Shop-Ware - Avis

Customers love the presentation of pictures and recommended repairs as clean line items with totals. Get ready to increase ARO 50%

I wish there was more color for the user interface and ability to flag recommendations as “customer concern” “safety” and “maintenance”. As well as more in depth visuals for capacity in the workflow area. Like quickTrac shows how many hours are sold but waiting to be produced by individual technicians and the shop as a whole. I understand both of these are in the works.

Digital work board. I can check in on the business or help out where ever I have internet service.

1. I can not share an inspection with recommendations without sharing price at the same time. This has been a big concern of mine since day 1 and still not changed. Its frustrating because I am essentially not using the digital inspection to make any sales. I'm certain my ARO would increase with this feature.

2. I can not break down labor cost by technician. This is again frustrating because the labor cost is NOT ACCURATE on any one ticket or job on a given ticket. It's just not accurate.

The Digital inspections.
Communications with customers via text.

The program has many quirks that should be worked out before charging nearly $300 per month.

Shop-ware is still flexible since they are rigid like a RO Writer. They truly work to help their customers have success using the software. They are still young, so features are coming out still and some more abilities are being added. They have a ways to go on tires.

The inspections portion of the software is great. I think this is what attracted is at the start and keeps us happy every day we use it.

Overall they will work with you to get a product you want to use.

Doesn't not work well for tires. You must use Quickbooks and it's hard to "balance" at the end of the day to know you have the correct cash and credit cards.

The way they setup parts is difficult. There is no pricing matrix and parts all link to a main nomenclature. They works well in certain instances, but not well in others. Everything is a give and take. Overall you can work fast within the software.

- Ease of use
- Flexibility of the ENTIRE program
- Customer Support!!!

Sadly, the things that we did not care for have all been completely revamped and upgraded. Now we LOVE them!!! (Sorry)

Ease of use, inspections are part of the software, ability to access from anywhere, customer service from Shop Ware team, monthly improvements, built in time clock, customer facing interactions

lack of reporting, inventory control and transferring, lack of permissions for larger shops,

This software makes it so easy to communicate, advise and present service information with all my customers.

I honestly don't have any cons with this software

Workflow is simple and easy for new users to learn. 90% of everything you need is in a few screens. As an online system, we can move from computer to computer and everything is in sync. The database is an open design, no need to save work or changes. Customer's get easy to understand repair orders or estimates for approval via text or email.

Still needs some feature development to be on par with more robust systems.

Customer facing sms with powerful features to paint the value picture to your customers.

Weak on parts inventory management and editing control.

The ease of communication with the customer is amazing. It keeps the customer updated and approvals come in faster.

I would like to be able to customize the schedule and have “canned items” to post such as “off” “ out sick” etc.

THE BEST FEATURE IS THE CLOUD BASED ANY-WHERE ACCESSIBILITY.
NEXT WOULD BE THE REPORTS SECTION
NEXT WOULD BE THE SAVED CUSTOMER / VEHICLES
THOUGH LABOR INTENSIVE, PARTS INVENTORY / CONTROL IS COOL

I AM HAVING PROBLEMS IN THAT, (MAYBE I DON'T KNOW HOW), CANNED JOBS CAN NOT BE ENTERED PRIOR TO LOADING THEM INTO AN INVOICE 1ST......???

ECOMMERCE PARTS / CANNED PARTS.......HAVING AN EXTREMELY HIGH AMOUNT OF (MULTIPLE PARTS SOURCES), DIFFICULTIES ......HAVING TO LEAVE SHOPWARE TO OUTSOURCE PARTS. THEN COME BACK AND MANUALLY LOAD...OR CANNED A PART...

AND THE INABILITY TO (WHEN I ENTER A WRONG PAYMENT/DATE) ERASE AND CHANGE????

This program helped our shop move into this century with direct digital connectivity to clients and the work that is being recommended. It has improved our shop flow and we find we are providing better, more focused service because we have freed ourselves from the drudgery of old, not very workable software.

The inventory leaves much to be desired. In all fairness, I was told that it is not an inventory management program. But it would be helpful if it were better in this arena.

It has thoroughly considered every aspect of use for the customer and made it as all-encompassing as possible to include any customer scenario, parts ordering sync and customer communication.

There are so many extensive features, some that are fairly involved, a more extensive and thorough standard training would be welcomed to be more familiar with all the different processes and scenarios involved before using the program.

Ease of use from the digital inspection process & building estimates to the text to pay feature & text approval process we love what Shop-Ware offers. The customer support is always fast, friendly and helpful. Very client friendly, ease of use for clients is a plus. One system takes care of what we used to need 2 or 3 systems for.

Lack of ability to add text or symbols to photos, hard to navigate the initial approval process for clients, no texting options, cannot delete duplicated parts, cores being a separate part vs included in the same line.
Estimator hours could be improved by using a better estimator, the hours are off when compared to Alldata.

Easy to use, couldn't live without it. Love that it's cloud based. I can use it on my iPhone, iPad or MacBook.

Don't think I have a con on this software.

Complete a Repair Order in less than a minute from Customer coming in to signing the estimate
Visibility to everything going on in the shop
Quick financials by job or by individual services and recommendations, including GP on labor and parts
Solid inventory and parts purchasing management
Integrates easily and smoothly with Quickbooks
Ecom ordering systems lets me look at my suppliers' price and availability side by side
Open search routines - you don't have to flip around to different sections of the program to find something specific
Auto-populates parts from your inventory when doing estimates/recommendations
Do anything you need to from anywhere from any device. Good mobile implementation.

Scheduling system is standalone and doesn't work with other calendars (Google, etc.)
I'd like more automation/notification on parts needed

I am new to the Automotive Industry. Shop-Ware has made it so I can understand what I am doing on both sides, front and back side. Inputting customer information is a breeze, canned jobs are quick to make and find, integrated part systems are easy to use. Pulling financial information out of the backside and understanding what I am looking at makes it easy to get what our account needs and to do payroll every week.

Until we got used to the system, it was a little confusing, but their customer service was always able to walk us thru any questions we had. We still find things that we didn't know it could do. We handle sublets from other shops, so I wish we could combine repair orders so I would only have to charge the customer once for multiple vehicles instead of every time they picked up a car in a day. Would save both us and our customer on credit card fees. Was told this is in the works for an upgrade, so we shall see.

I love the silent communication between the service advisors and myself. I also love how willing the Shopware team is to accepting our input and ideas and implementing things we need.

The service advisors use at the VIN details and service specifications occasionally which I find inconsistently correct. You can rarely trust the engine code in the VIN details because it almost always picks the one that is first alphabetically. I have found that some of the fluid capacities are wrong as well.

My customers are very impressed with estimates when they arrive on line.
Very professional in appearance and easy to understand. They appreciate the pictures that accompany the estimate.
I also find this system to navigate easily.

The learning curve of this product is easy.
The Shop-Ware Team is constantly making improvements because they listen to their customers.
This product has grown and improved over the years. No complaints from my shop.
Only Praise!

Easy to write, edit and dispatch repair orders. Love that I can see customers entering repair orders.

Would like for 1 button email/text customers, space for additional contact numbers and be able to text all listed number is desired. When alerts come in I would like them to display on top of all open windows. Would like software that will let you operate on 2 monitors with limited functions on second monitor. When quoting repair parts I would like to be able to enter several parts from same vendor without having to start the process from the beginning for each part. Would like to see more information in vehicle history such as quoted/declined repairs and any service notes.

Everything. It's easy to use. Easy to train. Easy for the customer. Evolving.

The 1 and only thing I don't like right now is the RO numbers are sequential. We were using Auto Fluent before and it was kinda nice to have every invoice sequential. The quotes had their own number until they were converted to a RO.. but that's it. Other than that everything else seems great.

Communication, both with techs and customers.
I like the KPI numbers, very helpful for planning
Canned jobs are nice but they take some time and effort to get set up in useful manner
Scheduling is nice.

Too many "clicks" on some tasks...printing for example.
That dang box I have to constantly check so as to NOT send a copy to my customer when I start a job...please make that a preference.
Tires...need a solution for tire tax, etc

Very user friendly. Continue to develop new and exciting features.

Sometimes the labor estimator is not correct.

The package is easy and intuitive. My staff took to it like a duck to water. Techs realized a boost in efficency and more completed hours. Sales staff tells me "it just gets better every day". Customers tell me "The dealership does not anything like this"

I wish I had signed up sooner. There is nothing negative I can think of.

Being able to send photos to the customer adds transparency and increases RO. It shows we are trying to fix your car not just pad our wallets.

Being web based you need to make sure that you have good WFI and internet. Also good tablets with flashes