete downloads a PDF of the history first, so it survives even if the record does not

Archiving Several at Once:

From the dashboard, click Select, pick the vehicles, then Archive selected to archive them in one pass with a shared reason and visibility. Handy after selling off a batch or cleaning up a garage you inherited from an import.

Auto-Archiving:

An admin can set Settings → System → Auto-archive inactive vehicles. It archives anything with no fuel, service, odometer, or hours activity after N days. Set 0 to disable, which is the default. It runs daily when the scheduler is enabled.

This setting is instance-wide. It applies to every vehicle on the instance, including other users', so on a shared instance agree on the number first.

Deleting Vehicles

⚠️ WARNING: Deleting is permanent!

Deleting a vehicle removes:

  • Vehicle record
  • All service records
  • All fuel entries
  • All documents and photos
  • All reminders
  • This cannot be undone!

Recommended: Use Archive instead of Delete to preserve historical data.

How to Delete:

  1. Go to vehicle detail page
  2. Click "Remove" (red button in the actions row)
  3. Choose Delete Permanently rather than Archive
  4. Type DELETE and click Delete Forever

Organizing Vehicles

Custom Nicknames

Give vehicles memorable names for quick identification:

  • "Daily Driver" (most-used vehicle)
  • "Weekend Toy" (fun car)
  • "Winter Beater" (seasonal vehicle)
  • "The Van" (family vehicle)
  • "Project Car" (restoration in progress)

Nicknames display prominently on dashboard cards.

Sorting

Sort dashboard vehicle cards from the Sort menu:

  • Sort by Name - Alphabetical (A-Z)
  • Newest First / Oldest First - By year
  • By Maintenance - Most overdue reminders first

To choose the order the dashboard opens in, set Dashboard Order in Quick settings (the gear icon in the top bar). The Sort menu still changes it for the current browser tab.

Vehicles shared with you appear in their own Shared with me section.

Vehicle Notes

Add free-form notes to any vehicle:

Common Uses:

  • Known issues ("Transmission shifts rough when cold")
  • Modifications ("Installed K&N cold air intake")
  • Future plans ("Need new tires by spring")
  • Quirks ("Requires 2 pumps on gas pedal to start in winter")

How to Add Notes:

  1. Go to vehicle detail page
  2. Open Tracking, then Notes
  3. Click "Add Note"
  4. Enter a date, an optional title, and the note content
  5. Click "Create"

Each note records when it was created and last edited.

Vehicle Recall Lookup

MyGarage automatically checks for open recalls (U.S. vehicles only):

  1. Go to vehicle detail page
  2. Open Maintenance, then Recalls
  3. Click "Check NHTSA" to look up recalls for the vehicle's year, make and model
  4. Each recall shows:
    • Affected component
    • Summary - What's wrong
    • Consequence
    • Remedy - How to fix (usually free at dealer)
  5. Click "Mark as resolved" when repaired

Note: Recall data only available for U.S. market vehicles in the NHTSA database.

Exporting Vehicle Data

Export individual vehicle data:

  • JSON - The Export button in the vehicle's actions downloads its complete data (for backup or migration)
  • PDF and CSV - Open Tracking, then Reports. Pick a date range or year, then Download PDF (Service History Report, Annual Cost Summary, Tax Deduction Report, Sale history (sanitized)) or Export CSV (Service History (CSV), All Records (CSV))

Use Cases:

  • Tax documentation (service expenses)
  • Vehicle sale records (complete maintenance history)
  • Insurance claims (documented service history)
  • Warranty claims (proof of maintenance)
  • Personal backup

Sharing and Transferring Vehicles

Vehicles are shared and transferred between MyGarage user accounts (multi-user mode). There are no public links or QR codes.

  • Share - Grant another user read or write access without changing ownership, with the vehicle's Share button.
  • Transfer - An admin reassigns ownership to another user account. Ownership moves immediately and the vehicle's history stays with it.

See Family Multi-User for details.

To hand records to someone without an account, use Export (PDF/CSV/JSON) above.

Need Help?

Next: Learn about Service Records or explore Fuel Tracking.

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