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.
Get to Know Your Guests & Their Vehicles
When it comes to guests, the mileage may vary. Some guests are easier to work with than others. Some will throw you the keys and approve whatever work needs to be done. Others will only approve a small amount of work and call every few minutes to check on the job.
Service advisors may not be able to directly change how guests behave, but we are able to know what to expect. Customer notes are a great way for service advisors to know the attitudes, behaviors, and preferences of each individual guest. Taking detailed notes and checking them before or during a customer interaction can make it easier to work with even with the most difficult clients.
Leverage Your Shop's Information
In addition to customer notes, some shop management solutions offer customer metrics and other tools that help service advisors know even more about their customers.
1. Use Lifetime Stats: Percent Close Ratio
Shop management systems like Tekmetric can actually show you the lifetime stats of a customer, including how much they’ve spent at your garage and the percent of repairs they close on. Knowing the guest’s percent close ratio can help you know how much time you should spend attempting to sell a customer on jobs, especially when the shop gets busy.
2. Shared Customer History
CARFAX vehicle reports can also tell you a lot about the customer. For instance, if it says that the customer brings their vehicle in every 5,000 miles, they probably care about keeping their vehicle maintained and are more likely to approve work.
Master Your Workflow
When it comes to service advising, you have to be able to flow quickly between talking to guests, assembling repair orders, authorizing repair orders, working with technicians, ordering parts, answering the phone, and receiving payments.
It’s a lot to keep track of! Leveraging a digital job-board, or shop dashboard is probably the best way for service advisors to keep track of all the responsibilities they have to juggle.
A good shop dashboard will show you the status of every vehicle in the repair order process and send alerts to technicians, parts suppliers, and even the guest when it’s their turn to take action.
Repair order sent? The guest should get an alert to approve.
Did the part arrive? The technician should be alerted so they can get to work.
If your guest is in a hurry, you may want to make a note on their job in the shop dashboard and set the right expectation.
By glancing at the dashboard and seeing that you have a number of cars being worked on, are waiting on several parts, and have more cars in the queue, you should be able to let the guest know that they’re going to have to wait at least a couple of hours.
But if things are less busy, you can leave a note so that the technicians can be mindful that the guest needs to be somewhere, especially if their notes indicate that they’re a loyal, well-paying customer.
The Secret Lies in Good Shop Management Procedures
Shop management systems are a fundamental tool for service advisors, and a good one will allow you to easily take customer notes, track the repair process, and be an excellent service advisor.
Especially this summer when there’s a pandemic, a shop management system with text and email repair order approval and text-to-pay options will make offering curbside service simple and easy.
Make sure that you have the tools to get the job done, and have trained your service advisors before the heat kicks in.
Whether you're just getting started in the world of auto mechanics or you're a seasoned professional looking to sharpen your skills, having the right books in your toolkit can make a world of difference.
In this guide, we’ve rounded up the best 10 books for anyone looking to master automotive repair—five books for beginners and five for professionals. Whether you're diving into DIY oil changes, understanding electrical systems, or prepping for ASE certification, these books can help you become the car mechanic others rely on.
Top 5 Mechanic Books for Beginners
1. Auto Repair For Dummies by Deanna Sclar
Deanna Sclar, a trusted name in car books, breaks down automotive repair in a clear, engaging way. Topics include basics like changing oil, identifying car parts, and performing simple diagnostics. Updated editions also include guidance on hybrid and electric vehicles.
This book is great for high school students, DIY car owners, and anyone who wants to enhance their car repair knowledge. It teaches vehicle maintenance fundamentals and gives you the confidence to handle everyday car repair tasks.
This book is available in paperback and audiobook format on Amazon and Goodreads.
2. How Cars Work by Tom Newton
“How Cars Work” is an illustrated mechanics book designed to make complex automotive technology digestible. It covers everything from internal combustion engines to carburetors using simple diagrams and descriptions.
Ideal for visual learners and those completely new to auto mechanics. This is a great first book for beginners, high school students, and anyone wanting a strong visual foundation. This book is available at Amazon, Goodreads, and Walmart.
3. Service Repair Manuals
Service repair manuals offer detailed, step-by-step instructions specific to various makes and models. Whether you're working on a Chevy or a lawn mower, there's likely a repair manual for it.
These manuals walk you through every procedure—from basic maintenance to full rebuilds—making them excellent for DIY mechanics. The manuals are great for car owners who want to perform their own maintenance and repairs, especially oil changes and part replacements.
4. Auto Repair and maintenance for Beginners by Dave Stribling
This is a more recent release that blends practical guidance with a conversational tone. It’s designed for car owners who want to understand what’s under the hood without going back to school.
It breaks down diagnostics, basic electrical systems, and essential car repair projects with clarity and confidence. DIYers, automotive technology students, and anyone just entering the field will benefit from this resource. This book is available on Amazon and Target.
5. ASE Study Material
While not a traditional repair resource, these ASE guides cover specific topics you may be interested in. In addition, these resources can also help you study for your ASE exams/certification. These study guides cover everything from refrigerant to engine diagnostics.
These resources are great for beginners looking to become ASE certified or just want to deepen their technical knowledge of car repair. You can find these ASE resources on the ASE website.
Top 5 Mechanic Books for Professionals
1. Automotive Technology: A Systems Approach by Jack Erjavec & Rob Thompson
Used in technical schools and ASE training programs, this comprehensive study guide covers every vehicle system in detail. From brakes to diagnostics and internal combustion engines, it’s a powerhouse of professional knowledge.
Excellent for instructors, professional auto mechanics, and shop technicians. It’s also used as a curriculum base in many accredited auto mechanic programs. This book can be found on Amazon and Goodreads.
2. Engine Repair (A1) – ASE Test Prep Study Guide by Delmar Cengage
If you’re serious about becoming ASE certified, this study guide is one of the best tools to prep with. It’s focused on the A1 Engine Repair certification exam and is updated with the latest questions and procedures.
It contains practice questions, answer keys, and step-by-step breakdowns of engine troubleshooting and repairs. Mechanics pursuing ASE certification and current techs looking to refresh their credentials will benefit from this book.
3. Bosch Automotive Handbook
This is not your average repair manual. The Bosch Automotive Handbook is a dense, technical reference filled with precise definitions, formulas, and design principles behind modern vehicle systems, including electrical systems and diagnostics.
A must-have for those working on diagnostics or developing automotive systems. Not ideal for beginners, but invaluable for seasoned pros. This book is available on Amazon.
4. Advanced Automotive Fault Diagnosis by Tom Denton
Tom Denton is a trusted author in the world of automotive technology. This book focuses on advanced diagnostics using real-world case studies and troubleshooting processes.
It covers OBD systems, scan tools, sensor data interpretation, and diagnostics strategies used in modern repair shops. ASE certified professionals, diagnostic techs, and repair shop leads will appreciate this book. This book is available at Walmart and Amazon.
5. Motorcycle Basics Techbook by Matthew Coombs (Haynes)
Auto mechanics often expand into motorcycles. This Haynes book explores motorcycle maintenance and repair with the same detail they bring to their car repair manuals.
Great for mechanics who want to branch into motorcycle repair or work at specialized repair shops. This book is available on Amazon and Thriftbooks.
Other Mechanic Resources
While books are still relevant, many mechanics have transitioned to other resources like YouTube videos and podcasts. Here are some of our favorites.
YouTube
YouTube is a gold mine for car repair veterans and DIYers alike. Some of our favorite channels include:
Enright Auto - for new tools and repair techniques
Reddit can be another powerful resource for new techniques plus an online community to answer questions you may have. Some of the best subreddits include:
Investing in a good book isn’t just about reading—it’s about building your skills, your confidence, and your future in the automotive industry. Whether you’re just learning how cars work or studying classical mechanics principles, there’s a resource here that can guide you. The best mechanics know that their education never stops.
When researching digital vehicle inspection software solutions, you should look for these seven core features that benefit your team and your customers:
A searchable DVI history
The ability for technicians to attach photos and videos to inspections
A color-coded system that indicates the severity of inspection findings
A direct tie-in to parts and labor data when building estimates
The ability to add canned jobs when building estimates
Digital authorization
Automatic saving and tracking of declined jobs
1. Searchable DVI History
When shopping for digital vehicle inspection software, make sure that you can easily look back on past inspection findings. When service advisors are able to quickly find out what was uncovered during previous inspections, they’re less likely to miss a repair opportunity and leave money on the table. They can simply pick up where they left off, helping your shop sell more repair work.
2. The ability for technicians to attach photos and videos to inspections
It’s one thing to tell a customer, “Hey, your car has really bad engine corrosion.” It’s another thing to show the customer a photo of the orange, brittle-looking rust all over their engine. When customers can see what’s really going on with their vehicles, they’re more likely to trust your team’s word and authorize repairs right then and there. They’ll be less inclined to shop around for a second opinion or tell you, “Oh, I’ll sleep on it and come back tomorrow.”
A digital vehicle inspection software that enables technicians to quickly attach photos and videos will help your team keep repairs moving along and build customer trust.
3. A color-coded system that indicates the severity of inspection findings
When explaining repairs to customers, the best route is often the simplest one. Instead of spending time speaking or writing about the intricacies of each inspection finding, service advisors can leverage digital vehicle inspection software that uses a simple, color-coded system to instantly give customers an idea of how urgent each inspection finding is. For instance, an inspection finding marked in green would indicate that everything is good to go, one marked in yellow would indicate something that might need attention down the line, and red would indicate the need for immediate action.
4. A direct tie-in to parts and labor data when building estimates
It’s vital for service advisors to weave in the right parts and labor data when building estimates. But doing so manually is a tedious process. With everything going on, service advisors might accidentally scribble down the wrong piece of information, resulting in the customer getting the wrong parts and labor pricing, or inaccurate parts availability.
Digital vehicle inspection software with a direct tie-in to parts and labor data helps service advisors create accurate estimates from the get-go, so there are no unpleasant surprises for anyone at the shop come estimate-review time.
5. The ability to add canned jobs when building estimates
On a daily basis, service advisors may find themselves writing the same types of findings on estimates over and over.
Digital vehicle inspection software with a canned jobs feature will eliminate a lot of this repetition by enabling service advisors to add pre-saved jobs to estimates in a matter of seconds. That way they can complete inspections faster and get estimates in customers’ hands as soon as possible.
6. Digital authorization
The easier you make it for your customers to authorize repair work, the more likely they’ll quickly do so. That’s where digital vehicle inspection software with digital job authorization steps in. Service advisors won’t have to track down customers to get their verbal or written approval to start repair work. Instead, customers can approve or decline individual jobs from the moment they get their estimate.
7. Automatic saving and tracking of declined jobs
Some repair work is going to get declined for various reasons. But don’t worry. Declined jobs show that your shop is thorough with inspections and estimates; your team caught every budding and existing issue with each vehicle. Think of declined jobs as future business opportunities for your shop.
However, remembering and keeping track of declined jobs can get tricky with a pen and paper method. Service advisors might totally forget about these opportunities, or if they remember, they’ll have to dig through stacks of paper or navigate folder after folder on a computer just to find the right estimate.
Digital vehicle inspection software that has a “declined jobs” feature enables your service advisors to pick up right where they left off the next time a particular customer walks into your shop. They’ll be able to search which jobs the customer declined last time, and recommend taking care of those issues. The results? You’ll get more business and impress your customers with your great customer service.
He and Sunil Patel started Tekmetric in 2016, and today, it’s become the preferred auto tech software in the auto repair industry.
Prasanth’s success prompted Authority Magazine to contact him for an interview on the formula for scaling success.
Below are just a few excerpts of Prasanth’s interview with Ken Babcock (CEO of Tango), along with bonus content for any entrepreneur seeking to scale their business.
Scaling with People
Let’s look at each component.
The Right People.
First, you have to have the team that serves your company the best.
At Tekmetric, we learned this the hard way. We had a phenomenal idea — but our first team wasn’t comprised of exactly all the people we needed.
And that meant we failed in the first round. It was disappointing, but we learned a valuable lesson, and the next round, we hired people based on the talents we knew we needed. It was the right move, and it set us in the right direction toward success. In fact, many of the team members from this second group are still with us today.
Tekmetric’s People Today: The Best Support in the Industry
Today, Tekmetric has a growing team of people working in various departments, such as customer support, sales, product development, and human resources.
Walk into our Houston headquarters, and you’ll see people from all backgrounds catching up on their week, discussing the next product update, or talking about the future of our company over a cup of coffee.
A large portion of our team works remotely. We have employees across the United States, including: </p><ul>
Cleveland, OH
Washington, DC
Denver, CO
San Diego, CA
But no matter where our team members are, one of the big things they have in common is that they’re passionate about providing Tekmetric’s customers with the best experience and support possible.
Our support team in particular is easy to get in touch with.
Customers don’t have to spend hours listening to annoying “waiting” music on the phone or anxiously sitting in front of their computers for a response to a support ticket.
The Tekmetric support team acts to get questions answered quickly and any issues resolved fast.
After all, auto tech software needs to move at the pace of the auto repair industry—fast—and support is an important part of that process.
Having the idea is great; getting it right as you grow is vital. You may not have the details fully fleshed out, but you must know what you want to do and the tools you need to get there.
I’ve always said, if you have a goal in mind, and you don’t know how to get there, then you’re doing something right.
If you do know how to get there, you’re not thinking big enough. Think long and hard about what you want your business to look like.
Once you figure out those initial steps and orient yourself in the right direction, you can think ahead to challenges like growing and scaling.
Tekmetric’s Direction Today: Driving the Auto Repair Industry Into the Future
The Tekmetric team keeps a close eye on what’s happening in the auto repair industry so that we can stay one step ahead when it comes to driving the auto repair industry into the future.
For example, Tekmetric listened to its customers’ desires for a true two-way texting feature, which enables shops and their customers to communicate more seamlessly than ever before.
Tekmetric also frequently adds to its list of integrations with industry-leading tools so that shop owners can set up workflows that work best for them.
And Tekmetric listens to what shop owners, technicians, and service advisors are saying, taking their feedback and suggestions into account.
We know that we cannot do this on our own, and respect the contributions of people throughout the industry.
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