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Tekmetric is all about transparency. Sugar coating just isn’t in our DNA. If you’re reading this right now, you may be looking for a free shop management software to get you by in the short term. Tekmetric is not free, but it is a long-term solution that can help you achieve your business aspirations.

Before you click off, here’s what we recommend doing: bookmark this page. Or better yet, keep reading. Even if you were looking for a cheaper solution, it’s always best to consider not just the price point but also which auto repair software will deliver the highest return.

Investing in your business is no easy feat. Just as future car owners take cars for a test drive, shop owners—new and experienced—need to do their research and see the software in action. There are factors that go into that, though. Free trials have limitations, and it’s difficult to get the full scope of how impactful shop management software will be.

Let’s talk about how to find a shop management system that will be worth the investment and lead to exponential returns for your shop.

An auto repair estimate template, otherwise commonly referred to as a car repair estimate template, can be a great communication tool for your shop—or it can leave your team spinning their wheels in the dirt.  

While it’s easy to assume that any old auto repair estimate template will lead to a faster repair order process, unfortunately, not all templates are created equal.

The most effective templates provide a standardized framework for the estimate and repair process and lay everything out for your team and customers in a digestible format. The least effective templates cause more work for your team and eat up extra time that could (and should) be spent taking care of the customers.

A Modern Approach For Your Shop

Nowadays, there’s a whole spectrum of template options to choose from, including pen and paper forms, downloadable PDFs, and full-service shop management systems with a built-in RO program.

Finding the right fit for your shop might feel like a challenge, but the effort you put into looking for an auto repair estimate template says you care a lot about your team’s time and value their autonomy.

Upgrading your estimate process helps your team maximize its potential by giving them the power to focus on what they do best—getting customers back on the road.

The list of service advisor responsibilities can seem endless. You might find yourself being pulled in many directions at once. You have to be there for customers, technicians, the shop owner, and even other service advisors. But it’s important to remember that you’re not alone.

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 their repairs and be diligent to catch all vehicle issues. And loyal customers keep the lights on.

As a service advisor, you’re uniquely positioned to support the other three pillars of the shop. By working with technicians, you can help customers better understand what needs to be repaired and why. By working directly with customers, you can gain a deeper understanding of what the shop does right and what the shop can do better. With a clear perspective of all facets of the shop, you’re one of the best people to advise the shop owner on ways to transform their business.

Whether you’re just getting started with your career or you’ve been a service advisor for a while now, the good news is that this is a career path that encourages ongoing learning and development. Being intentional about how you support the other three pillars of the shop—and remembering how they support you—can help you achieve balance and improve the quality of your job.

It’s a well-known fact in the auto-repair world that summer is the busiest time of the year. As the weather heats up and families start going on road-trips, more and more drivers bring their vehicles into the shop for maintenance.

Service advisors are an integral part of running your shop.

Not only do they have to greet every customer and learn what they need, but they also need to connect a lot of moving parts, whether that means sending repair orders to guests, making sure they’re getting approved, coordinating with technicians, or literally tracking down parts for repairs. that service advisors keep a cool head.

Making sure every job makes it through the repair process without fault while providing guests with kind and diligent service can be tough, but there are tools and habits that can make the job a breeze.

Here are a few actionable tactics you can start using immediately at your shop so service advisors can stay brisk in spite of the heat.

As much we like to think we’ve always been at the top, no one is born a boss. Before you became an auto repair shop owner, you probably held other positions and had someone else bossing you around. Think back to those bosses, and how you felt about those jobs.

You may have had some bosses who you didn’t like. Their leadership style might have been too aggressive, or maybe they didn’t take the time to show you the ropes.

But hopefully, you had at least one boss who helped you get to where you are today. Typically, good bosses:

• Strongly support your career growth by encouraging you to gain new skills
• Understand when you have to take some time off or shift your work hours
• Trust you to get the job done instead of micromanaging you
• Show you they value your contributions to the team
• Effectively communicate instructions and priorities to you

If you had a supportive boss who championed you at work, you probably went above and beyond—you knew they valued your work. Your former boss’s great leadership qualities probably set an example for you, influencing how you run your own shop today.

We’re willing to bet you’re already an excellent leader, running your own shop in a way that inspires your team, just like how your previous bosses might have inspired you. But, just like you expect your employees to grow in their roles, your employees expect you to continue growing as a leader.

By fine-tuning your leadership skills, you can bring the absolute best out of yourself and your team.

If you run an auto repair shop, chances are you have customers that think they know what’s going on with their vehicle as soon as they set foot in your shop. Although customers with preconceived assumptions can be frustrating at times, we have to give drivers credit for doing their research, especially now when we have a wealth of information at our fingertips.

You’re probably thinking to yourself, “Yes, but automotive repair estimates online aren’t always the best source of information.” And you’re right. But let’s think about ourselves for a second. As people who have experienced the world and have naturally developed our own worries, fears, and doubts, we tend to trust our own intuition and symptom-research sometimes more than we trust professionals.

And it’s a well known fact that consumers have a hard time trusting the auto repair industry—or any business that gives customers diagnoses for that matter. Just as people look up their symptoms online, and come to a conclusion on WebMD, they tend to do the same thing when something is wrong with their vehicle.

Whether it’s true or simply a situation where someone is convincing themselves they have said illness, the internet isn’t going anywhere. And let’s face it, we’re all guilty of using the internet for quick and easy answers, which is why it’s important to empathize with customers. Just as they may Google their symptoms, it is likely that they might type into the search bar, “Why is my car making a rattling sound?”

Of course, it is highly possible that the results that populate aren’t necessarily what an auto repair pro would point out to them. But whatever they find online still gives them some peace of mind, knowing they are informed before stepping foot into an auto repair shop that they may or may not trust.

It’s inevitable: people feel more protected if they understand—or even slightly understand—the issue at hand first.

Now, take a step back and think to yourself where your customers are getting their car repair information from. If you answered “auto repair estimate online tools,” you’re exactly right.