Grow your business with shop management software that builds consistent auto repair receipt templates and automatically updates invoices to receipts after payment.
Were you looking for a vendor to reorder carbon copy auto repair receipt templates when you found this blog? Maybe you’ve already spent a few hours at your computer, searching for the right auto repair receipt template. But none of the templates you’ve seen looks right for your shop. It’s hard to find a perfect fit. You need a template that is fast to fill, inexpensive, flexible enough to work for any sale, and easy for you and your customers to understand. That’s a tall order.
But all too often, standalone templates fail to meet the complex business needs of modern auto repair shops.
You have already made positive changes toward getting organized by searching for and maybe even trying out a variety of new templates. But what if you could save time and improve accuracy with a system that did all the work of writing and tracking receipts for you?
Think about how you currently find the information you need for your receipts and fill them out. Maybe you use carbon copies. Maybe you type the receipts out. But you’re probably getting the information from your invoices, which themselves reflect estimates. That’s three documents to write per customer, which can quickly add up to a lot of time spent on paperwork.
Auto repair shop management systems are capable of populating receipts with payment information and prices from estimates and invoices in seconds to create consistent receipts and a more positive customer experience.
We know that change can be hard, but it’s worth it.
Let’s analyze some of the ways your current auto repair receipt templates might be holding you back and how an auto repair shop management system can improve your customer experience, simplify work at the shop, and lead to more business growth for you and your team.
Five Ways an Auto Repair Receipt Template Can Restrict Business Growth
The costs of traditional auto repair receipt templates are substantial. Lost time filling out the receipts, time spent correcting any mistakes, and time spent trying to understand illegible receipts can all be costly. The price of printing so many receipts is not insubstantial either.
If you’ve been trying out different templates or found a new one that is working better than others that came before, your inclination toward improvement and a desire for a standardized receipt process is probably serving you well. But can you do better?
Auto repair receipt templates are intended to provide a single standard for recording sales and payment, but they usually leave a lot of room for misinterpretation, too. Regardless of what template you use, without a shop management system to help, you’re going to run into some common problems:
If each tech has their own way of filling in car shop receipts, uniformity goes out the window, and you may have to partially refund customers you overcharged. You may also find that you have lost money by undercharging for services when you check your books.
Whether your receipts are handwritten or you are typing them up and printing them out for the customer, you should have a way to store them. But as business picks up, you might find it challenging to keep all your paperwork organized and on file, which means chasing lots of misplaced copies when it comes time to look at your finances.
Poorly kept receipts can complicate refunds and offer little protection against chargebacks.
Business records are like the story of a sale. Receipts are the big finale. If your customer is making multiple payments but the auto repair receipt templates in Accounts Receivable aren’t consistent, there may be gaps in that story that you have to contact the customer to fill in.
Bottom line? When you rely on auto repair receipt templates, you might not catch all of the information needed, some of it may be inaccurate, and you and your shop will lose time and money.
How Automotive Repair Receipt Efficiency Leads to Success
Think about one of your regular customers for a second. What keeps that person coming back? Their customer loyalty probably has a lot to do with consistent experiences and excellent service. The last thing you say or do before they leave the shop likely leaves a positive impression, so the next time their vehicle needs repair work, you’re the first person they go to.
The exchange of a paid receipt is typically the last thing that happens before that customer drives off, so just imagine what it would mean for your business if you could elevate the way you create and issue your car shop receipts. And if the check out experience is smoother for your customers, that probably means things are smoother for you and your team behind the scenes, too. A modernized receipt experience could even contribute to business growth by building on your reputation and giving you more time to focus on maximizing profits.
Shop management systems are a great way to clean up your receipt process and let you leave the anachronistic carbon copy auto repair receipt templates and PDF templates where they belong—in the past.
Auto repair shop management systems like Tekmetric seamlessly move data throughout the repair process so that you aren’t always having to rewrite information. If you aren’t using a shop management system, you probably write out several documents over the course of one job: estimates, work orders, invoices, and receipts. When you get to the receipt, it might take five minutes to write the customer name, line items, car details, and dollar amounts on the invoice. You’ll also have to make a copy. Now multiply the time spent on one receipt by the number of cars repaired in a day. You may be spending hours just writing receipts every day! Moving to a shop management system can eliminate all that extra work and help you generate receipts and invoices in seconds.
You can simplify work for you and your team with a shop management system that relays information about what work is being done and pricing from one stage of the repair process to the next. A shop management system can populate each new invoice and receipt for you after you get approval for the jobs and labor required during the estimate phase.
With a shop management system, you can ensure that receipts are accurate, easy to search, stored in one location, and accessible to you and your service advisors from one central cloud-based location.
Again, we know that changing the way you do business can be hard, especially if you’ve been a shop owner for a while. But switching to an auto repair shop management system also means fewer nights staying late at the shop, more time for family, and more time to mentor and assist your team.
Four Ways that Shop Management Systems Accelerate Business for Auto Repair Shops
Shop management systems let you take a holistic approach to shop management. Auto repair receipt templates don’t stand alone in a vacuum. They are instead part of a larger process built around restoring order to your shop and helping your shop grow.
Shop management systems promote accountability. Digital authorizations hold your customers for paying your, and they hold your shop accountable for completing that work.
Tekmetric generates reports that help you make informed business decisions. Every sale and receipt provides more information for reports so that you can increase revenue and grow your profit margins.
Shop management systems create clean, legible receipts every time. Everyone’s handwriting is different. Service advisors have more important things to worry about than typos or whether or not customers can read their handwriting.
5 Ways Tekmetric Improves Auto Repair Receipt Templates
You’re the captain of your shop, and you put a lot of effort into making it a great place for your team and your customers. But expecting to find the path to growth with outdated tools is like looking for treasure with a torn up map. Fortunately, you can plot a true course to a better business when you replace auto repair receipt templates with a system that ties your processes together, generates clean invoices and receipts, and let’s you track growth in real time.
1. Provide More Options for Payment Collection
Once work on a car is completed, the estimate turns into an invoice that your guest can pay.
You can use the payment tab in Tekmtric to choose any method of payment you accept, including cash, check, or credit card.
If you use text-to-pay, you can text your customers a link that let’s them pay from their phone, even if they’re not at the shop. Many guests appreciate the convenience of paying on-the-go, which speeds up the process when they come to pick up their vehicle.
Customers want options when it’s time to pay, and with Tekmetric, you’ll give them just that.
2. Create Basic Payment Plans
If your guest wants to split their payment, you can use Tekmetric to handle multiple payments with ease.
In the Payment tab, you can select their preferred payment method then enter the required details, including the payment amount. Unpaid amounts are also reflected in Accounts Receivable, so you can see a quick report of what is owed at any given time.
When the customer is ready to make another payment, you can go into the Accounts Receivable report and collect either partial or the full amount of remaining charges. You will see all update information clearly reflected on the Invoice and Receipt.
3. Instantly Go From Invoice to Receipt
No matter how and when your customers pay, the date, method, and amount are all reflected on the final invoice. A paid invoice becomes a receipt for your records and your guests’ records.
You won’t have to tediously copy the information over from one document to another, potentially introducing errors. You can send the automotive repair receipt by text or email, or even print out a copy if requested. Never worry about losing one of these receipts!
With Tekmetric, you can access or print them on demand if you need to. And it’s all stored safely in your system.
4. Minimize Disputes and Keep Customers Happy
If you’ve ever received a chargeback notice, you know exactly how frustrating and costly they can be.
While a chargeback is intended to counteract fraudulent use of a person’s credit card, sometimes a guest gets their bank statement and doesn’t remember what the payment was for and thinks that it was stolen.
Your best protection against such charges is to use an Address Verification System (AVS) that compares the zip code entered to the billing address zip code attached to the credit card. Tekmetric’s payment integration, Tekmerchant, includes AVS on each transaction. It also protects you from someone using a card fraudulently by declining charges when the AVS doesn’t match. With AVS in place, the bank will likely redirect your guest to talk directly to you about their dispute.
When you use manually written estimates and receipts, errors can happen and you might end up in a situation where your guest’s estimate doesn’t match the final charge on their bank statement.
If you used a manually written mechanic shop receipt, you will need to track down the original paperwork. Unfortunately, if you have misplaced the invoice and receipt, or they don’t match, you may have to give a full or partial refund to your guest. These situations can erode trust in your business. After all, if you can’t keep accurate records, what else is getting missed?
With Tekmetric, every step of the process is transparent to the guest. The initial estimate requires their digital authorization, but so do any other changes to their repair work as they come up. There are no unpleasant surprises when your guest comes to pick up their car and pay for it.
With Tekmetric, the estimate, invoice, final receipt, and credit card charge will all match.
When your guest returns for more repairs, Tekmetric shines with accurate records showing the guest’s name, their car information, what services were rendered, and even who worked on their vehicle.
5. Refund with Ease
While it’s unlikely that you would need to give a refund on services already received, occasionally a guest will be unhappy with the service provided and you may need to issue a partial or complete refund in order to resolve a dispute.
You can easily access the original order with Tekmetric to initiate the refund process. Using the Payment tab, click on the sub-menu (the three dots) on the Completed Transaction in question and select Refund. Enter the refund amount and the credit card information and hit apply. You will see the result reflected on the new car shop receipt.
6. Permanently Store Records
If you or your guest ever has a concern or question about services provided, payment information, or even which mechanic worked on their vehicle, you can easily access this information and more on Tekmetric by looking up your guest’s name. Every transaction and service is linked to the guest and the specific vehicle, so your service advisors are always equipped to always provide an amazing customer experience.
Ready to Replace Your Auto Repair Receipt Template?
You’re a leader in your industry just for seeking out new knowledge and ideas like the information in this blog. If you choose a shop management system like Tekmetric and ditch old auto repair receipt template practices that are likely holding you back, you’ll set up an excellent framework to take your company wherever your dreams are leading you.
When customers see how simple and well-designed your new receipts are, it will reassure them that they made the right choice in choosing your shop. And when customer confidence increases, so do your referral and return rates.
You’re likely to find yourself accepting more jobs as you leverage Tekmetric to improve organization and customer service at the shop, and that means more receipts, leading to more detailed reports. You can use Tekmetric’s real-time reports to stay informed, guide your decisions, and grow your business.
