Keeping your auto repair shop running smoothly while attracting new customers remains a top priority for most auto repair shop owners. But making things more efficient, retaining service technicians, turning new customers into repeat customers, and, of course, keeping costs down are just some of the day-to-day challenges every auto repair shop owner faces while running their business.

That’s where auto repair shop software can help. With the right auto repair shop software, you can automate processes, improve customer communications, and increase staff productivity.

Common Challenges For Auto Repair Shops

Ordering parts and repairing cars is just the beginning of making your auto repair shop successful. Every day comes with its own operational challenges, including:

• Managing appointments: Scheduling customers and addressing missed appointments play havoc with your schedule.
• Upselling repair jobs: Training your service technicians to educate your customers on the auto repair services they need can be time-consuming.
• Inventory management: With you and your service techs constantly grabbing parts and supplies from the shelves, it can be hard to track inventory. This not only leads to unaccounted-for items but also lost money.
• Staff productivity: Whether they are dealing with sweltering heat, trying to juggle appointment scheduling or working up service recommendations, service techs and advisors spend a lot of time on things other than auto repairs.

How the Right Technology Can Help

Embracing technology and auto repair shop software solutions can help mitigate these challenges by streamlining processes, automating communications, and eliminating unnecessary steps, all of which lead to a more efficient workplace.

Detailed solutions and best practices

Auto repair shop software can help you:

• Manage appointments: Show your appointment schedule at a glance so you can see when you have openings and make appointments quickly. Throughout the process, you can send appointment confirmations and reminders to your customers to help reduce missed appointments.
• Make upselling easy to understand: When using digital vehicle inspections, your techs can show customers exactly what services need to be completed. Digital photos and videos help them understand why the services are necessary and what’s involved to complete them.
• Track all your parts and supplies: With every job, see where your parts and supplies are going to ensure they are properly billed for on each invoice. Tie this in with your inventory so you know when it’s time to reorder to make sure you have the parts and supplies on hand when you need them.
• Boost productivity: Service techs can see their jobs for the day at a glance and check the status of any vehicle in the service bays to ensure they are moving forward. Plus, integrating auto repair shop software with the leading shop management systems means all the information is seamlessly collected and available to everyone at a glance.

Finding the Right Auto Repair Shop Software

To find the right auto repair shop software for your business, you need to identify goals and challenges in your business that this type of software could help you meet and overcome. Then, take steps to compare the various software offerings to see what best fits your needs. Here are a few ways to do just that:

• Decide what you want: Make a list of must-have requirements you want in the software package. This can help narrow the list of possibilities. Considerations could include:
  • Integrations into your existing shop management systems.
  • User-friendliness, so employees can quickly adapt to it and won’t lose time trying to navigate it.
  • Does it work on all devices with available training and support?
• Try it out: Request a demo or use a free trial to try out the software. Check to see how user-friendly it is, if it includes the tools you want and how it stacks up to competitors. Have a list of questions ready to ask during a demo to get more information.
• Determine the cost: Find out the software’s price to see if it works with your budget. Are there different service packages that can fit your budget and grow with your business? Initiate a Request for Proposal to get more information and compare those to see which one offers the best ROI.

To see how auto repair shop software can boost your ARO, check out BOLT ON’s ROI calculator.