Auto repair shops
Estimates approved, work orders tracked, invoices paid at pickup
Dispatch gives an independent shop one place for every vehicle in the bays: the estimate, the approval, the tech's hours, the parts and the invoice. The customer approves the work online, and pays when they pick up the car.
The car is on the hoist. The work order is on the counter.
The job is on a paper work order, the bay schedule is on the whiteboard, and the parts prices are in a spreadsheet. The customer approved the brakes on the phone, but nobody wrote down which brakes or at what price.
Then the tech finds a leaking line and the shop calls, texts, and waits. At pickup someone rebuilds the bill from the work order and the parts receipts, and the hours the tech actually spent never get compared with what was charged.
How Dispatch handles it
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The vehicle on every job
Add the VIN, odometer, plate or unit number as fields on the job, and choose which ones print on the invoice. Filter your jobs by VIN to find past work on the same vehicle.
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Labour, parts and shop fees from your catalog
Shop rate, diagnostic fee, parts and shop supplies go on the job as line items. Hours take decimals, so 1.5 hours of labour bills as 1.5 hours.
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Estimates approved online
Send the estimate as a PDF with a link. The customer accepts or declines it online, and an accepted estimate becomes the job with every line filled in. Found more work? Send a revised version for approval.
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Techs work from a link
Techs open their jobs on their phone or the shop computer. They run the timer, add photos of worn parts, write notes and mark the job done. Nothing to install.
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Paid at the counter or from the email
Build the invoice from the finished job, with GST and PST applied item by item as you set them. The customer pays by card from the emailed link, or you record debit, cash or e-transfer at the counter.
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Hours worked against hours billed
Job profitability and billed-versus-worked reports show which jobs earned what they should and where tech time went unbilled.
How it works
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Write it up
Enter the customer, the VIN and the complaint. Your shop rate and parts prices fill in from the catalog.
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Get the approval
Send the estimate. The customer approves it online and it becomes the job.
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Do the work
The tech runs the timer, adds photos and notes, and marks the job done.
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Paid at pickup
Approve the job, send the invoice, and take payment by card from the link or at the counter.
Fair questions.
Can Dispatch decode a VIN or look up parts?
No. The VIN is a field you fill in on the job. Dispatch does not decode VINs, look up parts or order from suppliers. Parts go on the job as line items at the price you charge.
Does it track parts inventory?
Not today. Parts are recorded on the job and the invoice, not counted in stock. If inventory is a must for your shop, tell us on the demo call.
Can we see what we did on a car last time?
Yes. Each customer's record lists their jobs, estimates and invoices, and you can filter jobs by VIN or any other text field you add. Dispatch does not pull service history from outside your shop.
Do our techs need to install anything?
No. They open their jobs from a link on their phone or on the shop computer. That is the whole setup.
Is Dispatch our accounting software?
No. Your books stay where they are. Dispatch exports invoices to QuickBooks Desktop today, with QuickBooks Online and Xero coming soon.
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See it yourself.
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