Shared Customer History for Multi-Shop
Tekmetric's new Shared Customer History feature for Multi-Shop allows owners and service advisors to connect and access customer data across multiple shop locations within one platform, streamlining workflows by eliminating duplicate entries and enabling a seamless, personalized customer experience through shared access to vehicle inspections, estimates, and repair histories, ultimately saving time, improving data consistency, and enhancing customer retention.
Tekmetric Multi-Shop is designed to give owners everything they need to manage multiple shops in one place. The goal is to help your team gain back time, make more informed decisions, and maximize your shops’ margins.
Our latest update for Tekmetric Multi-Shop, Shared Customer History, enhances cohesion between different locations. Multi-shop owners and service advisors can simplify their workflow and provide a more seamless customer experience.
What is Shared Customer History?
Tekmetric Multi-Shop Shared Customer History allows users to connect customers across shops and view history for those customers across all locations within their organization in Tekmetric. With just a few clicks, shop owners and general managers can quickly add customers from one shop location to another without re-entering all their information. This enables shops to provide a seamless customer experience across all locations and easily maintain customer information without duplicating entries.
By linking customer data so that service writers have access to all past information—digital vehicle inspections, estimates generated, approved or declined work, and completed repairs—your shop can save time while enabling a more personalized experience for the customer.
Remind customers of declined work from another location, or check up on the status of previous repairs. To the customer, this feels like a modern, connected experience.
How Shared Customer History Benefits Your Shops
- Save time finding the information you need, and gain greater visibility into all shops
- Build a seamless, personalized customer experience across all shops
- Easily maintain data and ensure consistency across all locations
- Grow your shops with increased customer retention thanks to a modern experience
Shared Customer History enables your shop to provide customers with the same experience, no matter which location they visit. If a customer visits a different location for the first time, your shop will immediately have visibility into their history from other locations, allowing you to pick up where they left off.
There are many ways to fuel your business's growth with the right multi-shop platform.
Ready to grow your automotive business? Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here
Find out what shops in your state are charging, and how to set a labor rate that keeps your shop profitable
In the automotive repair industry, your labor rate is a key metric that drives your business's profitability and growth. Staying competitive while maintaining healthy margins requires understanding how labor costs fluctuate across the country. Knowing the national average is only half the picture; it's important to know how your shop compares.
This guide covers the current landscape of automotive repair labor rates across all 50 states, the factors that drive those numbers, and a step-by-step roadmap for setting a rate that supports your shop's long-term success.
Methodology and Key Terms
Tekmetric built this auto repair shop index as a community resource, backed by data from more than 10,000 shops across North America. Shops can use this tool to benchmark themselves and see how they compare state by state.
Key Terms to Know
- Labor rate: The retail price per hour charged to the customer for repair services.
- Flat-rate: A pricing model where a job is billed based on a predetermined number of hours from a labor guide, regardless of how long the actual repair takes.
- Effective labor rate (ELR): The actual amount of labor revenue earned per billed hour after accounting for discounts, menu pricing, and unbilled time.
Mechanic Labor Rates by State
The average labor rate across the United States is $132 per hour, with the lowest state at $85 per hour and the highest at $197 per hour. Labor rates vary significantly by state, primarily driven by local cost of living and competition.
Labor Rates by State (per hour)
- Alabama $124
- Alaska $161
- Arizona $145
- Arkansas $116
- California $156
- Colorado $151
- Connecticut $141
- Delaware $141
- Florida $138
- Georgia $137
- Hawaii $142
- Idaho $136
- Illinois $135
- Indiana $123
- Iowa $123
- Kansas $120
- Kentucky $126
- Louisiana $132
- Maine $110
- Maryland $141
- Massachusetts $133
- Michigan $130
- Minnesota $137
- Mississippi $125
- Missouri $120
- Montana $135
- Nebraska $127
- Nevada $152
- New Hampshire $128
- New Jersey $140
- New Mexico $141
- New York $125
- North Carolina $123
- North Dakota $135
- Ohio $125
- Oklahoma $129
- Oregon $150
- Pennsylvania $115
- Rhode Island $134
- South Carolina $130
- South Dakota $120
- Tennessee $127
- Texas $141
- Utah $135
- Vermont $110
- Virginia $136
- Washington $152
- West Virginia $100
- Wisconsin $125
- Wyoming $134
Factors That Impact Automotive Labor Rates
Cost of Living
In states with a higher cost of living, shop owners face higher wages to attract technicians, more expensive rent, and elevated utility and supply costs. These overhead realities push labor rates up.
Shop Type and Specialization
Dealerships typically carry the highest labor rates due to overhead, factory-trained technicians, and reliance on OEM parts. Independent shops often have more pricing flexibility, especially for routine services. Specialty shops focused on certain vehicle types or repairs tend to command higher rates.
Technician Expertise and Certifications
Shops that employ ASE-certified or master technicians can and should charge accordingly. The rate reflects the expertise required to do the work correctly.
How to Set Your Labor Rate (Step by Step)
Setting your rate shouldn't be based solely on what the shop down the street is charging. It should be a data-driven decision grounded in your actual costs and performance targets.
Step 1: Calculate Your "Loaded" Labor Cost
Start with what it actually costs you to have a technician on the floor. This includes:
- Wages and overtime
- Payroll taxes
- Benefits (health insurance, 401k)
- Workers' comp and liability insurance
- Training and certifications
Divide that total annual cost by the number of billable hours that technician produces in a year. That's your loaded cost—before profit margin.
Step 2: Account for Overhead
Your labor revenue also needs to cover the cost of running the business:
- Rent
- Utilities and shop supplies
- Marketing and software
- Taxes
Step 3: Determine Your Target Profit Margin
Tekmetric shops average 65% labor profit margins. If your loaded cost for a technician is $45 per hour and you want a 65% margin, your base labor rate should be at least $128 per hour.
Step 4: Benchmark Against Your Market
Your internal numbers come first, but you can't ignore the local market. If your rate is $128 and every comparable independent in your area is at $100, you need to either clearly justify your value or find ways to reduce overhead. Benchmark against shops of similar size, service mix, and geography.
Step 5: Implement a Labor Matrix
Not every repair order is equal. Shops that implement a labor matrix can automatically adjust rates based on job complexity—billing more appropriately for diagnostic work or specialty repairs without manually recalculating every estimate.
How Tekmetric Helps Your Shop Stay Profitable
Managing labor rates manually can lead to inconsistency and missed revenue. Tekmetric provides tools and data to help you stay ahead.
Know Where You Stand with the Tekmetric Shop Index
The Tekmetric Shop Index gives you free, instant benchmarking across four metrics: ARO, car count, parts margin, and effective labor rate. Enter your shop's numbers and see exactly where you rank against thousands of shops nationwide.
Real-Time Profitability Tracking
Tekmetric's reporting features provide live visibility into ARO, car count, revenue, and technician productivity.
Custom Labor and Parts Matrices
Tekmetric lets you build a labor matrix that automatically adjusts rates by job type. A custom parts matrix works the same way, protecting your margins consistently across every repair order.
Digital Inspections That Justify Your Rate
Tekmetric's digital vehicle inspections allow your team to send photos and videos of needed repairs directly to a customer's phone, increasing approval rates and customer comfort with the associated costs.
Accurate Labor Guide Integration
Tekmetric integrates with industry-standard labor guides so your estimates are based on real, accurate times. This ensures technicians are credited fairly and service advisers spend less time on paperwork.
Benchmark Your Insights Now
Knowing the average labor rate in your state is a useful reference point. However, shops that stay profitable long-term benchmark continuously, track the right metrics, and make adjustments based on data.
Your labor rate should reflect your actual overhead, your team's capabilities, and the quality of service your customers experience. Use the state data above as a starting point, then go deeper with the Tekmetric Shop Index to see how your shop compares across every metric that drives profitability.
Ready to see where you stand? Benchmark your shop free with the Tekmetric Shop Index →
Let’s start off by laying down the foundational launching points for starting your original shop: you found your niche, got the right advice, started with the right branding, and impressed your customers by providing exceptional customer service. As you grow from a single shop owner to a multi-shop owner, four key factors become extremely important:
- 1.Stay organized as you scale
- 2.Create consistency across your locations
- 3.Test the performance of each of your locations
- 4.Leverage automotive repair software that will support your team as you grow across multiple locations
To select the management tools that will support your multi-shop journey, weigh the pros and cons of each of your shop’s processes and procedures. Find a system that will uphold and scale the processes that made your shop successful, now across multiple locations. Later in this article, we’ll specifically discuss how automotive repair software like Tekmetric supports you, your team, and your customers as you grow.
Here’s how to choose an automotive repair software that makes it possible to grow and easily manage multiple shops.
Manage Space Effectively
No matter how much square footage your shop has, you can maximize your layout to house everything you need. Consider the size and shape of your space before committing to a specific layout. Evaluate the services you currently or intend to provide so you can plan your space safely and efficiently.
Some considerations include:
- Equipment locations: Assess permanent installations and movable items.
- Storage: Organize storage areas for easy access and tidiness.
- Working areas: Set up workbenches and counter space for technicians to perform detail work away from vehicles.
- Loading bays: Ensure loading bay areas have adequate clearance.
- Waiting rooms: Design appealing spaces for customers to wait comfortably.
- Administrative offices: Provide employees with the tools they need to keep the business running efficiently.
Effective space management also plays a big part in keeping an auto shop safe.