Features
The full repair workflow — intake to invoice — without a single paper form.
Built from the counter to the bay to the invoice. No bolt-ons, no per-seat licensing, no decade-old desktop interface.
The 3 C's
Complaint. Cause. Correction.
The industry-standard service writer framework — tracked structurally, not buried in free-text notes. Every customer concern is a first-class record that follows the vehicle from intake through the inspection, the estimate, and onto the printed invoice.
CA BAR requires the customer's stated concern on every invoice. We make that the starting point of the job, not an afterthought.
Complaint — captured verbatim
"Squeals when braking, especially in reverse." Stored exactly as the customer said it, plus a cleaned-up summary for the tech and any conditions ("cold start", ">40 mph").
Cause — linked to the finding
The tech opens the concern on the tablet, taps "Address," and creates an inspection finding — photos included. The concern flips to ADDRESSED automatically.
Correction — echoed to the customer
On the approval page and the printed invoice: "You told us …" with status pills. No more "what did you find about the thing I asked you to look at?"
Status options: Open, Addressed, Not reproduced, Needs info, Deferred, Declined (out of scope).
Digital Vehicle Inspection
The paper clipboard, retired.
Dark-themed, tablet-optimized, and designed around how a mechanic actually works — one hand on the flashlight, one on the tablet. Oversized tap targets. Photos inline. Concerns pinned at the top so the tech never forgets what the customer asked about.
- Per-shop templates. A 30-point courtesy check, a pre-purchase inspection, a brake-specific sheet — each shop defines their own. Shop admins edit the template; every tech uses the same one.
- Four-way condition rating. Green, yellow, red, not inspected. Optional measurement field ("3 mm pad thickness") and free-text notes.
- Photos everywhere. Capture from the tablet's camera straight into the finding. The customer sees the same photos the tech took.
- Concern-aware. One tap to Address, Can't reproduce, Needs info, Defer, or Reopen each customer concern.
- Findings, not just checklists. Real issues get priority levels (Safety / Recommended / Optional), estimated labor + parts, and flow straight into an estimate group.
- Save and resume. An inspection persists server-side as you go. Walk off to the parts counter, come back, pick up where you left off.
- Progress at a glance. Sticky header with vehicle, WO number, inspector, current mileage, and a live progress bar.
Customer Approvals
Approve or decline from the driveway.
Send a secure per-estimate link by text or email. No app to download, no login, no password. The customer sees what you found, what it costs, and decides line-by-line.
Grouped by priority
Safety, Recommended, Optional — in that order. Customers see the most important work first and can't miss a safety item.
Good / Better / Best tiers
Optional pricing tiers per group (e.g. OEM vs. aftermarket brake pads). The customer picks a tier before approving.
Safety declines acknowledged
If a customer declines a safety item, they must tick an acknowledgment box. Protects the shop and documents the decision.
One-click conversion
When the customer responds, the writer converts approved items into a live work order with one click. Declined items stay on record.
Notifications
Customers know where their car is.
Transactional SMS and email at the moments your customer actually wants to hear from you. No marketing, no upsell blasts — the platform is built to refuse them. Every message starts with your shop name so the customer knows who's texting.
- Inspection ready. The customer gets a secure link to review findings and photos while the tech writes up the estimate.
- Estimate ready to approve. One text with a per-estimate link. The writer sees when the customer opens it and when they respond.
- Vehicle ready for pickup. Includes your hours and a "call us" option.
- Appointment reminders. Day-before confirmations with a reply-C-to-confirm option.
- Opt-in consent tracked. Verbal, printed, or web — the channel and date are stored per customer. STOP and HELP replies handled automatically. Full policy on our SMS page.
Work Orders
A locked sequence, not a free-form status field.
Every work order moves through a defined sequence: estimate, work order, suspended, invoice, void. Every transition is logged with user, timestamp, and a before/after snapshot. Line items lock automatically when the work order becomes an invoice — no accidental edits after payment.
ESTIMATE ──► WORK_ORDER ──► INVOICE
│ │ ▲
│ ▼ │
│ SUSPENDED
│
└──────────────────────► VOID
- Canned jobs. Apply a "30k service" template in one click — parts and labor expand into real line items.
- Suspend with a reason. Waiting on a part? Waiting on the customer? Mark it and resume where you left off.
- Quick customer & vehicle intake. Brand-new customer? Add them without leaving the new-WO screen. Required fields enforce year + make + model + (plate or VIN).
- Activity log. Every change stamped with who, when, and what changed. Resolves disputes in minutes.
Invoicing & Payments
Print-ready, CA BAR-ready.
Shop letterhead, BAR number, toxic-waste number, frozen customer + vehicle snapshot, customer concerns printed above the line items, and a clean totals block. Press print.
- Six tender types. Cash, check, credit card, on account (charge), change due, other. Partial payments and split tenders supported per work order.
- Automatic totals. Subtotal, shop supplies, taxable amount, tax, grand total, paid, balance due — never do the math twice.
- Per-tenant invoice numbering. Your shop's sequence is yours. No gaps, no collisions with another tenant.
- End-of-day close-out. Cashier enters beginning and ending cash. The server totals payments by tender, computes expected vs. actual, and writes an audit record.
- No card numbers stored. Only last-4 on the receipt. Keeps you out of PCI scope.
Security
Customer data, properly locked down.
Every shop's data is isolated at the row level. Every login is rate-limited. Every write is audited. And every user can enable MFA in about sixty seconds.
Multi-factor authentication
TOTP (authenticator app) or SMS second factor. Ten single-use backup codes on enrollment.
Account lockout
5 failed attempts in 15 minutes triggers a 15-minute lock. Rate limits on every auth endpoint.
Per-tenant isolation
Every row carries a tenant ID. Every query is tenant-scoped. No cross-shop leaks, ever.
Audit trail
Every significant action logs user, timestamp, IP, and a before/after snapshot of changed fields.
Daily off-site backups
Full database dump nightly, rsync'd to an off-site storage box, 30-day retention. Uploads included.
Transport security
HTTPS with HSTS preload, HTTP/3, strict CSP, camera access restricted to the app itself.
Migration
Bring your history with you.
Our first shop came in with 5,251 customers and 7,634 vehicles from a twenty-year-old Access database. It all came across — names, phone numbers, VINs, service history, reference numbers. Your legacy data is not a reason to stay stuck.
- Customers migrated
- 5,251
- Vehicles migrated
- 7,634
- Vehicle-description parse rate
- 99.7%
- Legacy references preserved
- 100%
Migrations are scripted and idempotent. We support Microsoft Access (.mdb) out of the box and can build adapters for most shop-management exports. Re-runs skip records already imported — so you can migrate, keep using your old system, and re-run the day of cutover.
See it running on your shop's data.
A 30-minute demo on your own vehicle list. No sales theater.