Repair estimates are the foundation for your shop’s revenue.
How you estimate work and send those findings and estimates over to your customers will shape your shop’s profitability, your customer relationships, and how professional you come across to your customers.
Some shop owners might be tempted to use the free online car repair estimator tools to run their own estimates. But will this shortcut actually help your shop get to where you want it to be?
What Is an Auto Repair Estimate?
When customers come to your shop for repair work, they’re expecting a standardized process with an estimate for all the work your shop will be completing. Typically, as you'll know, this meant paper printouts or even manually, hand-written checklists.
But paper leaves a lot to be desired. As shop management systems have shifted from pen and paper to digital, and more recently from older digital software to modern cloud-based solutions, shops have access to way better tools than ever before.
Free Estimates Versus Paid Software
If you’re relying on free estimate tools for your customers’ estimates, you might run into some issues. Maybe the online estimator tool isn’t updated with the most recent info on a customer’s vehicle.
Or, if your local tax laws changed, the estimate might not reflect that.
So, how accurate are car repair estimates? They aren’t very accurate and aren’t as reliable as paid shop management software. They simply can’t tie into the rest of your shop’s system and processes.
Shop management software not only provides estimates to your customers but can also further explain vehicle repairs via digital vehicle inspections. A shop management system will give your shop:
Free car repair estimator tools might seem like they help you in the moment, but over the course of your career, they can limit your ability to grow.
Modern platforms with digital vehicle inspections make it easier to show customers exactly what your shop will be fixing, how much it will cost, and how long it’ll take. And we actually mean show them!
Digital vehicle inspection estimates will include everything you expect: an estimate of the repairs including necessary parts and associated costs, labor requirements including time and cost, and an overall breakdown of the total charge, but because everything is digital, shops can even include pictures or videos to really help drive home the need for repair.
And because everything is digital, results can be sent directly to the customer’s email address or even texted right to their phone for instant approval.
What a Free Car Repair Estimator Won’t Tell You
While free auto repair estimate tools help drivers gain a sense of what the repairs could cost, they simply base that on the limited information that you provide.
If you scroll down on most of the auto repair cost estimators, you’ll see a “Repair Cost Estimator Legal Disclaimer” that will likely include the following statements:
Estimated price is customized for your vehicle make, model, year, and trim, but does not include diagnostic charges, taxes, disposal or environmental fees, oil or other fluid costs, or other ancillary parts that may be needed for the repair.
Vehicle repair costs may vary from vehicle to vehicle.
Actual repair costs will vary based on labor rates, time required for repairs, actual parts used, your vehicle’s condition, and any other circumstances pertinent to your particular repair job.
This estimate is to be used for informational purposes only and is intended to serve as a general guide.
Always consult a certified automotive technician before making important auto repair and service decisions.
The last two disclaimers are big ones. As you can tell by the language, estimators are for customers, and they’re only rough estimates. Any time a customer receives an estimate from an auto repair shop, they want to know exactly what they’re about to spend on the repairs.
Using a free auto repair estimator tool will not include the taxes, fees, and any specific vehicle information that might affect the price, or any potential underlying issues that might increase your customer’s total.
The best way to earn your customer’s trust is by giving them accurate car repair estimates that clearly show the details and the reasoning behind your estimate.
Upgrade from a Free Car Repair Estimator
A free car repair estimator might seem like it saves your shop time and money, but will likely lead to more mistakes and inefficiencies that end up costing you time and money down the road. And if you get into the habit of only using free online estimators, you are limiting yourself.
If you find that you’re struggling to move on from free car repair estimator tools, find a way to remove them completely. One option? Replace them with a shop management system and never look back.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Digital vehicle inspections are the best way to show your customer exactly what’s wrong with their vehicle, and why your shop’s repair work is necessary.
Because modern tools like digital vehicle inspections and car repair estimators, shops send pictures or videos, customers can feel more comfortable that they’re making the right decisions in approving repairs they may have otherwise put off.
Give Your Customers Accurate Estimates With Tekmetric
When you use Tekmetric to give your customers a clear, accurate picture of exactly how much repairs will cost, they’ll be able to make informed decisions—and will see your shop as professional, organized, and reliable.
Transparency within the auto repair invoice process goes a long way. Most customer will feel uncertain about approving expensive repairs if they don't truly understand the need for them. That's why it's up to your shop to foster a trusting relationship by clearly showing customers the issue, and the need for a repair.
The right invoicing system will improve your shop’s workflow, save your team time, enhance your customers’ experience, and provide you with peace of mind.
Here’s how Tekmetric’s Cloud-Based Shop Management System provides seamless shop management that leads to frictionless payment processing:
A service advisor can create a repair order and dispatch it to a technician to run a digital vehicles inspection (DVI).
The technician conducts the inspection.
The service advisor sends the customer a DVI report, which will outline all the findings.
The customer can approve or decline individual line items on the repair order directly from their smartphone.
Once the customer finishes scrolling through the estimate, designating the jobs they approve and decline, your shop has the go-ahead to begin the repair(s).
Once repairs are complete, there’s a digital record of exactly what the customer approved. That way, when it’s time to pay, there are no surprises.
Once the customer pays with their preferred method, they can look back over the receipt—from their computer or smartphone—and feel confident that your shop did exactly what you said you’d do.
After a job is completed and payment is received, all the details from the invoice and repair order become part of your reports and customer history in Tekmetric.
Tekmetric’s cloud-based automotive invoice software has designed the entire process to reduce bottlenecks, build trust, and ensure that customers know exactly what to expect.
By moving smoothly from one step to the next, your team will be able to boost their efficiency, manage their workflow, and spend the extra time building rapport with customers and getting their cars back to good working order.
Tekmetric, the leading Houston-based automotive repair technology company, has been recognized as a 2022 MOTOR Top 20 Award winner for its recent integration with RepairLink by OEConnection (OEC), a renowned technology provider for the aftersales industry.
The integration, selected by industry experts as well as public popular vote, allows shop owners to seamlessly order original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts directly from the Tekmetric Shop Management System.
For over three decades, the annual MOTOR Top 20 Awards have recognized outstanding new industry solutions across the automotive industry, from the most innovative tool or equipment to creating the best customer experience.
Winners are selected by automotive professionals and experts who voted over a thirty-day open voting process from a selection of this year’s most valuable contributions to the industry.
“As a leading shop management system, our team at Tekmetric shares a mutual belief with our partners at OEC that we best support shop owners in all their business needs by providing modern and relevant solutions,” said Sunil Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Tekmetric.
“We are honored and humbled to have the Tekmetric-RepairLink integration recognized by both our customers – shop owners – and our industry peers as one of this year’s most innovative solutions.”
With its combination of Tekmetric’s cloud-based capabilities and RepairLink’s parts ordering platform, the integration builds upon Tekmetric’s existing parts ordering offerings to streamline the process of ordering OEM parts for auto repair shops. Through the integration, shop owners can track orders or returns with real-time online updates, as well as address orders in one screen, transferring any quoted parts and VIN numbers automatically into Tekmetric.
“Vehicle sophistication is growing rapidly, and all signs point to even more advancements, meaning it’s absolutely necessary for repairers to have enhanced access to critical parts and information,” said Bonnie Coleman, OEC Director, Mechanical Retail.
“This is why OEC is thrilled to partner with Tekmetric, and that this integration has been recognized for the valuable contribution it offers to the industry.”
Tekmetric, a Houston-based auto repair technology company, offers a cloud-based platform that enables auto repair shop owners to enhance productivity and increase profitability through its streamlined workflow management processes.
Designed by a former shop owner, Tekmetric’s platform drives shop efficiency through real-time data, a customizable user interface and customer-centric communication tools.
Since its launch in 2016, Tekmetric has disrupted the industry with its robust fully-integrated system, developed with an emphasis on customer transparency and user collaboration.
OEConnection Holdings’ portfolio includes OEC, the leading parts ecommerce technology provider for OEM distribution networks, serving over 20 OEMs and 100,000 dealership and repair customers.
Providence Equity Partners is the majority stakeholder of OEConnection Holdings; Ford Motor Company and General Motors are minority stakeholders.
The company is headquartered in the greater Cleveland area at 4205 Highlander Parkway, Richfield, Ohio, 44286
Tekmetric, a Houston-based leading auto repair technology company, was named the winner of a silver Stevie® Award in the Achievement in Growth category in The 20th Annual American Business Awards®.
Tekmetric was nominated in the Achievement in Growth category for the company’s tremendous growth and expansion in the last year.
The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.’s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small.
Co-founded in 2016, Tekmetric offers an all-in-one SaaS business management system for auto repair shops. As the auto repair industry’s leading cloud-based solution, Tekmetric has grown from just a few customers to more than 3,000 shops across the U.S.
In the last year alone, Tekmetric’s revenue has increased by more than 115%, a reflection of its role as a trusted industry solution for increasing shop efficiency.
“Tekmetric strives to deliver premier service and value to auto repair shop owners who partner with us, and this unmatched level of care wouldn’t be possible without the outstanding team we have built,” said Prasanth Chilukuri, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Tekmetric.
“To experience an expansion that more than tripled to more than 95 talented professionals from across the U.S. and Europe has been an incredible journey. We are honored to have been recognized in the Stevie for our continued growth and leadership in the auto repair industry.”
More than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year’s Stevie Award winners.
Nicknamed the Stevies®® for the Greek word meaning “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Monday, June 13. Tickets are now on sale.
“We are so pleased that we will be able to stage our first ABA awards banquet since 2019 and to celebrate, in person, the achievements of such a diverse group of organizations and individuals,” said Maggie Miller, president of the Stevie Awards.
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