The holiday season is now in full swing, and as a shop owner, you’re probably thinking about how to best lead your team during this time.
Between the hot chocolate and the carols, there will be a lot you’ll have to navigate, including holiday pay and time-off requests.
By preparing and leveraging auto repair shop management software, all of this can be a piece of cake (or pie, if that’s your holiday dessert of choice).
Your technicians will likely appreciate getting paid faster, especially during the holidays, when they’re probably planning for purchases like gifts and decorations.
Instead of waiting until an entire RO is completed, you can pay your technicians as they finish individual jobs.
That way, technicians won’t have to wait for their colleagues to finish their tasks. They can get their paychecks once their part of the repair is done.
Some technicians end up getting more or fewer hours than others—and not necessarily on purpose.
After all, it can be easy to lose track of who has done what recently. This holiday season can be the perfect time to start turning that around by giving more equal hours to technicians across your shop.
That way, you can avoid overworking or underworking technicians during the holiday season and beyond.
Whether or not your shop already has a vacation time policy in place, you’ll likely see a lot of time off requests during the holidays. Your team members might want to take extra time off outside of the designated days the entire shop will be closed for the holidays.
As much as you want to honor everyone’s time-off requests, it’s not realistic. If you have too many people out at the same time, you risk being understaffed, which can lead to slowdowns and frustrated customers.
Instead of risking being understaffed, you can implement a fair time off system and communicate it to your staff. For instance, you can stipulate that time-off requests during the holiday will be “first come, first serve.”
You could even stagger the schedule so that if multiple people want to be off on the same day, the first half could work during the morning and the second half could take over in the afternoon.
If you do want your shop to be partially staffed on, say, Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve in case of any emergency vehicle repairs, you can offer your staff holiday pay.
This way, team members who would like the extra money can opt to work those days, rather than you designating certain people to come to work.
During the holidays, your shop might spend time giving back to the community, be it through organizing a holiday donation drive or giving discounts to essential workers. As a shop owner, you might also be thinking about how you can spread some holiday cheer to your team.
A great way to do so is by giving everyone a holiday bonus. However, you need to evaluate if you’re in a financial position to give out holiday bonuses, and if so, how much you can give each person.
Remember spring and summer of 2020? A lot of us are probably trying to forget and move forward, and we feel you. It was a scary time period for everyone, including the automotive repair industry.
Last April, auto shop owners were wondering, are my customers going to come into the shop? If people stay inside, are they going to drive less? If they drive less, are they still going to come into the shop as frequently? What if other industries are affected, and people have less money for repairs?
We were nervous like everyone else. But anyone who knows Tekmetric knows that we’re committed to driving the auto repair industry forward; we wanted to answer these questions and put Auto Repair Professionals’ minds at ease.
We also wanted to enable shops to not only endure the pandemic but also grow and come out stronger than ever before.
If there’s one thing that makes us feel confident, empowered, and like we know what’s going on, it’s numbers. (Tracking shop performance and providing insights is kind of our thing).
We’ve seen the power of metrics in shops across America, and we know that customers, service advisors, technicians, and the entire auto repair industry benefit when auto shop owners can make informed decisions.
So we launched the TM-500 Index. The TM-500 tracks the Average Repair Order and Car Count of five hundred auto repair shops located across the United States. But data don’t mean squat if it ain’t easy to read. The TM-500 let’s users sort data by time and region so they can quickly explore trends.
Want to know the ARO and Car Count between the months of June and November of 2020? Simply set the time period “by month,” and the TM-500 will generate an easy-to-read graph.
Want to know if shops in midwest states had a higher or lower Car Count than southwest states last summer? Simply set the time period you want to observe, and hover over different regions on a map of the United States to learn how they performed.
Just as the Tekmetric system for auto repair shop management gives shop owners better insights into their shops, the TM-500 gives Auto Repair Professionals better insights into their industry.
But knowing is only half the battle.
The auto repair industry has lagged behind almost every other service industry in how we utilize technology. Almost anyone with a smartphone can order a pizza, sushi, enchiladas, or any other food they want and track it while it’s being delivered to their door.
Meanwhile, someone paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a new transmission still has to go in-person and deal with a half-legible piece of paper that feels greasier than the pizza and enchiladas put together!
But we get it. People are sometimes reluctant to change. For many auto shop owners, however, the COVID-19 pandemic was the “now or never” moment to fully digitize their shops.
In 2020, Tekmetric prioritized the rollout of several features we had been working on to help shops provide their customers with the experience they’ve come to expect in almost every other part of their lives. In April of 2020, we rolled out Text-to-Pay, allowing shops to invoice and collect payment via text message.
In November of 2020, we rolled out True Two-Way Texting to make it easy for service advisors and customers to communicate throughout the entire repair process.
Combined, these two features enabled Tekmetric users to provide a completely touchless experience to their customers without sacrificing the quality of their work or customer service.
Much like in other industries, customers who bring their cars in for repairs appreciate the extra service and transparency of a more enhanced, digitally assisted customer experience.
As we watched many shops grow by using Tekmessage and Tekmerchant, we kept an eye on the overall performance of the TM-500. We were able to see when shops began to bounce back in summer after an early slump, and developed other understandings about where the industry was headed.
Over time, we have added new metrics to the TM-500 such as state-by-state Labor Margin, Parts Margin, Effective Labor Rate, and Car Count to gain a more complete picture of these high-performing shops.
When making conclusions about where the industry is going, we like to be informed by both quantitative and qualitative data.
The numbers give us a factual look at what’s gone up or down, and talking to people in the industry helps us make correlations between how certain behaviors, processes, and principles affect these trends.
Between the data we gathered from the TM-500 and the feedback we were able to gather from talking to auto shop owners, here’s what we have learned.
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The checkered flag is in sight, moving to the last stretch of the race at a good pace! As Tekmetric kicked off Q3, we focused on two main priorities: streamlining the customer experience and enhancing our relationships within the auto repair industry. With a customer-obsessed approach, Tekmetric is committed to driving product innovation through these two avenues, as we continue to evolve and better serve you – our partner shops.
This quarter, we made it our goal to continue helping shops improve the customer experience from start to finish. The customer experience involves streamlining operations at every level, so the vehicle can be safely repaired and back on the road as soon as possible. From estimate to the final payment, our end goal is to help you be as efficient as possible.
As part of our efforts this quarter, we sought to identify and eliminate bottlenecks to enhance shop efficiency while meeting customers where they want to be. We also implemented updates that many of you, our partner shops, have recommended to keep Tekmetric relevant to the entire shop experience. Together, these updates combine to create a stronger shop management system that helps your shop run smoothly and ultimately supports growth over time:
As Tekmetric continues to streamline and enhance the customer experience, we are also focused on strengthening our relationships within the auto repair industry. As a customer-obsessed shop management system, we aim to support shops in providing the highest quality service to vehicle owners they can – and this wouldn’t be possible without valuable feedback and insights from you, our partner shops. This approach allows us to better understand the real challenges you face, so we can provide innovative solutions that help you accomplish your goals and succeed in a market where the consumer expects more from their repair shops.
You may have seen us at the Shop Hackers Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Adam McInturff, VP of Sales and Phil Acree, Head of Payment Sales presented on our latest features and upcoming innovations. We also spoke to many of you about the trends you are seeing in the industry and how Tekmetric can support your needs – from hiring service writers to succession planning. We continued these conversations at ATE Spokane in Washington and ASCCA in California and gathered key insights as we look ahead to the end of 2024 and the beginning of a new year.
Thanks to you and your key feedback shared through these conversations, Tekmetric has been able to provide excellent service and innovative solutions throughout this quarter, resulting in recognition from the G2 Summer Awards in these categories: Overall Leader, Best Usability, Most Implementable and Momentum Leader. In addition, Tekmetric was named the best auto shop management software by G2. This recognition is a significant testament to the support of each of you, your teams and the valuable insights you provide.
For Tekmetric, customer relationships aren’t confined to the walls of a conference room. We also aimed to share the knowledge through webinars and conversations with industry outlets that sparked important conversations about what’s changing in our industry.
With our webinars, our aim is to help you uncover actionable insights that you can apply to grow your shop. Some of these conversations included our webinar, “Innovate to Elevate,” led by John Phelps, Director of Channel and Partnerships, where he talked about transforming the customer journey with the end goal of streamlining operations and boosting customer satisfaction. Similarly in our payments webinar, Phil Acree, Head of Payments covered the current state of consumer financing and how shops can enhance the customer experience regarding the payment process.
We also shared this knowledge through key industry outlets, so you can share and discuss with your team, including:
As we leave an upbeat Q3, Tekmetric continues to keep its eye on the finish line for this year: helping shops enhance the customer experience through product innovation. We are very proud that our commitment to a two-way relationship with our customers has been the driving force behind every improvement and our collaborative approach with other leaders in the industry enables us to build a steady foundation for continuous innovation. We aim to continue measuring up as we enter the final quarter of 2024.
If you've been running your shop on paper repair orders, a whiteboard, or a mix of disconnected tools, you've probably wondered about shop management software. You’ve also likely questioned what it does and whether it's worth the cost and the disruption of switching to a digital system.
This blog post answers both questions directly with a clear explanation of what auto repair shop management software is, how it works in a real shop, and the signs it might be time to look at one.
Auto repair shop management software is a platform that connects the core workflows of your shop — from writing estimates to completing repairs to collecting payment — in one place. Instead of tracking jobs on paper, managing parts in spreadsheets, and texting customers from your personal phone, everything lives in a single system your whole team can access.
At its core, it's a connected digital workflow for every repair, from the moment a car pulls in to the moment it pulls out.
📋 Quick Definition
Shop Management Software (SMS): Also called a shop management system, is a digital platform that handles the operational and customer-facing workflows of an auto repair shop: repair orders, estimates, digital vehicle inspections, parts ordering, customer communication, invoicing, and reporting. Cloud-based platforms like Tekmetric can be accessed from any device without on-site servers.
The easiest way to understand shop management software is to follow a repair from start to finish and see what the platform touches at each step.
1. Customer Arrives: Write-up and Scheduling
When a vehicle comes in, the service adviser opens a new repair order (RO) directly in the software. Customer info, vehicle history, and previous service notes are already there. There’s no need to search through masses of paper, and no digging through filing cabinets.
2. Technician Inspection: Digital vehicle inspection (DVI)
The tech completes a DVI on a tablet or mobile device, adding photos and videos of anything that needs attention. The results are automatically attached to the repair order and can be sent directly to the customer by text before the service adviser even picks up the phone.
This is one of the biggest workflow shifts shop owners find most beneficial. Customers can review inspection results, see pictures of the issue, and approve or decline work from their phone with no callbacks.
💬 From a Tekmetric customer
"The text feature is a huge hit — customers can review inspection results, check estimates, and approve repairs with just a click. The system is really streamlined and everything is integrated, making our workflow way smoother than before."
- Verified Tekmetric Customer, G2
3. Estimate Building and Approval
Once the DVI is complete, the service adviser builds an estimate inside the same system. Parts prices, labor rates, and canned jobs are already set up so advisers aren't manually pricing every line. The estimate flows directly into the repair order once the customer approves.
4. Parts Ordering
Parts ordering happens inside the platform, too. Service advisers can submit orders to their suppliers directly from the repair order, track delivery status, and receive parts against open jobs without leaving the system.
5. Work is Performed and Technicians Stay on Track
The tech board gives service advisers and managers a real-time view of every job in the shop: what's waiting, what's in progress, and what's ready. Techs can update job status from their own device, which keeps the whole team on the same page without walking back and forth to the front desk.
6. Invoice and Payment
When the job is complete, the repair order becomes an invoice. Payment can be collected at the counter, sent by text, or processed through a payment link — depending on how the shop is set up.
7. Customer History
Every completed repair, every declined service, every inspection — it's all stored in the customer's profile. Next time they come in, the service adviser already knows what was done, what was deferred, and what's coming up. That's how you build trust and bring customers back.
Most shops that switch to a management platform are replacing one or more of the following:
💬 From a Tekmetric customer
"We were originally running our shop with two systems; one was for digital inspection and the other was our shop management system. ... I was spending $1,000 a month between the software companies and the IT support. And if the internet connection blipped for a split second, my digital inspection went down for about an hour. Now I'm paying a fraction of what I was before. … We saved a bunch of money, and the estimate writing process is much faster because the labor guide is built into the system."
- Stephane Grabina, Excluservice, Tekmetric Customer
You don't need to be a high-volume shop to benefit from management software. Here are the signals that tell you it's worth a closer look:
None of these are signs of a poorly run shop. They're signs of a shop that has outgrown what paper and disconnected tools can do.
If your shop is processing more than a handful of cars a day, the answer is yes.
The goal of shop management software isn't to add another system to manage. It's to replace the friction in your current process — the paper, the callbacks, the manual pricing, the jobs that fall through the cracks — with one workflow your whole team can use.
"It integrates every aspect of running our shop — from scheduling appointments and messaging customers to integrating payments and sending invoices." - Gigi Collier, G2 Review, Tekmetric Customer
📌 Bottom Line
Auto repair shop management software connects your repair orders, inspections, parts, customer communication, and reporting in one place. It replaces the paper and disconnected tools most shops are running on today and gives you the visibility to run your business with more confidence and less noise.
Not all platforms are built the same. The best ones don't just digitize each task — they connect them, so information moves from one step to the next without anyone rekeying it.
Repair order and estimate workflow
The platform should make it fast to write up a job, build an estimate, and convert it to a repair order without re-entering anything. Look for built-in labor guides and canned jobs so your team isn't pricing from scratch every time. On Tekmetric, estimates flow straight into the repair order, and labor and parts matrices keep pricing accurate and margins protected.
Digital vehicle inspections (DVI)
DVIs are one of the highest-impact features in any shop management platform. When technicians attach photos and videos and customers approve work from their phones, authorization rates climb and comebacks drop. The lift is measurable: shops on Tekmetric average $612 per repair order, rising to $741 once digital vehicle inspections are in use. Customers approve more work when they can see exactly what their vehicle needs.
Parts ordering and inventory
Look for parts ordering built into the repair order, so your team submits orders without leaving the job or logging into a separate portal. Tekmetric connects to more than 70 integrations, including the parts suppliers most shops already use, and inventory tracking helps prevent shortages while protecting your parts margin.
Customer communication
Two-way texting, digital estimates, and automated follow-ups should be built in, not bolted on through a third-party tool. Every extra place your team has to go to reach a customer is another place things fall through the cracks. Tekmetric keeps it in one platform: text a customer, send an estimate, and follow up on a declined service from the same screen.
Reporting and visibility
A strong platform gives you a live view of what's happening in your shop right now — car count, technician productivity, average repair order — without pulling a report or doing the math. Tekmetric's real-time reporting puts those numbers in front of you as the day unfolds, so you can coach your team and clear bottlenecks while it still matters, instead of finding out next week.
Cloud-based access
Cloud-based platforms don't need an on-site server to maintain or replace, they back up your data automatically, and they let you log in from anywhere — the shop, home, or the road. Shop owners on Tekmetric point to exactly this: no server to buy and swap out every few years, and the freedom to work from any terminal at any location. It matters more than most owners realize until the day they need it.
Tekmetric is the shop management platform built for independent auto repair shops. Repair orders, digital inspections, parts ordering, payments, and real-time reporting all run in one system, on any device. There are no servers and no syncing between tools that don't talk to each other and one login for the whole team.
It was built by someone who lived through the problem. Founder and CEO Sunil Patel ran his own shop and built Tekmetric to clear the friction he hit every day. More than 15,000 shops now run on it, connected to more than 70 integrations for the parts suppliers, labor guides, and accounting tools they already use.
When inspections go digital, customers see exactly what their vehicle needs — photos, videos, and clear findings in a single message. When they understand the work, they approve more of it. The results track it: Tekmetric shops average $612 per repair order. With digital vehicle inspections in use, that average rises to $741. Add MotoVisuals educational videos, and it reaches around $800. It’s the same honest work, but more of it is approved because customers understand what they're paying for.
That's the pattern across the platform. Faster turnaround from check-in to checkout. More cars through the bays. A customer experience that earns repeat visits. The friction falls away, and shops run on results instead of guesswork.
💬 From a Tekmetric customer
"The amount of information that is available to the front desk, the service adviser, and the technician at a glance is very impressive, and the functionality of it together is great."
— Moises M., Guest Service Representative, G2 Reviews, Tekmetric Customer
July 21, 2026
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