PartsTech

Automotive Management Network has one of the better SMS system comparisons that I've seen. Check this out: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lRLSF-4f5VBaXMv4m_fAs4Vj0J5mzqg82Dk0bMTlRwE/edit#gid=350300638 Hope it helps!

Here's 2 quick videos we put together to give you a sense of atmosphere at AAPEX and SEMA - one from each show. For us, we get a lot of business done at AAPEX and SEMA is mostly just fun. AAPEX 2017: SEMA 2017:

@Junior Looks like you've got a good list going. You might also want to check out CarServ and CompleteAutoReports. These are mobile friendly and I believe meet most of your requirements. Also, Selectline might be worth a look, though I don't believe it does any CRM / customer communication at the moment. Full disclosure: We work with a number of the SMS systems on your list. Not recommending any in particular, just trying to help develop a complete list.

Agree with @mmotley

Is anyone attending the SEMA / AAPEX shows out in Vegas next week? Curious if anyone from this forum is going and what you're hoping to get from the trade shows. This will be my 4th time at AAPEX/SEMA, and my first time getting involved with the Congress of Automotive Repair and Service (CARS). I believe this is the first time that AAPEX and CARS have been integrated into a single trade show, so I'm interested to see how it goes. Erik

From the Merrill report posted above. "Vehicle mix could be a long-tailed headwind. While the market has grown increasingly concerned over a potential decline in the older vehicle population (which continues to age, now 11.7 years, see chart 6) from weakening used vehicle prices, a coming “off-lease tsunami” and lower new car sales, we see a bigger issue in the mix of cars sold. More specifically, we believe a shift away from SUV’s which are more costly to maintain and into sedans and CUV’s (cross-utility vehicles, which are based on car chassis) could be a long-tailed drag on aftermarket auto part demand for many years. As an example, the annual maintenance cost of an SUV is 23% higher than a small sedan and 10% higher than a medium sedan. For total operating costs (also including gas, insurance and depreciation) this jumps to 56% and 19% higher. ... In the charts below, we analyze the number of vehicles by type that turn seven years old in each year. Seven years is the approximate sweet spot for the auto part retailers as this is when cars are typically out of warranty and begin to see higher maintenance and failure parts demand. Starting in 2015, there was a sharp drop off in the number of SUV’s turning seven years old, a function of the great recession when consumers shunned costly SUVs. More specifically, in 2015-2017 there are 3.1/2.1/2.4mn SUVs that turned seven years old in each year compared with an average of 5.7mn in the prior ten years. While there are many factors that have contributed to sluggish auto parts demand, we believe this could be an important and perhaps overlooked contributor." Does that theory jive with what you're seeing?

Welcome!

I don't have data on cars per lift, or billables, but I can share some insight on cars per bay. We ran a survey with the help of AASP-PA last year in which we asked ~ 70 shops about issues that caused productivity loss. Here are some of the high points: Number of Bays: The average shop in this survey had 4 to 5 bays. Number of Vehicles per Day: 9 to 10 vehicles per day Average Bay Turn Rate: 2 cars per bay per day. Those shops in the survey that run an SMS system (versus those that do not) tended to turn their bays faster. Also, those shops that order parts online also seemed to turn their bays faster. We also asked about the time wasters. "When you think about your daily operations, what process in your shop wastes the most time?" The big 3 themes we heard over and over were: Finding and ordering parts / parts availability Parts delivery / waiting on parts Waiting on customer authorization Hope this helps! Erik

Thanks for the feedback, @bantar . Could you see yourself using a system that allowed you to chat or talk to the parts counter within your ordering system? The benefit would be the parts counter already has the vehicle info (including VIN) and part information on their screen when you call, so there's no need to recite the VIN or Y/M/M over the phone.

Hey guys, We're always looking for ways to improve the flow of information between the repair shop and parts counter. PartsTech just announced a technology we've built and plan to launch later this year involving voice control and video chat in the parts ordering process (here's a link to the blog). Could you envision using this type of technology in your shop? - Erik

Not to my knowledge. Edit: @xrac: correcting my prior comment. Mitchell1 Enterprise (the multi-location version) is a white-label version of Protractor.

In addition to the options mentioned above, you might want to check out: Shop-Ware: https://www.shop-ware.com/ Car-Serv: https://www.carserv.com/ Selectline (from Motor Information Systems): https://www.motor.com/products/selectline/ Protractor: http://www.protractorsoftware.com/

We just ran a survey with AASP-PA that found shops are spending, on average, 92 minutes researching and ordering parts online and on the phone everyday. Generally, shops that responded to this survey find that online ordering is faster than calling - not surprising, since you can run multiple websites in parallel to check availability from you preferred vendors (we commonly see garages running 3 or 5 nexpart windows at one time)- but many garages still feel the need to call to confirm their order because (1) you can't always trust online inventory and (2) you want confirmation that someone has received your order and the driver is on the way to you. In our view, time spent on hold, or trying to query multiple websites is time that could be better spent on your business. We've created a system that helps shops turn those 92 minutes back into productive time. Our ordering system - called PartsTech - is 100% free to use and allows you to set up your preferred parts vendors so you can search once and quickly understand who has the part in stock and when you can get it. There's no need to retype the VIN, or open new windows - all of your vendors are in one easy system. Search once and you're done. We've invested in the latest technology to make this system intuitive and easy to use - just like searching on Google. You can search by license plate, keyword, etc. We're also actively working on technology that will give you real-time confirmation that your order has been received and is being processed - so you won't need to pick up the phone and call to make sure. You can try us out at http://www.partstech.com (this is a free tool, there's no cost to register and use this system). We're adding new parts distributors to the system all the time, so if you don't see your preferred vendors in your area please let us know. -Erik [email protected]

Hey Jim - Thanks again for the interest. I'm really sorry for the frustration and trouble you had connecting with someone here. We are a small team (as a young company, being under-staffed is the name of the game) - but that's not an excuse. My co-founder, Alex, tried to reach out to you on Friday and I've asked him to reach back out again today. Alternatively, feel free to give me a call on my cell phone directly at any time 8609775498 or email at [email protected] - would love to hear from you and better understand how we can deliver an ordering system that saves you time. Again, very sorry for the frustration and we would welcome another opportunity to earn your business. O'Reilly is not yet participating in PartsTech at the moment. We currently support a few local vendors in Indiana, including TBA & Oil and Autozone (though I don't believe TBA covers Evansville) and we're working on expanding our coverage. We'll be making a few announcements on new vendors soon. If there are any other local players that you would like to see in PartsTech, please let us know!

Exactly right - when you visit PartsTech for the first time, we show you a random parts source, and a tab called "PartsTech Catalog". You'll need to select your preferred distributors and - where applicable - enter your wholesale account information so we can show you your specific pricing for that vendor. After you set your preferred distributors, you will always see them first when you search. If you have any questions on that process, feel free to shoot me an email (estpierre(at)partstech.com) The "PartsTech Catalog" tab can be used when your preferred distributors don't have the part you're looking for in stock. We can help you understand who has the part - whether it's in town or across the country. Again, the system is brand new. We're trying to define a system that saves you time - so let us know what we can do to make it better. Erik Erik St. Pierre [email protected]