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Hi everyone


I was doing some research on shop management systems and noticed some great threads but given my budget I want to see if I can use Quickbooks Online since it's great for invoicing and easy to set up plus cheap. Some questions I had for anyone who uses or has used Quickbooks Online:


1. How do I assign a vehicle to a customer?

2. How do you track any recommendations to the customer's vehicle - just in notes?

3. How do you manage estimates and inspections?

4. Do you use anything else to manage daily schedule?

5. Ultimately can you use Quickbooks Online to run your shop?


Thanks for the help

SHW

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Quickbooks solves a lot of your book keeping needs and if you are savvy you can track a lot of useful data and metrics through it HOWEVER even though a lot of shop management software is generally archaic in design to most everything out there it still is very industry specific. I have experience with 2 shop management softwares in particular. Mitchell and RO Writer. The Reporting that both programs have can be duplicated to a certain degree in quickbooks however it would really take you a lot of hours of thought into creating a system of logging all the correct information you need.

 

I would agree with alfredauto that a dedicated shop management software is probably your best bet. It makes life a lot easier.

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I used quick books for years. Looking back I don't know how we did it. Not well, that's for sure. It can be done but it can't be done correctly without extensive manual entry work. They could add some modules and it would work fairly well but the way the standard version works it doesn't fit automotive businesses in regards to billing and customer management. In the end it'd be cheaper just to go ahead with a management system. The matrix alone pays for the software!

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

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  • 4 weeks later...

I will second the recommendation for SMOTGO as a shop management tool. It is excellent - web-based and totally free as bstewart mentioned. I also use quick books online but only to run my finances. I accept credit cards with the GoPayment option and it connects directly to my bank account to automatically pull in transactions. So SMOTGO to run the shop, QBO to handle the finances. Been working well for me so far.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello everyone! I'm newbie here, but I've some exp in auto repair shop software. A month ago I decided to move from Excel for shop run and find lite software instead <_< Well, I have to say there are plenty of them, I've read lots of reviews and watched tonnes of videos... Finally, I've settled on AutoRepair cloud (www.autorepaircloud.com) as the price was good for me. It is completely web based, so you don't need to install smth on your computer and it has integration with Quickbooks to run accounting. The next thing I like is mobile application for customers via I am chatting with my customers, sending them photos, updating repair progress, etc.

Edited by Phil_CA
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  • 4 weeks later...

I see a lot of people here are using mitchell, I have been using alldata. I am paying about 250-260 per month for my repair info and the elite version of the management program which has the parts matrix ability. What are you folks paying for mitchell?

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We use QuickBooks Pro currently. Does any of the other SMS allow for retail? We have a retail store for our performance side which is about 25-30% of our business. I have been slowing looking at a SMS, and want one that would integrate with QuickBooks. Computers....ugh!

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Check out Digital Wrench software it does everything you mentioned and the price is very reasonable compared to other RO programs. You would still Need finance software like quickbooks to track bills payroll etc.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         3 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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