In auto repair, there are many moving parts to keep track of—both the literal parts your shop uses to repair vehicles, and the parts of your business that determine your shop’s efficiency, security, and ability to grow. If you want your shop to flourish, it’s crucial to devote part of your business to keeping track of the parts you order.
Many shops track parts in terms of cost of goods sold. The parts you need for the job are included on every repair order, so it’s easy to see what parts your customers are paying for as long as you have a solid process for building repair orders.
But what about in terms of accounts payable? How does your shop track how much you’re spending for parts from the supplier?
Should You Use Purchase Orders or “Save Time?”
For your accounts payable, or determining how much you’ll owe your parts suppliers, there are typically two routes you can take:
Wait for the parts bills to come in and trust that you’re being charged the correct amount, or
Create a formal purchase order each and every time you order parts from a supplier.
The advantage of going with the first route is that you save a little bit of time; there’s no second step of reconciling the part you need to purchase on a purchase order. But the cons far outweigh this advantage—because this is where shops can start to lose money.
For example, your ROs may indicate that you have a 30% profit margin on parts, but if you don’t accrue your parts bill, you won’t know for sure if that’s the case until the parts bill hits your account. Suddenly, when the money gets taken out, your margins are razor-thin.
So, what happened?
Did a supplier charge too much? Were you double-charged? Was an unauthorized person ordering parts on your account? Was there theft?
It’s hard to tell if there is no paper trail or purchase order for you to look at.
If you’re not paying attention to your parts orders on the accounts payable side, you could be losing money, and it will typically take a large missing chunk of change for you to realize that something is wrong. Withouta paper trail, figuring out the problem is not only difficult but also extremely time consuming. Once you notice that there is a loss you can’t account for, all the “time saved” by skipping the purchase order step comes back in the form of time spent trying to figure out the issue.
By reconciling your parts orders on both repair orders and purchase orders, you can easily check to see what’s going on, protecting your shop from incidents where you are losing money due to overages, slip-ups, theft, and overcharges.
How to Build a Better Parts Ordering System
When it comes to tracking parts on repair orders and purchase orders, consistency is key. Shops that have strong, consistent processes and procedures—and follow them every single time—rarely have issues with leakage and theft; they instill habits in their team to keep careful track of all parts.
As long as your shop has a repeatable process for adding parts to repair orders and putting in purchase orders, you will be able to quickly identify any issues as soon as they crop up. Every service advisor and employee that orders parts and builds repair orders for customers should use the same method for filling out repair orders, creating purchase orders, and inputting this information into your shop management system and accounting system.
Create a standard process for each of the following:
How jobs get posted
How repair orders are built
How repair orders are approved
How parts orders are posted
How purchase orders are written and sent to suppliers
How purchase orders are approved
How parts and purchase data get analyzed
Instill Parts Ordering Best Practices with Tekmetric
Standard procedures for ordering parts and creating repair orders are built into Tekmetric. We give shops the tools and guardrails needed to effortlessly track parts throughout each step of the repair process.
From our intuitive repair order builder to our integrated parts ordering and inventory systems, we aim to align your team so that no money slips through the cracks. And our industry leading analytics and reporting tools allow you to keep track of your shop’s financial history in realtime.
This article was written with the guidance of automotive repair industry CPA Hunt Demarest of Paar, Melis, & Associates, P.C.
Scaling your auto repair business requires moving beyond simple spreadsheets and paper repair orders. You need a robust shop management software that has enterprise-level features, centralized real-time reporting, and helps you provide a consistent customer experience across locations.
This guide breaks down the top enterprise software solutions for auto repair shops with 2+ locations.
Top 5 Enterprise Solutions for Shops With Multiple Locations
Finding the right software partner for your expanding shop is critical to your success. Below you will find our top overall picks for multi-shop operators (MSOs).
Multi-shop owners love Tekmetric because they can run their entire business, across all locations, from one platform. Featuring an all-in-one shop management solution with centralized real-time reporting, marketing, payments, and 70+ integrations, Tekmetric makes it easier for you to manage multiple locations. Why we picked Tekmetric:
Centralized reporting: Real-time dashboards enable you to see how each location is performing. You can track financials, employee performance, shop metrics, ARO, car count, and more.
All-in-one solution: Instead of switching between platforms, Tekmetric offers shop management, POS, and CRM in one place.
Company history: Built by a former shop owner, Tekmetric is often praised for ease of use, simple onboarding, reliable support, and listening to customer feedback.
Shop-Ware is designed to help you maintain consistency across multiple locations with unified customer history, reporting, and employee management features.
Why we picked Shop-Ware:
Reporting: Find the metrics that matter the most to your business.
Customer experience: Standardize your customer experience across locations.
Employee management: Easily compare employee productivity and manage permission levels.
Protractor is a popular shop management system for shops with multiple locations or franchises. Protractor offers advanced reporting features and shop management features so you can run your shop confidently.
Why we picked Protractor:
Reporting: Performance tracking, insights, and employee productivity monitoring.
Fullbay specializes in heavy-duty truck and trailer repair shops. Most standard shop software struggles with the complexity of fleet maintenance, but Fullbay was built for it.
Why we picked Fullbay:
Centralized inventory: Track parts and inventory across all locations.
Integrations: Fullbay has plenty of industry interrogations to keep your shop running.
If you are looking for a lighter software solution, Garage360 might be a good option for your shop. Supporting quick-lube, body/collision, and fleet, Garage360 can be used in a variety of shops.
Why we picked Garage360:
Versatile: Can be used in multiple shop types.
Permission control: Manage your employee permissions across locations.
Reporting: Pull the data you need to make informed decisions.
Pricing: Starting at $79/mo (billed annually).
Which software features should I look for when I manage multiple shops?
If you are comparing software options for your chain operations, these are the modern features to look for:
Centralized real-time reporting: Tired of trying to guess how each shop location is performing? Pick a software that can pull the data you need from any location or aggregate it across shop locations within a user-friendly dashboard.
Inventory/parts management: Tracking parts can be difficult as you expand. Find a solution that can track inventory levels and transfer parts as needed across locations.
Standardized workflows: Having standard workflows streamlines your shop operations. Select a software that can standardize your operations, prices, and procedures.
Employee permissions:Managing employee permissions is critical to ensuring the safety of your company data and holding employees accountable. Pick a software that keeps your business secure.
Single vs. Multi-Location Management: What are the differences?
Why can’t you just use a single-shop system? The difference lies in automation and control.
Standardization: In a multi-location setup, you need to ensure that technicians at every shop are following the same workflow and procedures so your customer experience is consistent.
Visibility: Single shop software may have reporting, but you need to be able to compare metrics between shops to make informed business decisions.
Security: Multi-shop software provides employee permission settings and typically comes with advanced data protection.
Pricing: Most single-shop software options will charge you per user or limit repair orders. Enterprise software will grow with you and charge based on the number of locations.
Final Thoughts
Choosing an enterprise-level auto repair shop software isn't just about features; it's about finding a partner that helps you maintain a consistent customer experience as you grow. Whether you prioritize inventory management, deep metrics, or standard procedures, ensure you find a solution that can grow with you.
Thought Leadership
Shop Management
Best Auto Repair Software for Multiple Locations (Full Guide)
%20(1).png)
-%20article%20img.png)
.png)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)