When customers walk into your auto repair shop, they’re trusting you and your team with the health of their vehicle, one of their most expensive assets.
They’re coming in with a problem or set of problems and expect your team to effectively fix those problems in a reasonable time frame.
And modern expectations for customer service have shifted as our technology has evolved. Customers don't want to have to find time for a phone call when they can just get texted updates about their repairs, and digital tools make it easier for shops to build transparency in their process.
Modern auto repair shop software not only makes it easy but lays the foundation for a modern customer experience at every step.
Offering a Modern Auto Repair Shop Customer Experience Starts with a Modern Shop Management System
We're big advocates of modernizing your auto repair shop, and we don't necessarily mean replacing all your racks, updating all your compressors, and swapping out your alignment rack. Sure those might help, but we get those can be really big investments.
That's why we're focused on the behind-the-scenes operations of your shop, the overall management and flow of repair orders. Modern shop management software enables owners, managers, service advisors, and technicians to gain visibility into, and control over, their individual part of the process with specific functions:
Cloud-based shop management
Real-time control
Digital Vehicle Inspections
Built-In Payment Processing
Digital Shop Communications
Efficient Parts and Inventory Management
While all of these directly work to modernize your shop operations, they also work to modernize your shop experience for customers.
When your shop is using Digital Vehicle Inspections instead of paper printouts, you're not only making it easier for your technicians and service advisors to communicate and collaborate, but you're also modernizing how your shop interacts with customers, by emailing or texting results and approval requests.
How Automotive Shop Programs Give Customers More Agency
The common way shops get repair authorizations from customers is verbally, either in person or over the phone. But this approach is rife with the risk of misunderstandings.
By contrast, digital vehicle inspections give you a way to transparently show your customers what’s going on with their vehicles, as well as a way for them to clearly indicate how they want to proceed.
Technicians can concisely break down findings, send photos and videos of issues, and indicate the severity of each issue using a color-coded system. Service advisors can then quickly put together estimates that clearly display those findings, and email or text them to customers.
Customers will then receive their estimates and clearly see which issues are the most pressing, as well as the expected costs. With digital authorization, customers can check off the repair work they want, and your team can start tackling repairs.
How Automotive Shop Programs Help Your Team Move Jobs Along Faster
With automotive shop programs, service advisors can get a high-level overview of every repair order at your shop. They can see which repair orders are pending authorization, in progress, or completed. Your team can even see more specific details at a glance, like which repair orders still need parts ordered, so they can swiftly move repairs along.
Service advisors can also see exactly what each technician has on their plate, so they can then assign the outstanding repair orders to the technicians that have the most availability, evening out workloads at your shop. Service advisors can dispatch specific jobs in one repair order to different technicians to avoid lopsided workloads.
As for technicians, they can use the system as their digital to-do list; they can glance at it and know exactly what they’re responsible for each day—and in which order they should tackle repairs.
How Automotive Shop Programs Help You Keep Customers in the Loop
Using automotive shop programs, service advisors get a snapshot of how far along every repair order is so they can communicate updates to customers without ever having to leave their workstations and interrupt technicians’ workflow.
As each technician works and marks labor lines as complete within their own work area in the system, service advisors will see the corresponding updates and be able to tell customers exactly where their repairs stand.
How Automotive Shop Programs Simplify How Your Customers Get In Touch With Your Shop
An automotive shop program with true two-way texting simplifies communication for you and your team. And adding your shop’s phone number to the system opens a new channel of streamlined communication.
Service advisors can message any customer directly from the system, the message will show up as a regular text message on the customer’s phone, and they can text right back. Back at the shop, every service advisor with access to the system will see their response within the system.
With true two-way texting, your team and your customers will be able to avoid the pitfalls of verbal communication and exchange information with more clarity.
Plus, with true two-way texting, there will be a record of the information exchanged between your shop and the customer, enabling you to safeguard your shop.
How Automotive Shop Programs Make It Easier for You to Get Paid
An automotive shop program with a text-to-pay feature benefits all customers, especially those on the go. Service advisors can send customers a payment link right to their smartphones when it's time to pay, and customers can then quickly punch in their credit numbers and authorize payments on a secure platform.
In turn, service advisors will have an easier time collecting payment and will be able to keep track of which customers have paid, and which customers haven’t.
How Automotive Shop Programs Make It Easier to Give Back
You can benefit from a referral program where you give back to your customers. Of course, if you do decide to give out discounts, you want to make sure that they don’t negatively cut into your bottom line.
An automotive shop program with real-time reports will enable your team to use discounts strategically. Giving back can also be as simple as handing a customer their favorite soda to sip on while they wait out their repair.
Facilitate Delivering the Best Auto Repair Customer Service Possible With Tekmetric
Tekmetric’s various features, including DVIs, the Job Board, and the Tech Board, help you streamline your team’s ability to provide exceptional customer service that gets people back behind the wheel quickly, and has them telling their friends and family about your shop.
Scaling your auto repair business requires moving beyond simple spreadsheets and paper repair orders. You need a robust shop management software that has enterprise-level features, centralized real-time reporting, and helps you provide a consistent customer experience across locations.
This guide breaks down the top enterprise software solutions for auto repair shops with 2+ locations.
Top 5 Enterprise Solutions for Shops With Multiple Locations
Finding the right software partner for your expanding shop is critical to your success. Below you will find our top overall picks for multi-shop operators (MSOs).
Multi-shop owners love Tekmetric because they can run their entire business, across all locations, from one platform. Featuring an all-in-one shop management solution with centralized real-time reporting, marketing, payments, and 70+ integrations, Tekmetric makes it easier for you to manage multiple locations. Why we picked Tekmetric:
Centralized reporting: Real-time dashboards enable you to see how each location is performing. You can track financials, employee performance, shop metrics, ARO, car count, and more.
All-in-one solution: Instead of switching between platforms, Tekmetric offers shop management, POS, and CRM in one place.
Company history: Built by a former shop owner, Tekmetric is often praised for ease of use, simple onboarding, reliable support, and listening to customer feedback.
Shop-Ware is designed to help you maintain consistency across multiple locations with unified customer history, reporting, and employee management features.
Why we picked Shop-Ware:
Reporting: Find the metrics that matter the most to your business.
Customer experience: Standardize your customer experience across locations.
Employee management: Easily compare employee productivity and manage permission levels.
Protractor is a popular shop management system for shops with multiple locations or franchises. Protractor offers advanced reporting features and shop management features so you can run your shop confidently.
Why we picked Protractor:
Reporting: Performance tracking, insights, and employee productivity monitoring.
Fullbay specializes in heavy-duty truck and trailer repair shops. Most standard shop software struggles with the complexity of fleet maintenance, but Fullbay was built for it.
Why we picked Fullbay:
Centralized inventory: Track parts and inventory across all locations.
Integrations: Fullbay has plenty of industry interrogations to keep your shop running.
If you are looking for a lighter software solution, Garage360 might be a good option for your shop. Supporting quick-lube, body/collision, and fleet, Garage360 can be used in a variety of shops.
Why we picked Garage360:
Versatile: Can be used in multiple shop types.
Permission control: Manage your employee permissions across locations.
Reporting: Pull the data you need to make informed decisions.
Pricing: Starting at $79/mo (billed annually).
Which software features should I look for when I manage multiple shops?
If you are comparing software options for your chain operations, these are the modern features to look for:
Centralized real-time reporting: Tired of trying to guess how each shop location is performing? Pick a software that can pull the data you need from any location or aggregate it across shop locations within a user-friendly dashboard.
Inventory/parts management: Tracking parts can be difficult as you expand. Find a solution that can track inventory levels and transfer parts as needed across locations.
Standardized workflows: Having standard workflows streamlines your shop operations. Select a software that can standardize your operations, prices, and procedures.
Employee permissions:Managing employee permissions is critical to ensuring the safety of your company data and holding employees accountable. Pick a software that keeps your business secure.
Single vs. Multi-Location Management: What are the differences?
Why can’t you just use a single-shop system? The difference lies in automation and control.
Standardization: In a multi-location setup, you need to ensure that technicians at every shop are following the same workflow and procedures so your customer experience is consistent.
Visibility: Single shop software may have reporting, but you need to be able to compare metrics between shops to make informed business decisions.
Security: Multi-shop software provides employee permission settings and typically comes with advanced data protection.
Pricing: Most single-shop software options will charge you per user or limit repair orders. Enterprise software will grow with you and charge based on the number of locations.
Final Thoughts
Choosing an enterprise-level auto repair shop software isn't just about features; it's about finding a partner that helps you maintain a consistent customer experience as you grow. Whether you prioritize inventory management, deep metrics, or standard procedures, ensure you find a solution that can grow with you.
Thought Leadership
Shop Management
Best Auto Repair Software for Multiple Locations (Full Guide)
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