How Silver Lake Auto Elevated Their Customer Payment Experience | Tekmetric

As location manager of Wisconsin-based automotive repair shop Silver Lake Auto, Tyler Peartree prioritizes top-tier customer service. He plays an instrumental role in executing operational decisions that affect daily operations across all four locations of Silver Lake Auto. Over its forty-year history, Silver Lake Auto has become known for its concierge service, offering convenience-centric customer care and quality repairs. However, the service faced challenges that Tyler needed to address to build customer trust and grow revenue. He recognized the value of the concierge offering but needed a solution to maximize its benefits. The answer was the Tekmetric Shop Management System and its embedded payments offering, Tekmetric Payments.

A Bottleneck in the Process

Silver Lake Auto’s concierge service encountered a significant bottleneck at the vehicle drop-off stage. While the team could pick up vehicles and bring them to the shop for inspection, they required payment before returning the vehicles. This meant customers still had to come to the shop to pay, making the drop-off portion unnecessary.

There was a gap in the process because customers had to come to our location and pay for the repairs,

Tyler realized that to make the concierge service a true benefit, he needed a system that allowed customers to pay anytime and from anywhere, eliminating the inconvenience of in-person payments.

Implementing a New Payments System

Tyler researched shop management platforms with digital payments that could benefit customers and close the gap in the concierge service, while allowing management to stay connected to multiple locations. Tekmetric, a cloud-based shop management system, offered features that aligned with Tyler’s goals:

• ​Tracking shop data in an accessible, easy-to-understand interface
• ​Data sharing across multiple locations with Tekmetric Multi-Shop
• ​Embedded payments with Tekmetric Payments, providing flexible, secure solutions for managing customer payments and accounting

With Tekmerchant, Silver Lake Auto could:

• ​Enable customers to pay via text or email with secure text-to-pay
• ​Automatically integrate all partial and complete payments into their point-of-sale
• ​Access real-time reporting on payments and batches/payouts
• ​Reduce chargebacks with enhanced early warning fraud detection

Success from the First Day

The implementation and training process for Tekmetric Payments was simple and intuitive. Tekmetric provided training videos and responsive customer service. Tyler found it easy to integrate the system and ensure his team was comfortable.

The fact that Tekmetric already had videos created meant we didn’t have to do anything – just share the links to existing videos.

Tekmetric and Tekmetric Payments proved successful from the first day. The text-to-pay feature integrated seamlessly with the concierge drop-off service. For example, a customer on vacation in Italy was able to pay for their repair by text, allowing the shop to deliver the vehicle to their house while they were away. Without Tekmetric, the vehicle would have remained at the shop for two weeks until payment could be made.

Continued Growth in Shop Performance

Since implementing Tekmetric and Tekmerchant, Silver Lake Auto’s performance continues to grow. At the flagship store, average repair order (ARO) has increased by more than $200 a month. The shop now offers text-to-pay at all locations, providing more convenience for customers, especially those using the concierge drop-off service. Payment is completed quickly and efficiently, often with just a couple of clicks using Apple Pay or Google Pay. This benefits both customers and the shop, as vehicles can be delivered directly to customers without waiting for in-person payment.

Service advisors have seen great success with Tekmetric Payments, enjoying the ability to share a payment link and receive payment in minutes. Customers, particularly parents, appreciate the convenience. For example, the shop can pick up a student’s car from a local high school, parents can pay through text-to-pay, and the car is dropped off at the school again.

After-hour pickups have also increased. Previously, the team couldn’t safely take credit card information over the phone. Now, they can offer secure, encrypted links and, once payment is received, leave keys in a safe location for after-hours pickup.

Tekmetric provided Silver Lake Auto with the solution needed to enhance customer experience and promote shop growth. With Tekmetric at all locations, Silver Lake Auto can efficiently complete vehicle drop-offs and offer secure digital payments. Internally, service advisors can close out repair orders faster. Tyler recommends the switch:

It’s a night and day difference. Make the switch.

For more information about Silver Lake Auto, visit silverlakeauto.com.