The whiteboard problem
Most shops track work in progress on a whiteboard, a paper stack on the counter, or in the service advisor's head. All three work fine until the advisor is at lunch, or a customer calls asking whether their car is ready, or a tech finishes early and nobody knows what to give them next.
The information exists. It's just not anywhere the rest of the shop can see it.
How Underhood tracks the floor
Three stages, not fifteen
Intake, being repaired, ready for pickup. Enough to know where a car is at a glance, without a status system nobody keeps current.
The card carries the context
Vehicle, customer, mileage, RO number, the complaint, the assigned tech and the promised time - so you can answer a phone call without opening anything.
Blockers are called out
A vehicle waiting on a customer approval, waiting on parts, past its promised time or with nobody assigned is flagged on the card. Those are the ones that quietly sit for two days.
Filter to what needs attention
Rather than reading the whole board, you can pull up just the overdue ones, or just the ones waiting on approval.
What changes in the shop
- Anyone can answer "is it ready?" without finding the advisor.
- Cars stop sitting because everyone assumed someone else was chasing the approval.
- A promised time exists somewhere other than memory.
- New staff can see how the shop is running on their first day.
Every feature is in the one plan — see what Underhood costs.