Car repair shop software: bookings and spare parts

In a car repair shop the phone never stops ringing in spring and autumn. "Can I get my tyres changed tomorrow?" "How much will my service cost?" In between, you have to find out whether the filter is in stock, write down what went into which car, and put the invoices together in the evening. If appointments are on paper or in one program, parts in another and the tyre online store in a third, none of them knows what the others are doing.

What workshops say most often

• "In tyre-change season half the day goes on the phone, not on the cars."
• "I think there are two filters, but the shelf is empty — and the car is already on the lift."
• "The customer came in for a service last year, but we can't remember which car it was."
• "We sell tyres and oils online, but the online store's stock level is never right."

Appointments online, not on the phone

The bookings module in NUNDINAE lets customers pick a free slot themselves. A service has a duration and buffer time, and alongside the mechanics the calendar includes rooms and equipment — in a workshop, a lift or a tyre-change bay, for example. Double bookings are impossible in the system, so two cars can't end up in the same slot.

When a customer phones, you book them in through the admin and the confirmation with a calendar file goes out immediately. The confirmation email has a "manage booking" link where the customer can cancel the appointment themselves. When a slot frees up, the system offers it to someone on the waiting list. For a lunch break or a meeting you simply block the time.

Each mechanic can, if they want, get an email at 6 pm the evening before with the next day's jobs.

The vehicle on the client card

You can add your own fields to the client card — and one of the ready-made examples is vehicle. So the card holds the contact details, the car's details, visit history and notes. When the customer rings a year later, it's all in one place, not in a notebook.

The client card warning is visible next to the booking and at the till — a good place for a note about anything you need to remember with this customer.

Spare parts and consumables with a barcode scanner

The workshop stockroom is where money disappears most quietly. In NUNDINAE it works like this:

• Receiving: the supplier's box arrives, you press "Receive goods (scanner)" and scan each part. Every beep adds one unit, and unknown codes stay on the list in red.
• Check before the job: scan a part on any admin page and instantly see its name, price and remaining stock. If there are fewer on the shelf, correct the quantity there and then — the change is logged with your name and the time.
• Parts on the invoice: at the end of the visit you open the booking invoice and scan the parts used onto it. Exactly that quantity comes off the stock.
• Oil in litres: quantities can be fractional. If the price and stock level are in the same unit, 4.5 litres goes on the invoice and 4.5 litres comes off the stock.
• Fixed consumption: if a service always uses the same item, you attach it to the service and it comes off the stock when the job is marked as done.
• Running low: the dashboard shows low-stock alerts, and you get a supplier order sheet by brand, as CSV for Excel.

Any USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner that works as a keyboard will do; on a phone you can use the camera. More in inventory management with a barcode scanner.

An online store for tyres, oils and accessories

This is where NUNDINAE's biggest advantage comes in: the online store and the stock are one application. The tyre you sell online is the same tyre you put on an invoice in the workshop. When the last set goes in the workshop, it disappears from the online store at the same moment. You don't have to buy two programs or integrate them.

In the online store, products can have variants (size, for example), each with its own price, EAN and stock level. Payments go through Montonio (bank links, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay) or by bank transfer, and delivery is priced by country, weight and order value.

The shop assistant can turn what a customer says into a product search. In its guidance you write examples from your own field — "my car squeals when I brake" → "brake pads" — and the assistant recommends only products in stock. For a more complicated problem it suggests booking an appointment. More on this in an AI shopping assistant for your online store.

A reminder so the customer comes back

The automated messages module sends a repeat-visit reminder based on the service interval, if the customer hasn't booked a new appointment themselves. After the visit it can ask for feedback with a review link. Marketing messages go only to customers who have given consent, by email or SMS.

How to make the switch

1. Customers and history come from CSV (from the old program or Excel) with column mapping — vehicle details can go into a client card field.
2. Spare parts get their EAN codes in bulk from the supplier's price list (SKU;EAN).
3. Stock levels come from a stocktake CSV.
4. Online store products come across from your old online store; I redirect the old addresses.

I do the migration and setup myself. If you'd like to see how this works across your workshop's day, order NUNDINAE or ask for a demo.