Every day repair shops, body shops, collision centers and oil change stations have to deal with a huge number of customers, auto parts, and employees.

In the current environment of high competition every organization has to keep careful records for each of the above factors to ensure stable work of the company and proper customer care.

Running an effective auto shop is the way to make maximum profit each day and to build relationships with customers. That’s why many of today’s auto shop owners have automated their business processes which helps not only to save labor time, hold control of the business effectiveness of the shop but also business automation is a real opportunity to improve customer service and to increase at the same time customer return rate.

After having looked into the work processes of auto shop business the top software products available on the market were determined, here are the 7 best, in no specific order.

All Data

ALLDATA Manage On-line was developed to provide shop owners with tools to run their business effectively. Make your shop more profitable and manage your customers experience with these key features:

-Track customer histories,

-Look up the complete 17-digit VIN from a license plate using Quick-VIN

• On-line Parts Ordering

• Easily track and assign jobs to technicians and bays

• Print or email with parts and labor organized estimates.

AutoRepair Cloud

AutoRepair Cloud is a cloud based all-in-one platform for running your auto shop business. It gives small and midsize businesses complete control over their auto shop business processes within an easy-to-use software solution. It helps to manage your customers, inventory, and keep track of your annual/monthly budget.

Run your business like a fine tuned machine. Manage repair orders, workflow tracking, inspections and invoicing with ease. Tech can see all important data arranged in one place, and achieve order without any effort.

Key features:

-Easy vehicle/customer management

-Appointment scheduling

-Inspection reports, estimates and invoices

-VIN code scanner/decoder

-Mobile application to shares workflow with the customer

MaxxTraxx

The MaxxTraxx Editions are designed to fit your needs be that a 12 Bay three million dollar a year shop, or a fresh new owner / operator just getting your start. Read on to see what Edition fits your needs today; and know there is an Edition for your tomorrow no matter how big you want to become.

Key features:

-Repair order history, vehicle/ customer tracking

-Appointment schedule

-Electronic auto parts ordering, inventory management

-Integrated marketing tools (letters, post cards, reminders)

Mitchell1

Mitchell 1 began in 1918 with the simple idea that people needed information to fix cars. For over 90 years, Mitchell 1 has been a leader in providing information solutions that simplify everyday tasks for automotive professionals — helping make their jobs easier. Over the years, Mitchell 1’s products have evolved to keep pace with industry and technological advances.

Key features:

• Billing & Invoicing

• Customer Database, vehicle tracking, service history, work order management

• Inventory Control, Parts Management

• Labor Rates, Quotes / Estimates

• Maintenance Scheduling

• VIN Decoder

AutoFluent

AutoFluent is powerful automotive business management software that gives you the user-friendly tools you need to run more cost-effectively.

Whether your focus is in auto servicing, tire sales, parts sales, or any combination of these, AutoFluent is designed to help you improve how you track and manage your customers, employees, sales, inventory and suppliers.

Key features:

-Review and search customer and vehicle information by phone , address, vehicle, invoice number of

-Customized invoices

-Email marketing automation

-Comprehensive sales reporting for profit, commission, productivity, and more

-Bar/VIN code scanning, use CARFAX data to load vehicle data with a license plate or VIN, view vehicle service history

-Labor guides from AllData, Mitchell1, Real Time Labor Guide and Motor

FastTrak

Since 2001, FastTrak has been designing software that increases profits and cuts costs, helping auto repair shops, tire stores and fleet service companies become more productive and profitable.

FastTrak is scalable from one to hundreds of users, single to multiple locations, and is modular. You only pay for what you need. It’s also one of the few in the industry with a wireless handheld device that allows you to take orders from the car and update your FastTrak database in real time.

• Accurate inventory control

• Labor and time guide

• Email estimates, invoices and bulk emails to your customer base for more sales and customer retention

• Allows repair orders to be assigned and prioritized using a simple drag and drop interface