The purpose of automotive repair shop software is to help your business run more efficiently and to increase profitability. Auto shop software has the ability to take many daily tasks and manage them in a way that saves time and money. This type of software also offers you the ability to use whatever features are helpful to you, or take away features that are unnecessary.
So what if you run a transmission shop? Is automotive repair shop software right for transmission shops?
The Simple Answer, Yes
There are automotive repair shop software programs out there that also offer features for transmission shops. It will be up to you to do your research and find the auto shop software programs that have the correct features to help your transmission shop to be more successful. However, some features that would be most helpful for a transmission shop include:
Profit Per Hour, also known as PPH
Having the ability to find out if the job required will be profitable is essential in a transmission shop. It doesn’t make sense for a business to agree to complete a job or repair that is not going to make them any money. By being able to see the profit per hour, overall profitability, or if the job would not yield any profit at all, would be extremely beneficial. The automotive repair shop software program that shows the PPH on each job is the software you need.
Decoding the VIN
One time-consuming task in a transmission shop can be getting the vehicle information. Writing down the VIN, and entering that into the system can take precious time, especially when someone’s handwriting isn’t very clear or a miskey occurs.
Many software systems have “VIN Decode”, you enter the cars license plate and state and then decode that to the vin number. Some of the software systems give you information like engine size from the vin. Only one (that we know of) repair shop software system will also decode to the transmission type level.
Transstar Parts
Having Transstar at your fingertips also makes any auto repair shop software worth every penny. Having the ability to quickly and easily order the necessary parts is a huge timesaver. Not all automotive repair shop software programs have this option. In fact, most do not, so be sure to do your research.
A successful transmission shop doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a ton of work. Using auto shop software makes it easier.
Other Features in Great Auto Shop Software
Whether you’re an automotive repair shop or transmission shop, there are lots of features that great automotive repair shop software has to offer.
SMS Messaging
Many people’s lives are so busy today that they do not have the time to sit at the shop to wait. Customers are often asked to wait for the estimate, wait to approve the estimate, wait for the work to be completed. Several types of customer communication can be made via SMS text messaging feature in auto shop software.
In many cases the vehicle will be dropped off in the morning, before the shop is even open. So how can the shop get the work that needs to be done approved? Good auto repair shop software programs have what is called SMS (text) messaging to easily communicate with your customers.
Using automotive shop software, the technician can easily send pictures of broken parts and text it to the client. They can also include the estimate to complete the necessary repairs. The client can then approve or not approve the estimate that is texted to them. Assuming the client approves, the technician can move forward with getting the repair done and eliminate a lot of sitting around time and games of phone tag.
Web-Based Platform
Along with the other features discussed earlier that you should research while looking for the right automotive repair shop software, you should also look for a web-based program.
As much as we rely on technology it is imperative to be prepared for anything that could happen. Unfortunately, hard drives fail, computers crash, and power supplies shut down. If the shop’s existing program goes offline, you could be stuck in a holding pattern until someone else fixes it to access the data. If the hard drive dies totally and you have not backed up recently you could lose a lot of valuable data.
Retrieving data from damaged hard drives is expensive, seeing bills in the $500 range is not at all rare and computer techs have a saying “It is WHEN a hard drive fails not IF it fails”.
Using a web-based program means that all the information is stored on cloud-based servers. This means so long as you can access Wifi or a mobile device or tablet, you can log in and pick up right where you left off.
Automotive repair shop software isn’t just for auto repair shops. If you choose the right software program, automotive repair shop software can also be used by transmission shops with tremendous success. Being able to utilize the features of auto shop software to communicate efficiently with customers, and save your business time, increases profits… and that’s really what it’s all about.