4 Ways to Create a Better Auto Shop Customer Experience

At Tektonic 2026, one of the most memorable moments of the conference came when Tekmetric turned the spotlight on the shops doing the best work.

The inaugural Shop Excellence Awards, powered by performance insights from the Tekmetric platform, celebrated repair shops that are not only delivering standout business results, but also redefining what exceptional customer service, shop culture, and operational excellence look like across the automotive repair industry.

"Tonight is probably going to be my favorite part of all of Tektonic," Tekmetric CEO and Founder Sunil Patel said during the ceremony. "None of this is about us. It's about the shops in this room, the people actually doing the work. Running shops, leading teams, taking care of customers every single day."

Using 12 months of platform performance data from Tektonic event registrants, Tekmetric recognized shops that rose to the top across key measures of customer trust, service consistency, team culture, transparency, and operational growth.

"The shops that win today aren't just fixing cars … they're building businesses, leading teams, and delivering experiences customers remember," Tekmetric President & COO Lauren Langston said.

Top Car Count Award: Dick's Point S Tire & Auto Repair

The Top Car Count Award recognizes a shop that has earned extraordinary trust from its community at scale.

This year's winner, Dick's Point S Tire & Auto Repair in Battle Ground, Wash., served more than 25,000 vehicles during the last 12 months.

That level of throughput only happens when customers return again and again, and when shop teams consistently deliver an experience drivers trust.

"Serving nearly 26,500 vehicles in a single year means thousands of drivers who found a shop they could count on, returned when they needed help, and left satisfied," Langston said.

Sustained Growth Award: Branch Automotive and AutoPro Maryville

Growth is one thing. Sustaining it is something else entirely.

The Sustained Growth Award recognizes shops that have continuously raised the bar for what they deliver to every customer who walks through the door. Growth in average repair order reflects shops that are doing better inspections, making clearer recommendations, and earning customer confidence in the work their vehicles actually need. These two shops demonstrated the most consistent upward trajectory throughout 2025.

This year's winners were Branch Automotive in Highlands Ranch, Colo., and AutoPro Maryville in Maryville, Tenn.

Branch Automotive posted nine straight month-over-month increases in ARO. AutoPro Maryville also delivered nine month-over-month increases, growing by an impressive 51%.

Together, the two shops exemplify what sustainable growth looks like: stronger inspections, clearer recommendations, and the kind of customer trust that leads to consistently higher-value work.

DVI Powerhouse Award: Craftsman Auto Care – Fairfax

Transparency remains one of the most powerful drivers of trust in modern auto repair, and no shop demonstrated that better than Craftsman Auto Care – Fairfax.

“Winning means everything. It means my team winning–being able to pay the best in the business, being able to offer the best benefits, having amazing employees and amazing customers who just fall in love with us,” said Matt Curry, president and CEO of Craftsman Auto Care.

With almost 10,000 five-star reviews, with an average rating of 4.9 stars, Curry said that's a huge trust signal with all of their customers. Craftsman Auto Care uploaded hundreds of thousands of digital inspection images during a year, the highest total Tekmetric’s dataset.

"That's 300,000 moments where a customer could clearly see what their vehicle needed," Langston said. "Removing guesswork, building confidence, and helping drivers make informed decisions about their car."

The result is a service experience rooted in clarity, education, and trust.

Booked Solid Award: A Master Mechanic and Demore's Automotive

The Booked Solid Award honors shops that have built reliable, predictable demand through reputation and service, the kind customers actively seek out, return to, and refer others to.

This year's first winner, A Master Mechanic in Sparks, Nev., recorded the largest booked appointments in the Tekmetric network dataset.

This year's second winner, Demore's Automotive in Palmer, Mass., earned its recognition by proving that smart marketing and exceptional service are a powerful combination. As a Tekmetric Digital Ads beta participant, the shop turned digital visibility into real volume, reaching the right drivers at the right moment and converting first visits into long-term customer relationships. The result is full bays, steady demand, and a shop that delivers every time someone walks through the door.

Together, these two shops show that full schedules don't happen by accident. They're the result of consistent service, earned trust, and, increasingly, the strategic use of digital tools to reach customers before the competition does.

Financing Excellence Award: The Garagisti Katy

For many drivers, the biggest obstacle to safe, reliable transportation is not understanding the repair, it is figuring out how to pay for it.

The Financing Excellence Award recognizes the shop that best removed that barrier.

This year's winner, The Garagisti Katy in Katy, Texas, was the leading user of Buy Now, Pay Later financing across the Tekmetric network.

“I feel great, not only for myself, but for the team and everything that they do: the customer interactions, the sales, helping close the sale. It means a lot,” said Eddie Marlow, manager of The Garagisti Katy. “I have a great team, a great owner, and this award means a lot to all of us.”

By making financing a seamless part of the customer journey, the shop helped more drivers move forward with necessary repairs without added financial stress.

"This shop has made that moment easier," Patel said, referencing the often difficult conversations shops have when customers need repairs but hesitate because of cost.

Best Shop to Work For: The Kar Shop and Ice Cold Air

The final award of the evening focused on the people behind every customer experience.

The Best Shop to Work For Award recognized two shops this year, each demonstrating, in their own way, that the customer experience will never exceed the employee experience.

The first winner, The Kar Shop in Rogers, Ark., was recognized for building a culture where technicians and staff feel valued, supported, and empowered to grow. During the ceremony, Tekmetric leaders shared one story that stood out: the shop changed its operating hours so employees could spend more time with their families while continuing to invest in training and long-term career development.

“It's really kind of impressive that our guys think so much of us. In your day to day, you don't really think about things like that,” said Keith Kingston, one of The Kar Shop’s owners. “You're there to make sure the customers get taken care of, that everything flows well, that you have all your parts; there are so many small details you have to worry about. You don't always stop to think about how everybody feels. So to know that they said good things about us, it's really kind of humbling.”

The second winner, Ice Cold Air, earned its recognition through intentional hiring, steady processes, and genuine leadership, building a workplace where people feel supported, valued, and proud to belong. 

“And what just happened right there with my team and my wife? That energy is going to go back home with us,” Ashley Butler, owner and franchisor of Ice Cold Air, said immediately after winning the award. “It's going to go throughout the entire organization. And next year, we're coming back with a minimum of two people from each shop, that means 28 people. We're going to bring techs, we're going to bring managers, we're going to bring franchisees, so they can come build that energy and experience Tekmetric firsthand.”

With more than 100 employees, Ice Cold Air’s impact reaches far beyond the shop floor. The Tampa, Fla., team believes in doing things the right way: investing in their people, giving back to their community, and building something that lasts.

"It shows up in their culture, their retention, and in every customer interaction," Langston said.

Raising the Standard for the Industry

The Shop Excellence Awards were ultimately about more than recognition. They highlighted the operational habits, customer-first decisions, and team investments that move the entire industry forward.

At Tekmetric, that is exactly what Tektonic is built to celebrate: the shops leading by example and showing what great looks like.

"To all of our winners, and honestly, to every shop in this room, we know what it takes to do this well," Patel said in closing. "The standard you're setting is what moves this entire industry forward."

Join us at next year's Tektonic to hear their stories, see the strategies behind the numbers, and connect with the shop leaders shaping the future of auto repair.

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In partnership with Advance Professional, Tekmetric now seamlessly integrates with MotoVisuals. This powerful collaboration aims to elevate the customer experience, streamline shop processes and empower automotive businesses like never before.

MotoVisuals offers a wide array of simple-to-follow animated videos, simplifying customer education. Shops report their close rate increase from industry average of 55% to over 90% when MotoVisuals is integrated into their workflow.

Central to this integration is a dedication to saving Service Advisors’ time, improving customer communication, and ultimately boosting your shop’s profitability. Here's how leveraging MotoVisuals within Tekmetric’s Digital Vehicle Inspections (DVIs) is poised to transform your shop:

Effective customer communication is crucial in the auto repair industry, no matter how big or small your shop may be. In fact, customer communication is at the heart of the most successful shops. However, there’s more to it than just writing a repair order or making a phone call and leveraging effective strategies for communicating can make the difference in a shop’s level of success. In this guide, we will go over qualities of great customer communication and how you can leverage digital tools like your auto repair shop management system to be a better communicator. Together, these assets can help you enhance customer loyalty and grow your shop’s bottom line.

Good communication in your shop is characterized by:

• An efficient and accurate workflow
• Understanding and fulfilling customer needs
• Creating trust and driving safety by educating customers on their vehicles

Maximizing and Streamlining Your Workflow

Good communication starts internally. Streamlining communication between your service writers and technicians is key to ensuring the customer’s needs are met in the most efficient way possible. To master this, encourage your team to leverage internal tools like your shop management system to streamline internal conversations. This can help create a more efficient communication process, allowing you to both maintain a continuous workflow and enhance your overall customer experience. Some of Tekmetric’s features to streamline workflow include: 

• Job Board. Within Tekmetric, internal and external notes can minimize the back-and-forth during a repair process. For example, internal-facing notes on a job board allow for immediate communication between your technicians and service advisors with just the click of a button. Additionally, job boards also have customizable statuses that share the state of a repair at a glance – no more chasing down a technician after your day off for a progress update. Together, these features streamline your shop’s internal communications, driving efficiency and allowing smoother behind-the-scenes operations for everyone.
• Inventory and Ordering. To help streamline the ordering process, Tekmetric includes a feature that allows the technician to find the parts that they need for the vehicle, rather than going through a service advisor. By empowering the technician to review labor times, order the correct parts and note their needs internally, this feature can reduce communication bottlenecks and enhance communication – from the technician to the service advisor, and eventually to the customer.

Meeting Customers Where They Are

The best way to reach a customer is whichever method they prefer. Some may prefer email or phone, but many people are on-the-go and also appreciate text updates. In fact, 81% of Americans text regularly, with 90% of text messages opened within the first three minutes since it was sent. Because of this, Tekmetric has built-in, two-way texting to help you make your customer experience more convenient. Whether sharing repair updates or enabling a parent to make a payment for their college student from states away, texting enables customers to reach your shop for important matters without inconveniencing themselves. This includes features like: 

• Two-way texting. With two-way texting, customers no longer have to deal with phone tag hassles and can reach the shop at the tip of their fingertips. This capability gives the customer more autonomy in the repair process, allowing a convenient way for them to ask questions, view photos or video and approve repairs.
• Text-to-pay. Payment is the final touchpoint you have with a customer. The text-to-pay feature makes this process virtually painless. Customers can pay from their office, in the evenings at home or even from miles away if they are traveling. By offering this option, you can simplify the payment process, and the customer can pick up their vehicle sooner – resulting in a happier customer and more efficiency in your shop. 

Facilitating A Culture of Trust, Safety and Education

In the auto repair industry, shops have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their customers’ vehicles. Utilizing digital tools in your shop can demonstrate your commitment to vehicle owner safety, as well as help you facilitate a culture of trust that seeks to educate the average customer about the health of their car. Some tools might include: 

• Digital vehicle inspections. DVIs provide two key qualities your customer highly values: information and benefits. A complete DVI with photos, video and clear notes gives customers the autonomy to examine the repairs your technician proposes and decide which recommendations they want to approve. It benefits your shop too: when you share eight photos or more, your ARO can actually increase because the media allows the customer to see where the vehicle needs repairs with their own eyes. With two-way texting, you can send photos directly to the customer’s phone as well, enhancing both the convenience and the level of trust they have in your shop.  
• MotoVisuals integration. One of the responsibilities of the service writer is to educate the vehicle owner on why the repair is needed for their car. With Tekmetric’s MotoVisuals integration, you can share clear, easy-to-understand animations and videos with voiceovers that talk about why a repair is important. This helps drive the vehicle owner’s confidence in the repair, creating a culture of education that ultimately drives trust and loyalty and keeps your customers coming back for more.

The Bottom Line?

Ultimately, communication is a strategic business tool that can drive efficiency and enhance your shop’s performance. By prioritizing clear, consistent and personalized interactions, you can build lasting relationships, enhance customer satisfaction and elevate your shop’s performance. Embracing digital tools and strategies like Tekmetric can empower you to optimize your communication efforts and achieve sustained growth. This commitment to maintaining a customer-first mentality is reflected in your ability to communicate both with your team and your customers and, when done effectively, can increase customer retention and lead to more profit for your shop.