Let someone write instead of writing yourself
After every trip, enter the date, time, route and reason for the trip – keeping a logbook by hand is annoying. Add to that smeared writing, damp pages when the water leaks out or the booklet has disappeared into some filing cabinet. A lot of hassle and effort to avoid the expensive 1 percent tax on company cars or to comply with a corresponding official requirement. In other cases, the employer prescribes the logbook. But there is a solution for everyone who wants or needs to record every trip in detail: the electronic logbook.
It can be installed in just a few steps and not only stores all the necessary data reliably and in compliance with tax authorities, it also enables interesting evaluations and statistics on your car’s journeys to be carried out quickly and easily via a smartphone app. Car Whiz has compiled the most important information and questions and compared five common systems from five different providers in detail – here are the results.
The most important things in brief
- The OBD2 socket used by many systems only became mandatory for all new cars in 2001/2002. If your vehicle does not have such an interface, most manufacturers offer an alternative with a GPS tracker permanently connected to the vehicle. Installation is not complicated and anyone with reasonably skilled hands can simply do it themselves.
- Anyone who keeps a logbook for business and/or tax purposes must make sure that the system they choose meets all the legal requirements. In this comparison, this applies to all products, but there are also systems available on the market that do not meet this requirement.
- An electronic logbook costs money, not only to buy but also to run because the data is transmitted to a central location via mobile phone. To find out whether the investment is worthwhile in terms of tax aspects, it is best to consult your own tax advisor. The general rule is: the lower the proportion of private journeys, the more worthwhile the purchase and operation with recurring costs are.
PAJ: our editorial tip
Provider Paj doesn’t let itself be fooled: the monthly price is quite low at less than ten euros, there are also GPS trackers for vehicles without an OBD2 interface, the tax office has nothing to complain about, and anyone who is undecided can test it for 30 days. Various term packages can keep costs low or flexibility high.
Vimcar: Alternative tip
A professional tool with all its advantages and disadvantages: A wealth of evaluation options and the wealth of experience of the award-winning manufacturer are offset by comparatively high costs of around 30 euros per month. The correct function was tested by the auditing and tax consulting company KMPG. This means that users are on the safe side and can look forward to sophisticated reports and reliable operation.
Salind: the price tip
In terms of technology, this is an even cheaper offshoot of the Paj offering: According to the provider, its logbook technology is used, while the hardware itself bears its own logo. Accordingly, there are various contract periods to choose from here too. If you simply want to keep an electronic logbook, there is a very good chance that you will be happy with Salind’s at around eight euros per month.
Fleetize: can also manage fleets
In addition to the usual functions, the manufacturer advertises additional support for dual household management, several export formats, fleet suitability (optional) and a variety of evaluation options. The system costs around 25 euros a month. Thanks to separately available NFC stickers, different drivers can be recognized quickly and easily and automatically assigned as soon as the journey begins. The 14-day test phase is a bit stingy.
Yukatrack: everything you need on board
The German provider Yukatrack also has no weaknesses on paper. For the equivalent of less than eight euros per month, it offers all the important basic functions, but no desktop or browser application, just an app. But that should be enough for most people. It is also possible to locate the vehicle online. It’s a shame that the provider doesn’t offer the option of a test phase.
This is how Car Whiz compared the products
The products presented here are selected in particular based on their relevance on the accessories market and a significant number of positive reviews. In addition, their widespread and short-term availability is guaranteed at the time of publication of the comparison – with the exception of acute production or delivery difficulties. The products have not been subjected to any practical tests. This comparison is rather intended to provide a quick overview of popular electronic logbooks and their technical data and features.
The most important product-specific criteria of the comparison are data collection and transfer that complies with legal and tax office requirements, as well as sensible and useful technical equipment.
Conclusion on the recommended products
Unpack, plug in, drive off: All the systems presented here offer convenient and fast plug & play. All manufacturers also promise to provide data suitable for the tax authorities. Apart from that, the offers differ mainly in terms of ease of use, use for fleets and the options for more precise data analysis. If you simply no longer want to keep a logbook manually but electronically, the cheaper solutions from Paj, Salind and Yukatrack should also be a good fit. The costs are less than 10 or even less than 8 euros per month. It doesn’t necessarily have to be more if you don’t have a fleet to manage. The more expensive offers from Vimcar and Fleetize can do this well and sometimes have more options for evaluating the data. But the costs are correspondingly higher – and with Vimcar’s most expensive logbook, of all things, the GPS tracker remains the property of the seller.
Things to know about electronic logbooks
- Protection against manipulation: The tax office only recognizes digital solutions that are protected against manipulation and log subsequent changes. A simple, self-created Excel table is usually not sufficient. Nor are those in which the recorded data can be changed even weeks later. If a provider advertises this function, it is probably not suitable for cooperation with the tax office.
- Automatic recording: Users of digital logbooks that automatically recognize the start and end of a journey, along with the time and location, have particularly little work to do. Otherwise, a lot of data has to be entered manually, which takes a lot of time and effort.
- Alarms: As a rule, the GPS tracker in the car can also be programmed to report when a certain area is left (so-called geo-fencing) or when a certain speed is exceeded.
- Multiple drivers and vehicles: Electronic logbooks are also suitable for vehicles that are used by multiple people. Fleet management is also possible with some products, but usually involves additional costs.
Things to know about electronic logbooks
How does an electronic logbook work?
It is a combination of GPS tracker and smart software: The tracker is usually connected to the vehicle’s diagnostic interface (OBD2) or installed elsewhere in the vehicle. The tracker then sends position and time data via a mobile phone connection to a central server every time you drive, where all the data is collected. This data can be displayed, partially modified and evaluated using a program on the computer or an app on the smartphone.
Why can the kilometers indicated in the logbook differ from those on the odometer in the car?
The electronic logbook and the vehicle count the kilometers using completely different methods: While the logbook records the distances using GPS data, the odometer counts based on the wheel revolutions. In order to correct the resulting discrepancy between the vehicle and the digital assistant in good time, most systems have a corresponding option.
Why are so many offers linked to a subscription?
This is usually due to the mobile phone SIM card that most providers use to transfer data from the vehicle to the central data storage device. It is like a contract for mobile data transfer, without which this convenient way of keeping a logbook would not work or would require a lot of effort to transfer data manually.
My car doesn’t have an OBD2 socket. What can I do?
Congratulations, you are driving a classic car: the OBD2 socket only became mandatory for new cars in 2001/2002. Your vehicle can be equipped with a GPS tracker without much effort, which can also be used to keep a digital logbook, for example with a GPS box that can be connected directly to the car battery, such as the one from Vimcar.
