So when you're wondering what's going on with that SUV sitting in your shop's pickup lot for the last two weeks, you can see if it is awaiting customer approval or if parts are still on the way.
Within Tekmetric, Repair Orders flow through your Job Board, visually representing your shop's overall workflow in three columns: “Estimates,” “Work-In-Progress” and “Completed.”
The idea is for service advisors, general managers, shop owners, and even Technicians, to gain a birds-eye view of everything happening in your shop with just a quick glance. Everyone is responsible for their tasks, every step of the process is accounted for, and it can all easily be tracked and managed in a simplified workflow.
We also understand that some shops may want a little extra flexibility, and maybe there’s some extra level of detail you would like represented visually on your job board. That’s where Tekmetric’s RO Labels come in.
What Are Repair Order Labels?
Going one step further beyond these columns, Tekmetric enables shops to apply "RO Labels" to repair orders within each column. These repair order labels are little tags that can be applied to help add a little extra detail and visibility to your job board, providing even more clarity into your shop’s workflow.
So, for example, in the "in progress" column, shops can create labels like "waiting on parts," or "need to call customer" to provide very specific updates without requiring viewers to dig into the notes within that repair order, or even worse, try to decipher the scribbles a tech wrote on a notepad.
Repair Order Labels Make Shop Management a Breeze
The biggest benefits of Tekmetric's RO labels are easy to see:
Customizable Job Board: Tailor your job board to meet specific task requirements, providing a personalized approach to workflow management.
Visual Workflow: Transform your job board into a visual representation for intuitive progress tracking with custom RO labels.
Swift Progress Tracking: Easily monitor vehicle progress with RO labels for a quick status snapshot.
Improved Communication: Enhance shop-wide communication and efficiency with quick, at-a-glance information provided by RO labels.
This provides service advisors and general managers with an instant view of their entire shop’s workflow, illustrating where every single repair order is within the repair process. This clarity and visibility enable managers to react in real time and make decisions on the fly, while providing the best possible experience for customer.
With constant up-to-date readings, you can tune your shop like an ECU tunes an engine, making on-the-fly, calculated decisions for the best performance. And when customers call-in wondering where their vehicle is in the repair process, service advisors can instantly identify the vehicle, the most recent status update, and take the stress out of those tedious customer interactions.
Flexibility for Your Shop's Operations
We know that not all auto repair shops run the same, and that's why Tekmetric provides the option of flexibility your team needs to create the perfect solution.
But don't worry, that doesn't mean you'll build everything alone!
With RO Labels shops can create and color code their labels based on each column in their workflow.
That way you can find the best way to represent data for quick and easy identification. And you're not stuck using a standardized language for your labels either, shops have the freedom to customize labels to be specific to how your shop works and refer to each step of the process.
This is particularly important for shops that use a physical job board in their shop, enabling greater cohesion between your digital and physical counterparts. Taking the workflow one step further, shops can even choose to view their job board by each label in RO Label view, making it easier to drill down on the specific step in the process you’re looking to analyze.
Going back to our scenario from before: wondering why that SUV has been sitting for two weeks, unsure if that’s because the customer needs to be updated, or parts are on their way.
Instead of tracking down the last technician to see what their status is, or digging into spreadsheets and parts order forms, just quickly glance at the job board, and look for the right color!
Optimize Your Shop’s Workflow for a Seamless Customer Journey
The right tools for the job make everything easier. RO labels are just one of the tools part of the complete Tekmetric system that provides increased visibility and clarity into your shop's workflow.
With an instant view on the status of a repair, service advisors can update customers in real-time, and work to manage the repair process in a way that creates not only a seamless workflow for your technicians but a simplified and convenient process for your customers.
Have you submitted your taxes yet, or are you struggling to get your records in order and submit everything on time? Wherever you are in your tax prep process, you need to pull together a plan and act fast or you may have to pay penalties.
Sometimes, even hearing the word taxes can be scary, but unfortunately, taxes are one fear we don’t get to avoid indefinitely. Auto repair shop Tax Day is the same day as everyone else’s Tax Day, and things just get more complicated if you don’t file on time. The clock is running out on your time to file without an extension this year, and even filing for an extension comes with its own deadline.
But if you tackle the process with knowledge and empowerment, doing business taxes and sales tax on car repairs at the shop doesn’t have to be difficult.
Here are five tips that can help you have a better auto repair shop tax season.
Disclosure: the information in this article is not to be taken as formal tax or legal advice. Individual business circumstances vary, and you should always consult with a CPA and tax attorney.
Mechanic interviews are challenging for both the employer and candidate because the right candidate has to be a fit in personality and technical ability. Plus, the numerous certification types, manufacturer nuances, and shop needs make it even more challenging to become a mechanic.
This guide can be used to help repair shops/dealerships ask the right questions and also help technicians be prepared for questions they will likely encounter. Below you will find the most common car mechanic interview questions broken down by mechanic and service advisor level plus tips to ace your next interview.
Top mechanic job interview questions
While every auto repair shop differs in how they run their job interview process, these are some of the most common questions you can expect. Ranging from technical questions to customer service, be prepared to answer these common questions before your next interview.
General interview questions for car mechanics
These common questions cover basic automotive repair experience and relevant work history.
Tell me about yourself and your experience as an automotive technician.
Why do you want to work for our company/shop?
How do you stay up to date with new automotive technologies and repair techniques?
What certifications do you currently hold (ASE, manufacturer-specific, etc.)?
Are you comfortable working weekends, evenings, or overtime if needed?
Technical interview questions for mechanics
These technical interview questions cover more specific hand-on experience and tools/equipment.
Which repairs are you best at?
How much would you estimate your tool inventory to be worth?
What steps do you take when diagnosing a check engine light?
What tools and diagnostic equipment are you most familiar with?
Have you worked with hybrid or electric vehicles?
Do you believe in factory recommended vehicle maintenance intervals?
How comfortable are you with OEM scan/diagnostic tools?
Experience & situational questions for mechanics
These questions help employers understand how you would handle various shop situations and also helps them understand your communication skills.
Can you describe a time when you had to work under a tight deadline?
How do you deal with angry customers?
How do you prioritize tasks when you have multiple vehicles to work on?
What would you do if you made a mistake on a repair? How do you handle accountability?
What do you do if you encounter a vehicle with an issue you've never seen before?
Additional questions to expect
Are you comfortable serving those in need once a month?
Are you comfortable doing a DVI on the majority of vehicles you touch?
How do you handle a high-pressure environment when the shop is busy?
How do you handle a situation where you're unsure about how to fix a problem?
Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer?
Top interview questions for service advisors
While the interview questions for service advisors will be similar to mechanics, there will be small differences. Typically, service advisors will be more customer facing and shops will tailor their questions to focus more on customer service and communication style.
General interview questions for service advisors
Are you comfortable selling repair services?
Are you comfortable working on a commission based salary structure?
Who do you believe has the best after market products?
How do you deal with a customer saying that you are more expensive than their last shop?
How do you win back angry customers?
How do you handle over the phone quotes?
Technical interview questions for service advisors
What are your greatest strengths as a service advisor?
Who do you trust for moving electrical parts?
How do you handle working in a fast-paced environment?
Are you comfortable meeting sales goals and upselling services?
How do you stay up to date with new automotive technology and service trends?
How do you handle stress during busy hours?
Experience & situational questions for service advisors
How do you explain complex vehicle repairs to a customer who doesn’t understand cars?
What steps do you take to build trust with customers?
Have you ever had to deal with a miscommunication between a technician and a customer? How did you resolve it?
Can you describe a time when you turned a dissatisfied customer into a repeat customer?
How do you handle multiple customers needing assistance at the same time?
Additional questions to expect
How do you explain the importance of routine maintenance to a customer?
What experience do you have with automotive service software or point-of-sale systems?
How do you prioritize repair orders and schedule work efficiently?
How do you explain repair estimates to customers?
How would you respond to 1-star reviews?
Job interview tips for mechanics
Research: Not all shops are created equal so make sure to research before applying to make sure they are a good fit. You can also look at online reviews to see what their customers are saying.
Preparation: Use the commonly used questions above to help you prepare for the interview. Practice how you would answer each question and ways you can present yourself well.
Attire: You have 7 seconds to make your first impression and attire is a big part of that. Dress to showcase your professionalism and experience.
Highlight your experience/certifications: Showcasing your certifications and experience can go a long way to in making sure you land the job.
Ask thoughtful questions: Some interviewers will allow you to ask questions during the conversation. Make sure you have a few questions to ask that help you learn more about the shop.
Follow up: if you haven’t heard back from the shop and you are still interested, give them a call and remind them of your interest in the position.
Final thoughts
Interviews are challenging in any industry but mechanic interviews can be even more challenging with the shortage of talent available. This guide will help you either prepare for your next interview or provide you with common questions to ask your next hire. Lastly, always hire for culture fit and talent second. Culture problems are a lot harder to correct than technical car knowledge.
Your locations don't have an ARO problem. They have a consistency issue.
If you run more than one shop, you have a number you probably don't look at often enough: the distance between your highest-ARO location and your lowest. That spread isn't a meaningless number. It's a diagnosis — and it's usually pointing at something you can fix this quarter.
Seeing one shop consistently post a higher average repair order (ARO) — the average dollar amount per repair order — while another lags behind, month after month, tells you something useful and fixable — that the two shops aren't actually running the same playbook.
When identified, an ARO gap points directly at where revenue is leaking and which location can improve its bottom line. Here's how to read it, and how to close that gap.
What ARO by location actually measures
ARO is your total sales divided by your car count. On its own, a single shop's ARO tells you how much revenue you capture per vehicle. Compared across locations, ARO becomes a relative measure. It shows you which shops are upselling the customers they already have, and which ones are letting opportunities walk out the door.
That distinction matters because car count and ARO are different levers. A location can be busy and still underperform on ARO. When two of your shops see roughly the same number of vehicles but post meaningfully different ARO, the busier-but-lower shop isn't short on demand — it's short on execution somewhere between check-in and checkout.
Why the same brand produces different numbers
When you standardize on one brand, one sign, and one set of prices, you'd expect performance to converge. It usually doesn't, and the reasons tend to fall into three buckets.
1. Inspections aren't consistent
The digital vehicle inspection is where most ARO is won or lost. A location that completes thorough inspections on nearly every car — with photos and clear findings — surfaces more legitimate work and gives customers a reason to say yes. A location that treats the DVI as optional, or rushes it, never puts that work in front of the customer in the first place. Shops that consistently attach more photos and findings to their inspections tend to post a higher ARO than shops that don't, because customers can see the work rather than just hear about it.
2. Estimating and pricing drift shop to shop
If one location prices a job from an up-to-date matrix and another builds estimates by memory or old habits, you'll see the difference in ARO. The same brake job, quoted two ways, produces two different repair orders. Multiply that across every ticket, every day, at every location, and small pricing inconsistencies become a large revenue gap.
3. Workflow and presentation vary by advisor
How work gets presented — whether declined jobs are captured for follow-up, if good/better/best options are offered, and the customer sees the inspection before the phone call — all of it moves ARO. When those steps live in one advisor's head instead of in a standard workflow, they leave when that advisor does.
How to compare ARO across multiple locations
A useful ARO comparison starts with removing the excuses you can measure. Before you conclude a location is simply in a weaker market, line the shops up on the metrics that feed ARO. When you compare ARO across multiple locations, look at five things:
What to compare across locations
Inspection completion rate: what percentage of cars get a full digital vehicle inspection (DVI) at each location.
Photos and findings per inspection: whether the shop shows customers the work or just describes it to them.
Close ratio: of the work presented, how much the customer approves.
Declined jobs recovered: whether declined work is followed up over time or lost.
Real-time reporting: whether you can see all of the above per location, side by side, without building a spreadsheet.
Inspection completion rate — what percentage of cars actually get a full DVI at each location?
Photos and findings per inspection — is the low-ARO shop showing customers the work, or just telling them about it?
Close ratio — of the work presented, how much gets approved? A low close ratio points at presentation, not demand.
Declined jobs — is the shop recovering declined work over time, or letting it disappear?
When you put those side by side, the ARO gap almost always resolves into a specific, coachable behavior at a specific location — not a vague "that store just isn't as good." The lowest-ARO shop with the weakest inspection numbers is usually your single, fastest opportunity because you're not trying to create demand — you're converting cars you already have.
You can't coach a gap you can't see
The hard part for most multi-shop operators isn't knowing that consistency matters — it's seeing the gap in the first place. When each location's numbers live in a separate system, a spreadsheet, or a manager's weekly recap, the comparison is always late and never quite apples-to-apples. By the time you notice a location has slipped, you've lost a quarter.
This is where running every shop on one platform changes the math. Tekmetric gives multi-shop operators multi-location control and real-time visibility: a portfolio-wide dashboard and shop-level reporting that track revenue, ARO, car count, and technician productivity across multiple locations at once. Instead of assembling the picture after the fact, you can see which location is drifting while there's still time to coach it.
"Now I can look at everybody at a glance. I can be in a different state, different city and know exactly what's going on in each location all the time. That's not something I had before." — Leroy Ingram, Ooroo Auto Care (MSO)
Visibility is only half of it. The same platform lets you standardize the inputs that drive ARO — DVIs, canned and Smart Jobs, pricing matrices, and discounts — across every shop, so your best location's playbook becomes every location's default rather than a secret one store happens to know.
"Seeing [a newly acquired shop] take the shift from what they've always used to Tekmetric and then grow profitability in the same four walls has been phenomenal. Some of them are just exponential." — Matt Schwab, Clutch Automotive (MSO)
Turning the gap into a plan
Once you can see the gap and its causes, closing it is a matter of focus. A few takeaways:
Start with your lowest-ARO, lowest-inspection location. It's the biggest lever to pull and the fastest move to make because the demand is already there.
Fix one input at a time. Get DVI completion up first; inconsistent inspections are the most common root cause of a lagging ARO.
Make your best shop the template. Standardize its workflows, pricing, and inspection process, then apply them everywhere instead of hoping each store reinvents them.
Watch the gap, not just the average. A rising portfolio average can hide one location sliding backward. The spread between best and worst is the number that tells you whether your standards are actually holding.
The gaps among your best and worst shops isn't a verdict on your locations. It's a map. It shows you exactly where the next dollar of ARO is hiding.
See the gap across every location
Tekmetric gives multi-shop operators multi-location control and real-time visibility into ARO, car count, and productivity across every store — plus the standardized workflows to close the gap.
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