WillieB

RepairGorilla seems to have everything I'm looking for, its pretty basic but does the job. Invoicing online with online payments, pdf printable versions, waivers, repair approvals and DVI, not sure what else I could want at the price they charge (free)

I stumbled across RepairGorilla.com says it's open source I'm going to install it this weekend. 

On 5/10/2022 at 2:04 PM, Joe Marconi said:

ADAS will be incorporated within the safety systems in every car. I don't know where we are headed,  but right now on many cars, you have to recalibrate ADAS for bumper cover replacements, rearview mirrors, alignments, and a lot more. Technically, wherever ADAS has sensors, you need to check to see if an ADAS recalibrate needs to be done if the sensors were affected by a particular repair. 

So, I don't think it's the same if your cruise control fails or your CD player fails, and you opted not to repair it. 

I'm speechless. I need to research ADAS more! 

It will be interesting to see what happens when these systems wear out in ten years. If a faulty ADAS will stop your car from driving it becomes as important as a transmission. But if it's just an add on people might live without it. I've heard of some ADAS needing calibrated with every alignment, is that accurate?

Thanks for the answer, I agree SEO is really important. If you were on a limited budget would you put $400/month into SEO and marketing? or into an SMS? I probably can't afford both at the moment. 

I guess online payment might be overkill. I’m definitely interested in a DVI system. I might be closer to $100/month budget then $400. Good to know it’s worth it though. I’m just starting off, I don’t have much of a customer base established yet.

What do you think of the industry specific website offerings vs someone more generic but local? I’ve used Wordpress before, I’m confident I can make something for my business. I’m not sure what the value of a top dollar website is vs diy? vs industry specific? 

I appreciate your insight, thanks.

That makes sense, I guess it is asking for a lot. I haven't actually been on the customer side of a digital vehicle inspection or paperless invoice, do most of them operate through email/text? 

I had another shop about a decade ago with my buddy and it was all paper back then mostly quick books or maybe excel if I remember right. There weren't many DVIs or online invoices available that I remember. I didn't handle the bulk of the paperwork I was working on cars, now I'm planning on doing both. Probably wasn't paying attention to it back then, now there's 100 different sms to choose from.

I'd really like to accept cards online is my main goal. The easier it is for a customer to pay the better, is my thinking.  $400 a month from some of these places for an sms is a big jump from $10 in paper, $50 worth of ink and a $15 QB subscription. The same $400/month would go a long way towards a bigger shop, AC, another lift.

Does anyone get value from $4800/year in software? 

Thanks for the info sir. I like quickbooks, lost without it really. Can you recommend anything that sits on my website to give customers an online invoice? I suppose hoping for a cheap wordpress plugin or similar would probably be a long shot! 

hey all! I'm wondering if anyone knwos of any open source repair software? I'm a fan of wordpress as open source, gimp, open office so on I was hoping to find something to help manage a small shop with invoicing - similar to the big names but open source....anyone know of anything?