Looking for garage owners to test out a light shop mgmt tool

[hlil]

Hi everyone - I’ve been working on a lightweight management tool.

I built this specifically for small independent shops and mobile techs who are stuck between two extremes: messy spreadsheets or overpriced, bloated enterprise software.

It’s a functional MVP, which means it's lean, fast, and I can actually customize features based on your specific feedback in real-time.

How it helps your day-to-day:

• Job Tracking: Track every repair from start to finish in one view - no more digging through rows of spreadsheets to see what’s done.
• Auto-History: Every vehicle’s service history is saved automatically as you go.
• Tech Assignment: See exactly who is working on what at a glance.
• Task Checklists: Create step-by-step scopes so nothing is missed.
• The Dashboard: A simple "Birds-eye view" of your shop's active work and metrics.

The Deal: I’m looking for a few shop owners or lead mechanics to put this to the test. Does the workflow make sense? What's the one feature you can't live without that I'm missing?

It is completely free to use while I’m in this feedback stage. In exchange, I just ask for your honest thoughts.

Interested? Drop a comment or shoot me a DM and I’ll send the link over.

Thanks!

[AlexGSi2000]

Just a thought - could you build in an OBD dongle whereby vehicle details are automatically populated into the system - IE, VIN, engine code, etc.
Therefore when you plug in it brings up the vehicle profile, or creates a new one.

[Type83]

I'd be interested to give it a try and feedback.

[hlil]

Hey thanks for the interest! New here so not sure exactly how it works but I added you as a mate, so maybe we can chat then?

[Type83]

hlil said:

Hey thanks for the interest! New here so not sure exactly how it works but I added you as a mate, so maybe we can chat then?

If you add an email address to your profile I can email you, alternatively you can email me and we can chat offline.

[voicey]

You need the ability to convert job cards into invoices - this is the most important aspect of our management tool. Car comes in, reception open a job card and populate with mileage, customer details, etc. Workshop load the job card with parts fitted and hours spent. Once the car is done, reception tidy up the job card, make sure all the parts are loaded and the hours match estimates, etc. Job card is then converted into an invoice in one click.

The second most useful thing for us is stock control. Parts are delivered, reception check the parts off against the invoice and load them into stock. The parts are then placed into the stores for later use. Or the parts added to a job card and placed into the vehicle to be fitted. The stock control part of our system allows us to notate the location of the parts (eg: which bin in the stores) which speeds up the workshop when checking to see if we have something in stock and allows them to find it easily.

The third most useful thing for us is the ability to customise reports. The most important thing I keep a close eye on is hours sold.

Personally, I am of the opinion that overviews and dashboards are a waste of time. The owner or workshop manager should know exactly what stage all the jobs are at and what techs are doing what. It would take an extremely large and busy workshop to need software to keep a track of the workflow. I own a medium sized specialist workshop and have 30 open job cards at the moment - I know exactly where each job is at.