How can auto repair shops modernize their parts management process?

Digital Vehicle Inspection software enables auto repair shops to go beyond a traditional paper system for inspections and repair order estimates... By keeping track of customer mileage on each vehicle, you’ll be able to recommend maintenance work based on how many miles it has been since their last visit.

What Tekmetric products help manage auto repair parts?

- [Parts & Inventory](https://www.tekmetric.com/feature/inventory)

Why Auto Repair Shops Need to Modernize Their Parts Management Process

The article emphasizes the importance for auto repair shops to modernize their parts management process by adopting advanced tools and technologies to improve efficiency, accuracy, and overall shop performance.

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See how Metro Motor grew their average repair order to $800 across 19 shops with Tekmetric

Under the Lift: Stories from the Automotive Frontier (New Episode)

Shop Management

Modernize Your Auto Repair Parts Management Process With the Right Tools

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December 5, 2023

Read time: 1 min

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Managing Inventory with Pen and Paper

We hear it all the time: if it ain't broke, don't fix it! And sure, that might be true for your favorite recliner, but when it comes to running your shop like a well-oiled machine, there's some big room for improvement. Especially if you're relying on pen and paper.

And we get it, pen and paper requires very little training, can be completed offline, it's pretty cheap, and most importantly it's the way it’s always been done.

In reality, pen and paper records may seem inexpensive at first, but costs quickly add up:

The process is generally slow and requires managers to flip through multiple pages in a notebook or keep a long log of everything. If you need to audit a purchase, you'll be digging through pages manually.
Paper records are easily destroyed, lost, and damaged, and creating copies is a time-consuming task in and of itself.
Hand-writing! We all know it takes a nurse to read a doctor's handwriting, but what about a technician's or a shop owner's? Chances are, someone else might have a hard time reading your records. It might sound silly, but it’s a simple issue that can lead to huge problems.

Your shop has a lot of moving parts -- no pun intended. Tracking repair orders, contacting customers, and completing digital vehicle inspections, everything is so much easier with the right tools for the job. Especially when we're talking about tracking your shop's parts inventory.

Instead of hoping you wrote it down right or even at all, wouldn’t it be easier to track such items with a digital database?

Going digital, but not quite modern

We sometimes hear that shops have upgraded away from the really old school pen and paper methods to shop management tools the generally rely on spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are essentially very simplistic databases, and understandably, plenty of shops have been using spreadsheets for decades. Programs like Excel are a clear upgrade from a humble, physically maintained auto parts inventory management records system.

But ultimately, spreadsheets aren’t built with auto parts inventory management in mind or with auto workers in mind. It can be difficult to set up your own spreadsheet system, and there’s always the risk of human error or simply losing spreadsheets stored on a personal computer.

That's where a modern cloud-based system comes in.

Because everything is in the cloud, you never have to worry about duplicating your files, or losing access. In fact, you can gain access literally anywhere you have internet.

Modern Parts and Inventory Management with Shop Management Software

Shop management software can be automated and comes with pre-created templates and tables ready for the user to fill in.

With auto parts inventory management software, service writers don’t have to invent their own templates as they would with a spreadsheet records system, and the software does much of the record-keeping for them. Shop management systems like Tekmetric have portals specifically dedicated to parts inventory management.

If your old parts management system has your shop stuttering like a rusted-out pickup running on empty, systems like Tekmetric may be the perfect solution to get your team on track with an intuitive auto parts inventory management system built for teams just like yours.

Tekmetric lets you put together and track your parts orders, store information about vendors, monitor parts sales performance over time, and even put together and save special parts lists for jobs your shop completes on a regular basis

Upgrade Your Shop's Inventory Management

Maybe your team conducts a yearly deep dive into its inventory but only supplements this with brief monthly bookkeeping reviews and weekly maintenance checks. Or maybe your shop moves enough stock that staying on top of auto parts inventory management requires fastidious, day-to-day monitoring

In the former scenario, it is easy for stock problems to creep up on shop owners without anyone noticing for some time. For shops carrying more parts and conducting more frequent monitoring, the greatest challenge may be sorting a massive volume of parts.

Whether you run a shop that sells a lot of stock parts or makes more profit on labor, the one consistent way to gain control over the pace of parts inventory management is to use a program like Tekmetric.

A shop management software worth its salt centralizes information about what you have on your shelves and lets you update records fast.

👉 Ready to grow your automotive business? [Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here]

FAQ

It turns out that the shop owners, service writers, general managers, and technicians that rely on Tekmetric everyday chose us once again as the clear market leader on G2!

Okay, okay, we're sorry for another humble brag... But this is really more about you, the users than it is about us! If you're not familiar, G2 is a peer-to-peer review site. Users just like you can submit reviews and vote on the tools they use everyday, like Tekmetric.

Really, this is all thanks to all the amazing independent shops that do great work every day with Tekmetric. The shops that keep people's vehicles safe and reliable. The heroes that get their customers back on the road every single day!

We were just chosen because you all love us so much! 😳

But that's not all. Tekmetric was also chosen for how easy it is to get your shop up and running!

Most Implementable Fall 2023
Most Implementable Small Business Fall 2023
Fastest Implementation Fall 2023
Momentum Leader Fall 2023
Leader Fall 2023

We totally get it, the last thing you want is to have to pause everything you're doing and let the bills pile up, just to relearn how to run your own shop.

That's why we make it as easy as possible, handling all the heavy lifting so your shop can sit back, relax, and hit the ground running right away!

That kind of makes sense, considering Tekmetric was chosen as one of the easiest shop management systems to do business with.

Leader Fall 2023
Easiest To Do Business With Fall 2023
Easiest To Do Business With Small Business Fall 2023

Tekmetric comes from shop owners, advisors, technicians, and managers just like you. We live, breathe, and execute innovation, the kind of innovation your shops need to get even more value out of the work that shops like yours already do!

We're always working hard to make Tekmetric even better!

Thank you! Thank you for partnering with us, and thank you for helping us create the best possible solution for running an independent auto repair shop!

We're excited to be awarded and regarded so highly, and we strive to keep that level of excellence and support at every step in your shop.

Tekmetric is always being updated, and we’ll never stop working with and supporting shops to help them run efficiently and with fewer headaches, so you can focus on doing what you love!

Tekmetric Community

Tekmetric Named Leader 9 Times in G2's 2023 Fall Spotlight

May 16, 2024

Read time: 2 min

Maximizing Auto Repair Shop Customer Service: A Guide to Selling Maintenance Work

Training service advisors how to properly sell maintenance work can create more loyal customers.

Drivers typically come in with an expectation of what's wrong with their car, which can make it tricky to sell maintenance work. Drivers might think you're trying to squeeze more money out of them, or may simply have a set budget in their mind and don’t plan on spending extra.

In reality, you're simply trying to go above and beyond and provide them the best service possible. So how do you show that , and which tools will help you transform the way you sell maintenance?

Here’s how to build customer trust while staying true to your auto repair shop’s mission of providing optimal maintenance recommendations.

Why Selling Maintenance Work Can Be a Challenge for Auto Repair Shop Customer Service

According to a survey conducted by AAA, 76% of U.S. drivers said that recommending unnecessary services was the top reason they do not trust auto repair shops. The survey also points out that ⅔ of U.S. drivers have managed to find an auto repair shop that they trust. Whether it’s an independent auto repair shop, or a chain repair shop, trust needs to be at the forefront of the customer experience.

Service advisors may be hesitant to sell maintenance work and only focus on the problem at hand because they don’t want to come off as pushy. But not recommending maintenance work can be a disservice to customers who deserve to know about any and all issues with their vehicle, not just the ones they’ve noticed themselves.

Add a Maintenance-Focused Inspection and Sales Process to Your Auto Repair Shop Customer Service Routine

When it comes to selling routine vehicle maintenance work, it’s important to remember that routine check ups will make a big difference on customer’s cars. Similar to the human body, cars are complex systems. Just like the body has a heart, nervous system, and organs, cars have the engine, the vehicle bus, and the control unit. If one problem is ignored, that could lead to more issues, possibly more serious than the last. For example, if a driver puts off replacing their brakes, it could damage the car’s rotors, which in turn, could lead to loss of braking power. This gets us back to one of the most important benefits of selling maintenance work: it helps your customers stay safe and get as many miles out of their car as possible.

Benefits to Selling Maintenance Work

1.Regular maintenance makes your customers’ lives easier. It prevents your customers from ending up on the side of the road and prolongs their vehicles’ lifespans.
2.Customers save money. Maintenance work can prevent car issues from getting out-of-hand, which may lead to spending more on larger repairs in the future. And who doesn’t want to address maintenance work before it becomes a much larger expense?
3.Providing maintenance inspections helps shops sell more work, which usually means higher ROs and a more profitable repair shop. Also, because maintenance work helps your customers’ vehicles last longer, they’re less likely to buy a new car, which they’ll probably get repaired at the dealership during the first few years.
4.Maintenance inspections help you queue up more work for the future. Even if they decline the maintenance work, you now have a relationship. You can track those declined jobs, and the service advisor and technician can save time figuring out what all might be wrong with the vehicle and resell that work.
5.Customers trust you more. When you provide reliable insights into your customer’s vehicles, your like their go-to car whisperer—a trustworthy person who reminds them to check stuff out on their vehicle before anything bad happens

Maintenance by Mileage

Shop owners, we recommend training your service advisors to check customer mileage at each visit and tracking it in your shop's auto repair shop customer service notes. By keeping track of customer mileage on each vehicle, you’ll be able to recommend maintenance work based on how many miles it has been since their last visit.


Mileage	Recommended Car Maintenance
Every 3,000 - 7,000 Miles	Replace oil and oil filters, inspect various fluid levels and wipers, check tires and lights
Every 15,000 miles	Replace air filter
Every 20,000 miles	Inspect battery and coolant levels
Every 30,000 miless	Replace power steering fluid, inspect coolant levels, brake pads, and suspension components, check radiator hoses and HVAC system
Every 35,000 miless	Inspect and replace the battery
Every 40,000 miless	Replace spark plugs and wires, inspect ignition system and suspension
Every 60,000 miless	Replace brake pads and fluid, inspect radiator hoses, timing belt, HVAC system, suspension components, and tires, check coolant levels, and power steering fluid levels

Mileage aside, a thorough digital vehicle inspection of all vehicle’s essential components should be performed regularly.

Thought Leadership

Maximizing Auto Repair Shop Customer Service: A Guide to Selling Maintenance Work

March 29, 2024

Read time: 4 min

Digital Vehicle Inspection software enables auto repair shops to go beyond a traditional paper system for inspections and repair order estimates.

Customers have become accustomed to a digital experience every time they shop, and having their car fixed is no different. Auto repair shops need to update their processes to meet those expectations. When look specifically at auto repair shops, there are even more opportunities to go digital beyond receipts.

Printed estimates may seem like a professional way to present work to customers. But the problem is that paper estimates don’t really show drivers what’s wrong with their vehicles.

The result? Customers approve a small sliver of work, or worse, go to another auto repair shop for a second opinion.

Digital vehicle inspections not only save time and paper but also build trust and enhance the customer experience. Not to mention, they help sell larger repairs and increase customer loyalty.