Project description
TranslatedI have a small auto repair shop and I'm drowning in paperwork. Every car that comes in, every estimate I give to a customer, every job I split between two mechanics ends up on a notepad or a sticky note, and by the end of the week I can't tell which work orders are still open and how many unbilled labor hours are sitting on the lift. I need a proper web application that runs the shop from start to finish: from the moment a customer books a vehicle until I print the final invoice and take payment. It should open in a browser at the front desk and on a tablet in the bay, no software installation needed.
The foundation is a vehicle and a work order. I need a customer card with vehicles linked to it, where each vehicle stores the make, model, year, license plate, VIN and mileage history so that when a regular customer returns I can pull up their car and see everything we've ever done to it. From the vehicle I open a work order, describe the complaint and build an estimate line by line: labor with labor hours and my shop rate plus parts with quantity and price. The estimate becomes a proposal for the customer, and after approval I assign the work to a mechanic, track it by status — in progress and complete — and turn the closed work order into an invoice with tax and totals. Please keep the focus on the auto shop: I don't need a universal warehouse system or bloated sales CRM, I need good vehicles, work orders and estimates.
What matters most to me is speed at the desk and numbers I can trust. Searching by license plate or phone number should be instant, an estimate should come together in a couple of minutes and totals should always match. If you've already built software for auto shops or garages, tell me how you handle parts pricing and the transition from estimate to invoice.
— Customer and vehicle cards: multiple cars per customer, VIN, license plate, mileage history
— Work orders with complaint, statuses (open, approved, in progress, complete) and mechanic assignment
— Line-item estimates: labor by hours and rate, parts by quantity and price
— Estimate approval and conversion to invoice with tax and totals
— Fast search by plate or phone, estimate and invoice printing, tablet-friendly bay view
The foundation is a vehicle and a work order. I need a customer card with vehicles linked to it, where each vehicle stores the make, model, year, license plate, VIN and mileage history so that when a regular customer returns I can pull up their car and see everything we've ever done to it. From the vehicle I open a work order, describe the complaint and build an estimate line by line: labor with labor hours and my shop rate plus parts with quantity and price. The estimate becomes a proposal for the customer, and after approval I assign the work to a mechanic, track it by status — in progress and complete — and turn the closed work order into an invoice with tax and totals. Please keep the focus on the auto shop: I don't need a universal warehouse system or bloated sales CRM, I need good vehicles, work orders and estimates.
What matters most to me is speed at the desk and numbers I can trust. Searching by license plate or phone number should be instant, an estimate should come together in a couple of minutes and totals should always match. If you've already built software for auto shops or garages, tell me how you handle parts pricing and the transition from estimate to invoice.
— Customer and vehicle cards: multiple cars per customer, VIN, license plate, mileage history
— Work orders with complaint, statuses (open, approved, in progress, complete) and mechanic assignment
— Line-item estimates: labor by hours and rate, parts by quantity and price
— Estimate approval and conversion to invoice with tax and totals
— Fast search by plate or phone, estimate and invoice printing, tablet-friendly bay view
Web programming Cash, Bank transfer
