The Biggest Benefits of a Modern Auto Parts Inventory Management Process

The Tekmetric Mobile App now does more than fast digital vehicle inspections.

The newest update introduces Mobile Check-In, giving you or your service advisors the ability to greet customers in the parking lot, scan a VIN or license plate, and instantly start or pull up a repair order, all from a phone. It’s a faster, easier way to begin every job and keep things moving.

Speed Starts at the Curb

Check-in is one of the most visible — and often most frustrating — parts of a shop’s day. Whether it’s a walk-in with a flat tire or a scheduled customer with missing info, time is lost bouncing between the lot and the desk, retyping data, and waiting to begin.

Mobile Check-In simplifies all of that.
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Now, you can confirm arrivals, start new ROs, and begin helping customers the second they pull into the lot — without delays or extra steps.

A Mobile App That Does More Than You Might Think

The Tekmetric Mobile App isn’t just a tool for inspections — and it’s not just for technicians.

Technicians can use the app to:

• Find their assigned repair orders
• Complete DVIs with photos, videos, and markups
• Track time and stay on top of work in progress

Service advisors can use it to:

• Greet customers in the parking lot
• Scan VINs or plates
• Start repair orders right from their phone
  

All without logging into a desktop.

A Real Mobile App — Not Just a Website Shrunk Down

Tekmetric Mobile is a fully native app, designed from the ground up for iOS and Android. It’s fast, reliable, and optimized for real-world use in the shop — whether you’re in the bay or out in the lot.

While it doesn’t include every desktop feature, it makes the most important ones faster and easier when you’re on the go — like:

• Starting repair orders
• Performing inspections
• Reducing back-and-forth between workstations and customers
  

And this is just the beginning. Future updates will continue to bring more mobile workflows into the palm of your hand.

Ready to see what Mobile Check-In can do?

Download the Tekmetric Mobile App today on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

"Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat.” - Steve Jobs

Like any business owner, auto repair shop owners must consider all aspects of their business: operations, marketing, collections, bookkeeping, payroll, profitability, and customer service.

But how do you track, monitor, and gain control over these various business functions and analyze the relationship between them? Many shop owners turn to automotive computer programs as a solution, but there are a lot of options to consider. As you research automotive computer programs, you may be asking yourself:

Is it better to have one program for each business function, or one system that covers various aspects? What is the right mix of programs?

Tekmetric is a cloud-based shop management system; but that doesn’t mean all other software and systems out there align with what our software can do. Some automotive computer programs cover diagnostics, some focus on marketing, some focus on digital inspections, and there are some systems out there that check off most—if not all—the boxes.

There is a lot to consider when determining which automotive computer programs are right for your business, and we want to make sure your shop’s needs are met.

Prasanth Chilukuri understands the challenges that shop owners face each day with gaps in their efficiency and margins, which is why he co-founded Tekmetric with Sunil Patel in 2016.

Vehicle Service Pros published some of Prasanth’s tips for strategically growing an auto repair business with a shop management system like Tekmetric.

You can access his full piece here, or check out some of the highlights below.

Balance Is Key to Making Better-Informed Business Decisions

Shop owners make countless daily decisions that affect their customers, their team, and their business.

Making good business decisions is essential to keeping everyone happy and keeping the lights on in the shop, but how do you know what the right decision is?

According to Prasanth, the key to any successful business is finding the right balance between soft skills like intuition or relationship-building and hard skills like data analysis.

Both types of skills are important, but knowing when to employ each one is the trick to making better-informed decisions and growing your business.

Intuition is useful when shop owners have to make split-second decisions and often goes hand in hand with interpersonal skills. The auto repair industry isn’t just about cars, after all; it’s about people, too.

By learning how to pick up on cues and anticipate the needs of customers, employees, and vendors, shop owners can foster long-lasting relationships that grow alongside their business.

Of course, there’s only one way to know whether your shop is truly turning a profit: look at the numbers and analyze the results. Data can support any hunches you have about the health of your business, for better or for worse, so you can plan accordingly.

But if your shop is still tied to manual methods, gathering key information about parts usage and labor costs is probably not easy or convenient.

Why Manual Methods Just Can’t Keep Up

A shop management system might not be able to make business decisions for you, but it can help shop owners make sense of their key metrics and data. According to Prasanth, looking at the cold, hard facts is essential to boost the efficiency and profitability of the shop.

The science of data might seem contrary to the art of intuition at first, but they’re more related than you might think. As Prasanth describes, data can add support to a shop owner’s intuition or observations and reveal key information that can’t necessarily be gathered from conversations with customers and employees.

Unfortunately, trying to sort through the shop’s data by hand can be exhausting and often means missing family dinners to crunch the numbers after hours. And manually calculating daily, weekly, or monthly metrics can quickly become a headache with much larger room for human error.

Without real-time reporting tools, inventory counts and gross profit can’t necessarily be trusted and will always provide an out-of-date view of your business at best.

Being tied to manual processes for data collection also means being tied to the shop and losing out on valuable face-to-face time with the customers supporting the business.

As a result, shop owners are often left making the difficult decision between nurturing their intuition and building relationships, or focusing on the data and shop profitability when both are essential to the long-term success of the business. With Tekmetric, you can do both.

Get the Full Picture With Tekmetric

Tekmetric is a shop management system that comes fully equipped with business reporting tools within a repair orders software suite.

Tekmetric tracks key performance indicators like employee efficiency, parts usage, and profitability ‘round the clock so shop owners can focus on the more high-level aspects of their business.

Real-time reports are always available with numbers that are already calculated and organized.

A bird’s eye view of the shop gives shop owners the power to tailor their business plan and strategy by:

• Adjusting parts and labor matrices to maximize margins
• Extending or removing a running promotion
• Deciding to add more people to the team
• Knowing when it’s the right time to expand the business with new bays or by opening a new location