Auto repair shops might bulk order carbon copies, or you might find a template online and print as many copies as your shop needs. Or, if your shop uses digital templates, you might have to deal with time-consuming digital file management.
Filling out the forms over and over, be it by handwriting or typing, can become tedious. And both options are less than ideal for record-keeping.
Paper can get lost, and digital files can become overwritten or corrupted. Both approaches are inconvenient and ultimately slow things down at your shop. And the impression you give during the payment process can determine whether those customers return or not.
Here are four reasons why a shop management system is better than an auto repair invoice template approach for your business.
Reason 1: The Invoicing Process Will Become Faster
Think about how much time the auto repair invoice template approach requires. From filling out forms by hand to only being able to collect payment in person, using paper or digital invoice templates usually means a backlog of customers waiting on service advisors.
And if you use integrated payment options like Text-to-Pay, customers will be able to pay directly from their smartphones. Service advisors will spend less time processing customers who are checking out, and customers can pay quickly instead of having to stand in line at your shop.
But, best of all, you'll give your customers an opportunity to budget large expenses they may not have otherwise expected.
We've seen shops help customers cover the cost of a $2000 or more repair they might have otherwise pushed off.
With the flexibility of buy now, pay later options, they can take care of those repairs before they get even worse, and potentially lead to even more expensive damage.
Reason 2: More Convenient for Everyone Involved
Another benefit of a shop management system over an auto repair invoice template approach is that it offers greater convenience for everyone involved.
Your service advisors can continue providing excellent service to incoming guests with minimal disruptions. They can quickly generate and send invoices, which takes significantly less time and effort than filling out estimates and always needing to hand them off in person.
Your service advisors can keep flowing through the process of checking in customers, building estimates, and selling repair work.
Reason 3: Better Tracking and Record-Keeping for Your Shop
Sometimes your team will need to pull up a prior invoice. Maybe a customer calls your shop wanting to remember what they paid for and when, or maybe someone is disputing a charge that they forgot about.
Using a paper or digital auto repair invoice template approach makes it tough to keep track of invoice histories at your shop.
With a shop management system, record-keeping becomes a simple, stress-free endeavor so you can better safeguard your shop. If a service advisor wants to find a particular invoice, they can quickly search inside of the shop management system and pull it up within seconds. No more spending extra time digging through files, physical or virtual.
With a good shop management system, you should be able to search for documents, too. And for multi-shop organizations, you should be able to link customer history across all your locations.
If a service advisor sends part of a payment to your accounts receivable department, they should be able to later search and see how much a customer owes on their balances.
If down the line, a service advisor wants to sell work that a customer previously declined, the service advisor can access that customer’s profile, see what they declined and when, and call up that customer to remind them that it’s time for another visit.
Reason 4: Generate More Business and More Profits
Consider which customer is more likely to be super impressed and return to your shop?
Charlie, who had to rush back to your shop before closing to wait in line to pay
Janet, who paid from their smartphone at their own convenience
Customer B likely drove away from the shop impressed that the check-out process was so simple.
So much of the modern customer experience revolves around the speed and convenience of digital options. The customer who has an easier time paying for their repair will be more likely to sing praises about your shop to their friends and family, getting new customers through your doors.
To make the best impression possible on your customers, and make life as easy as possible for your team members, you should look for a shop management system that covers you throughout different stages of the repair process, including inspections and estimates, inventory management, and reporting on metrics so you can see how well your shop is performing.
As you research different options on the market, be sure to ask the right questions, demo each system, and get your team’s input. Additionally, be sure to get a good sense of the team behind every solution you’re considering.
A solid onboarding and customer success team can guide you through the switch, answer your questions, and teach you all the tips and tricks you need to get your new estimate and invoice process rolling.
Tekmetric: Stand Out for the Right Reasons
Tekmetric helps you give your customers a modern, fast, convenient check-out experience. Schedule a demo to see Tekmetric in action!
Traditionally, there are four pillars to an auto repair shop that all support one another: the shop owner, technicians, customers, and service advisors.
The integrity of the shop depends on each of these pillars in different ways. The shop owner needs to make the right calls and put the right systems in place for technicians and service advisors to do their jobs. Technicians must stay focused on repairs. And loyal customers keep the lights on.
By effectively leading your team, service advisors can support the other three pillars of the shop—and in turn, achieve balance and improve the quality of your job. Getting started in your Service Advisor career, or looking for some tips? Here’s how to lead your team with intention.
Maximizing Auto Repair Shop Customer Service: A Guide to Selling Maintenance Work
Training service advisors how to properly sell maintenance work can create more loyal customers.
Drivers typically come in with an expectation of what's wrong with their car, which can make it tricky to sell maintenance work. Drivers might think you're trying to squeeze more money out of them, or may simply have a set budget in their mind and don’t plan on spending extra.
In reality, you're simply trying to go above and beyond and provide them the best service possible. So how do you show that, and which tools will help you transform the way you sell maintenance?
Here’s how to build customer trust while staying true to your auto repair shop’s mission of providing optimal maintenance recommendations.
Why Selling Maintenance Work Can Be a Challenge for Auto Repair Shop Customer Service
According to a survey conducted by AAA, 76% of U.S. drivers said that recommending unnecessary services was the top reason they do not trust auto repair shops. The survey also points out that ⅔ of U.S. drivers have managed to find an auto repair shop that they trust. Whether it’s an independent auto repair shop, or a chain repair shop, trust needs to be at the forefront of the customer experience.
Service advisors may be hesitant to sell maintenance work and only focus on the problem at hand because they don’t want to come off as pushy. But not recommending maintenance work can be a disservice to customers who deserve to know about any and all issues with their vehicle, not just the ones they’ve noticed themselves.
Add a Maintenance-Focused Inspection and Sales Process to Your Auto Repair Shop Customer Service Routine
When it comes to selling routine vehicle maintenance work, it’s important to remember that routine check ups will make a big difference on customer’s cars. Similar to the human body, cars are complex systems. Just like the body has a heart, nervous system, and organs, cars have the engine, the vehicle bus, and the control unit. If one problem is ignored, that could lead to more issues, possibly more serious than the last. For example, if a driver puts off replacing their brakes, it could damage the car’s rotors, which in turn, could lead to loss of braking power. This gets us back to one of the most important benefits of selling maintenance work: it helps your customers stay safe and get as many miles out of their car as possible.
Benefits to Selling Maintenance Work
Regular maintenance makes your customers’ lives easier. It prevents your customers from ending up on the side of the road and prolongs their vehicles’ lifespans.
Customers save money. Maintenance work can prevent car issues from getting out-of-hand, which may lead to spending more on larger repairs in the future. And who doesn’t want to address maintenance work before it becomes a much larger expense?
Providing maintenance inspections helps shops sell more work, which usually means higher ROs and a more profitable repair shop. Also, because maintenance work helps your customers’ vehicles last longer, they’re less likely to buy a new car, which they’ll probably get repaired at the dealership during the first few years.
Maintenance inspections help you queue up more work for the future. Even if they decline the maintenance work, you now have a relationship. You can track those declined jobs, and the service advisor and technician can save time figuring out what all might be wrong with the vehicle and resell that work.
Customers trust you more. When you provide reliable insights into your customer’s vehicles, your like their go-to car whisperer—a trustworthy person who reminds them to check stuff out on their vehicle before anything bad happens
Maintenance by Mileage
Shop owners, we recommend training your service advisors to check customer mileage at each visit and tracking it in your shop's auto repair shop customer service notes. By keeping track of customer mileage on each vehicle, you’ll be able to recommend maintenance work based on how many miles it has been since their last visit.
Mileage
Recommended Car Maintenance
Every 3,000 - 7,000 Miles
Replace oil and oil filters, inspect various fluid levels and wipers, check tires and lights
Every 15,000 miles
Replace air filter
Every 20,000 miles
Inspect battery and coolant levels
Every 30,000 miless
Replace power steering fluid, inspect coolant levels, brake pads, and suspension components, check radiator hoses and HVAC system
Every 35,000 miless
Inspect and replace the battery
Every 40,000 miless
Replace spark plugs and wires, inspect ignition system and suspension
Every 60,000 miless
Replace brake pads and fluid, inspect radiator hoses, timing belt, HVAC system, suspension components, and tires, check coolant levels, and power steering fluid levels
Mileage aside, a thorough digital vehicle inspection of all vehicle’s essential components should be performed regularly.
Your auto repair labor revenue and parts margins are critical for enhancing your shop’s profitability. Adjusting your pricing on parts to make a profit is pretty straightforward.
But when it comes to labor times for auto repair shops…that’s where things can get a bit tricky.
Yes, you need competitive labor rates, but you also need to keep those rates reasonable so you don’t scare off your customers with sky-high prices.
3 ways your shop can make more money on labor:
By using a labor matrix
By creating custom labor rates
By applying a labor guide markup
Before we dive into the differences between these three methods for setting the best labor times at your shop, here’s a quick refresher on the one thing these methods have in common: the labor guide.
What is a Labor Guide?
A labor guide is like the gospel of labor times for auto repair shops. It tells you how long, on average, it takes to complete different types of repair work.
Remember that the times listed in auto repair labor guides are averages, so it’s best to treat them as a starting point.
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