Fuelio app impressions: Once set up, you’ll better appreciate your gas budget

The current situation in the Middle East has gas prices spiking to exorbitant prices. It’s enough to make me want to stay home most days and work here, but ultimately, we have to go out at one point or another, and we’ll need to refuel the cars we use no matter what we do.

To that end, I wanted to learn how to start tracking my fuel expenses, so I could better figure out how much I was spending on fuel over time, leaving guesswork out so I could have a clearer picture of my expenditures.

Of the number of apps I took a look at that didn’t appear to be fly-by-night data-stealers, perhaps the one I found most useful if I wanted to do fuel tracking long-term was Fuelio, which is available on Android and iOS for free, with a subscription tier that adds further features.

Manual transmission (of data)

Perhaps the most difficult thing about Fuelio as an app is that, once downloaded, it’ll require a bit of manual setup. Further, you’ll have to encode your own data points.

Unfortunately, aside from unofficial YouTube tutorials, I had to relearn the ins and outs of my car and how we gas up in the Philippines so I could input the data I wanted. For instance, we measure distances in kilometers, and measure gas in liters Fuelio’s interface lets you pick and choose between all the different permutations of distance and fuel unit measurements.

You’ll also need to input some basic information about your vehicle, such as what kind of vehicle it is, alongside what sort of fuel it uses, and the units of measurement that follow your country’s conventions. You can do this with one car or with a fleet of cars, and then you log your trips for that particular vehicle into Fuelio when you gas up.

GPS to gas stations, but delayed pricing updates

When going to uncharted (or even well-known) locales, you may be pleased to know that Fuelio also lists GPS tracking as a feature with maps denoting locations of gas stations near your car (assuming your phone is with you to track location).

One issue I had though is that, due to the current fuel price spikes, prices at gas stations in the Philippines do not appear to be updated as quickly as it should be, so prices may appear outdated on the app, being likely more expensive in person.

Stats pages galore

Fuelio is basically a tracker and will be more helpful the more data (and fuel stops) you go on and input into it.

In its Frequently Asked Questions page, it advises that you need at least two fuel stops entered in to begin its algorithm’s calculations.

Once it acquires enough information for a given vehicle, it’ll start pulling up statistics like fuel expenditure logs, milelage logs, and cost charts and other assorted statistics.

It’ll basically tell you how much fuel you use up monthly on your drives, alongside how much you spent for that fuel, and how much a given unit of fuel you purchased cost in that month, among other tidbits of information.

This information can be saved locally, or also backed up via Dropbox or Google Cloud.

First impressions matter

As I drive cars but don’t know much about them, I found the experience of Fuelio to be one of learning. I had to understand things I’d forgotten about vehicles and study a bit about budgeting.

I could take the data from refueling stops and have it with me as a long-term history of how much I spent, and it made me further see the value of wanting to know when prices would go up so I could get gas beforehand.

With the right data, and with enough data on the road, I can get the sense if a trip to a location is worth the price of the travel I spend it on.

The app isn’t perfect. For one, I had to constantly pull down my keyboard to see the other elements on the screen to input data.

Further, the bells and whistles of a premium subscription may not be worth the price — save for maybe the fuel receipt automated uploading and encoding system they have in place — but I do intend to keep testing the app and making a habit of inputting my data just so I can get an informed opinion of my expenditures.
At the end of the day, I’ll be spending money to gas up. Best to know what I’m using my money on, and if the price of travel is ultimately worth the squeeze on my budget. – Rappler.com