An auto repair shop may seem easy to manage but the truth is, like with all other businesses, running it is time-consuming, demanding, and can even get more complicated and stressful than usual. Nonetheless, for the car hobbyists, auto repair shop is a business ultimately worth all the time, effort, and money spent.
Fortunately, as we are now in a digital age, a digital solution to help owners run their auto repair shop efficiently and effectively is now also within reach. People call it auto repair shop management software.
What is Auto Repair Shop Management Software?
An auto repair shop management software is an information system that offers automation of all the daily processes of auto repair shop management but aside from the perks of automation, depending on the requirements of the business owner and on how sophisticated the system is, it may also offer other advanced features that can overall help strengthen the owner’s relationship with its customers.
In terms of cost, an average auto repair shop management software is relatively expensive. Nonetheless, it is believed that in the long run, like all other information systems, the software will surely help increase an auto repair shop business’s ROI since the processes are already streamlined and the crew and staff will consequently spend less time behind a desk and will instead be able to work more productively on other important tasks.
Today’s market is already flooded with a plethora of auto repair shop systems but more often than not, all of them vary depending on the following factors:
- Price
- Type
- Features
Features
In most auto repair shop management software, the following features are what you will see:
- Inventory Monitoring Module. This will keep track of your auto repair shop’s inventories. It will alert the user if a particular product is nearing its reorder quantity or point level to reduce or eradicate the occurrences of stock outs. At the same time, it also makes sure the business is not overstocking on a particular product.
Other uses of this module include streamlining the auto parts ordering, allowing users to connect their supplier/vendor catalogues. Parts ordering may also be triggered automatically.
- Estimates & Invoices Module. This feature automates the invoicing and printing out of invoices. It also features an estimation module, enabling businesses to easily provide estimates to inquiring customers taking into consideration the parts, labour times, and degree of work that is needed.
- Labor Tracking and Rates Module. This feature will automatically store labour rates and compute the amount payables to the technicians depending on the jobs and tasks they have logged as done in the system.
- Scheduling Module. This feature automates the assigning of tasks to employees in form of ticketing system. This also monitors the crew’s daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. More advanced auto repair shop management software may enable technicians to check on their assignment list at home.
- Appointment Booking. This one very useful feature lets the business monitor and maintain an accurately detailed customer service history. With this, technicians will be informed or notified once a new ticket is assigned to them. Most importantly, this feature lets customers book their appointments via the internet or SMS.
Types
An auto repair shop management software is oftentimes either desktop based or web based or both.
Web-Based
If it’s a web based, it means the software will require an internet connection to function at an optimum, i.e. the owner and technicians who have access to the system can still view all the data even if they are at a different location.
Most web based auto repair shop management software require monthly subscription. Sometimes, the cost due is calculated per location, device accessing it, or per user.
Desktop-Based
Meanwhile, if it’s a desktop based, a proper installation will be carried out on the shop’s computer units by the software provider team. More likely than not, software updates will be charged additionally and special technical supports will be outside of the contract. Desktop based auto repair shop systems are unable to cater appointment booking and other convenient features but as per the experts, such a digital solution is more cost effective than cloud-based systems.
The Great Things about Using an Auto Repair Shop Management Software
The only downside of using an auto repair shop management software is that it requires an additional budget but with all its perks and advantages, it is believed that such a digital management solution is truly a worthy investment. Here are why you should invest in an auto repair shop management software:
- Time-Efficient
Both the management and the technicians will surely benefit from using this system through their access to a more detailed work orders, more reliable customer service history, streamlined scheduling, and customer communication. Reordering of important stocks will also be streamlined, thereby improving the employees’ productivity in general.
- It’s paperless!
A digital auto repair shop management approach get rids of all the paper works which makes it more reliable, flexible, and time and cost efficient knowing there will only be minimal print expenses. If the system is web based, it can also facilitate communication with potential customers online which consequently expands the customer base.
- An Updated and Reliable Inventory
Keeping the right amount of stocks is now possible with the help of an auto repair shop management software. More sophisticated systems can even automatically order the parts from suppliers via mail as soon as a particular stock’s reorder point is reached.
- Easy Ticket Monitoring
This digital solution can help the management easily track the technicians’ whereabouts, what they are currently working on, and the status of their previous tickets. Meanwhile, technicians may also be given a better view of their to dos, accomplishments, and pending tickets.
- Overall Management
A good auto repair shop management software can easily extract relevant data to generate and show reports, vital performance indicators, and analytics including labour costs that can help owners track their business’s performance. With this, reports, user dashboards, and other views that can show statuses of orders, jobs, and customer information can be easily monitored. Using this information properly will help owners keep up with competition better.
