Digital platforms have an essential role to play in the modern workshop. We asked some of the leading providers of software solutions to offer their advice to garages looking to beat the dealers at their own game.
Bringing together customers and workshops
ClickMechanic updates the traditional repair quoting process by automatically generating price quotes based on the vehicle’s make and model, along with the customer’s location. This not only streamlines the quoting process but also ensures consistent and fair pricing, benefiting both garages and customers alike. The platform further simplifies operations by streamlining the booking process through an easy-to-use online website. Standout features include handling all admin, payment, and customer service tasks. This allows garages to devote their full attention to car repairs, covering everything from customer interactions to invoicing seamlessly.
ClickMechanic also facilitates customer feedback and reputation management, helping garages build a strong reputation and efficiently address any concerns. The platform also plays a crucial role in expanding a garage’s market reach, connecting them with a wider customer base actively seeking car repair services.
Streamline the workday
Garage Hive can significantly enhance the efficiency and operations of a busy workshop. The award-winning, communitydriven garage management software allows garage owners and technicians to manage workflows with ease.
“At the heart of Garage Hive is an intuitive service schedule,” said Ray Dilsons, Managing Director of Garage Hive. “Acting as a central hub for all workshop activities, it provides instant access to essential information such as bookings, workload, and staff availability.”
Designed to be efficient even under pressure, creating and managing job sheets is a straightforward process in Garage Hive. Checklists and vehicle health checks, mean technicians can perform inspections and provide updates as work progresses. Garage Hive notifications, meanwhile, ensure front-of-house staff are kept updated of pending checklists, promoting timely approval and action.
“It’s about streamlining the entire process,” said Ray. “Garage Hive ensures a smooth flow of information, allowing for prompt customer communication and approval processes.”
Garages can customise items, descriptions, and categories, as well as import supplier part numbers, adding flexibility and convenience to inventory management. It also supports the creation of default labour lines and categories. It means job sheets are automatically populated with predefined data, particularly beneficial for fixed-priced servicing.
Reducing downtime
In a world of advancing technology, digitisation in the automotive industry has well and truly landed. Whether it’s EVs, diagnostics or a garage management system, today’s workshops should embrace new software and digital platforms to stay ahead of the game and ensure the most efficient daily operations.
As a forward-thinking garage management software company, TechMan built its system from the ground up, using its real-time frustrations and knowledge to identify suitable digital solutions to assist technicians, thus creating a digital platform that enables garages and workshops to gain a tighter grip on the day-to-day running of a modern workshop.
One of the main advantages of a garage management system is that it can help businesses to become more efficient. With real-time data available, workshops can monitor their operations and identify areas for improvement. This means that businesses can reduce downtime, improve productivity, and increase turnover.
Another advantage of a garage management system is that it can help businesses to provide a better customer experience. With electronic job cards and EVHCs, workshops can provide customers with a detailed breakdown of the work that has been done on their vehicle. Additionally, customers can receive updates on the progress of their vehicle and be alerted when it is ready for collection.
Operations Manager at CCM Garage, Tina Drayson, hails TechMan as something her workshop couldn’t function without. She comments: “Being digital and embracing new technologies has allowed us, as a business, to be able to track and measure data that enables us to be more efficient, improve productivity, generate more turnover, provide a better customer experience, and have better consistency across all of our sites.”
Diagnostics support, dealer style
The backbone of any modern workshop is robust technical support. With comprehensive online resources and guides, technicians can access a wealth of information at their fingertips. For more pressing issues, a dedicated hotline can offer real-time problemsolving, ensuring minimal downtime in a workshop’s operations. Moreover, a proactive approach to software management, including remote updates, keeps workshops’ diagnostics systems up-to-date and ready to use at all times. At Maverick Diagnostics, we have partnered with Grup Eina, which has access to almost two million known fixes and an expert helpdesk that could save technicians hours of labour.
In the heart of the modern toolbox lies a selection of OEM tools, crucial for precise and efficient diagnostics and repairs. These tools are continually updated with the latest software, ensuring compatibility with new vehicle models and technologies. This fusion of precision and technology is what sets independent workshops equipped with dealer tooling apart. These are professional tools made to be used at dealerships and provide the best-supported functions for the specific brand. We provide these diagnostic tools to independent workshops, to provide the same capabilities as the main dealers.
