Buy a shop system and you have bought the middle of it. The pieces that make it actually work in a bay tend to arrive later, with their own price, their own login and their own support number. Here is where those sit.
No claim about what any one company charges — that changes, and it depends what you sign. This is about where the pieces live.
| The piece | How it usually arrives | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Digital inspections | A separate product, often per shop per month, sometimes from a different company. | IncludedPhotos and video, straight to the client's phone. |
| Texting clients | A messaging package, priced per shop or per message. | IncludedTwo-way, tied to the ticket and the vehicle. |
| The scheduler and CRM | Frequently a bundle you add on top of the base system. | IncludedThe calendar, the board and client follow-up. |
| A tech app | A second product, or the same website squeezed onto a tablet. | IncludedIts own app, built for a tablet in a bay. |
| Accounting | A monthly bridge that copies your numbers into accounting software. | IncludedReal books inside the system. No bridge, no copy. |
| Reporting | A higher tier, or an analytics add-on. | IncludedAnd every number opens to the work behind it. |
| Loaner cars | Usually a spreadsheet, or nothing. | IncludedWho has what, since when, what it costs. |
| Phone calls | A separate phone system nobody joins up to the tickets. | IncludedMissed calls and promised callbacks become work. |
| Multi-shop and MSO | An enterprise tier, quoted separately — and often a bolted-on screen over software written for one location. | IncludedMulti-shop from the first table. One shop or two hundred, rolled up by region, consolidated books, no ceiling. |
| Team messaging | A separate chat app that knows nothing about the cars. | IncludedAttached to the vehicle you are talking about. |
| Call review | A coaching service, or nobody listens to the calls at all. | IncludedDid the car come in, and was the whole job sold. |
| ASE prep and training | A training subscription, bought per teammate. | IncludedPractice, scores, and who is ready to sit it. |
| Certifications and CE hours | A spreadsheet, until one lapses. | IncludedTracked, with a warning before the date. |
| Coaching and reviews | A separate HR product, or a folder nobody opens. | IncludedWhat was agreed, and whether it changed. |
| Special tools | A whiteboard and an argument. | IncludedWho has it, who owns it, how to ask for one. |
| Facilities | A text message to somebody who forgets. | IncludedWhat is broken, who was told, whether it got fixed. |
| Oil stickers | A separate little program on one back-office PC. | IncludedPrinted off the ticket with the right mileage. |