The retyping problem
In a lot of shops an estimate lives in one place, the repair order in another, and the invoice gets rebuilt at the end from whatever's written on the hard copy. Every one of those hand-offs is a chance to lose a line item, misquote a part, or bill for labor nobody recorded.
It also costs the advisor time at exactly the wrong moment - the end of the day, when three customers are waiting to pick up and the phone is ringing.
Estimate, approval, repair, invoice
Build the estimate
Parts and labor from your catalog, with your labor rates. Save the items you use constantly so a brake job isn't built from scratch every time.
Send it for approval
The customer gets a link, reviews the priced work along with any inspection photos, and approves or declines it. What they approved is recorded as of that moment.
Do the work
The approved estimate becomes the repair order the shop works from, so the job on the floor is the job the customer agreed to.
Invoice it
The invoice is built from the same record rather than re-entered, and can be emailed as a PDF or paid online.
What changes in the shop
- The approved price and the invoiced price match, because they came from the same place.
- Approvals are timestamped and kept, which settles arguments about what was authorized.
- Advisors stop rebuilding invoices at 5pm from a marked-up hard copy.
- Shop supply fees and tax are applied by the same formula every time.
Every feature is in the one plan — see what Underhood costs.