Auto repair shop software for your independent garage

Why an independent garage needs one connected workflow

An independent garage needs software because the same job passes through your calendar, reception desk, workshop and payment process. If you also answer the phone, a notebook can leave important details separated: the customer's complaint on one page, a parts note elsewhere and an approval remembered from a call. With several bays in use, the practical goal is not more administration. It is a clear record that you and your team can consult while work continues.

Junto puts bookings and the calendar, check-in, work orders, approvals, invoices and payments in one app. You can keep labour and part lines against the job instead of reconstructing the bill at collection. The mechanic's phone view makes the order available away from the front desk, while staff roles support different responsibilities. For a mixed-work garage handling imported used cars or vehicles with LPG/CNG conversions, recording the actual complaint and agreed work is more useful than relying on assumptions about the vehicle.

• Keep the appointment in the booking calendar.
• Record the vehicle's condition and the customer's complaint at arrival.
• Put labour and parts on the work order.
• Get a recorded decision before carrying out extra work.
• Create the invoice from approved lines and record payment.

Start the day with bookings and a documented check-in

Your day starts with the booking calendar and a check-in record that gives the workshop a clear starting point. Before the first arrival, review the day's appointments alongside the work already in progress. Your public booking page at <shop>.junto.ge gives customers another way to request a visit without calling your desk; the shop confirms online bookings. Treat those bookings as part of your working calendar, rather than leaving requests in a separate notebook that only you know how to interpret.

Junto check-in records mileage (never lower than the last reading), photos from each side, damage marks on a car diagram, the complaint in the customer's words and the customer's signature. At a busy reception desk, this gives you a concrete way to document what arrived and why. Ask the customer to describe when the symptom occurs, such as in Tbilisi traffic or on mountain roads, without turning their description into a diagnosis before the mechanic has checked the car.

Keep workshop work and extra approvals on the order

During the working day, the work order keeps the job's progress and customer decisions together. Work orders have seven statuses: checked in, in progress, waiting for approval, waiting for parts, ready, delivered and cancelled; every change is logged as an event. Use those states to distinguish a car that a mechanic is working on from one that cannot move forward yet. When you return to the desk after helping in a bay, check the order rather than asking everyone to reconstruct its latest position.

Extra work found during a job goes to the customer as an SMS link with the price (and often the mechanic's photo); the customer approves or declines each line, and the answer is saved in the order's history. That makes a lunchtime discovery a clear decision rather than a chain of missed calls. Your mechanic can use the phone view, and you can keep labour and part lines on the order. Explain what is proposed and wait for the customer's decision before treating additional work as agreed.

• Is the car being worked on, or is it waiting?
• Has the additional work been explained line by line?
• Which lines has the customer approved or declined?
• Does the recorded status reflect the job's current position?

Finish the day with invoices and recorded payments

At collection, you can turn the approved work into an invoice and record how the customer pays. An invoice is created from the order's approved lines with one button and prints on A4; payments can be cash, card or bank transfer, part payments and debts are tracked. This avoids building a fresh bill from handwritten notes while the customer waits. Review the invoice with them, keeping the conversation tied to the work they agreed to rather than a hurried explanation of an unfamiliar total.

Junto also supports online payments, and its reports give you another place to review the business beyond the notebook. Before closing, review jobs still waiting for approval or parts, check payment records and look ahead at the calendar. A vehicle being ready and its invoice being fully paid are different questions; make both part of your handover routine. When the owner also runs reception, a consistent closing check helps the next morning begin with recorded information instead of yesterday's unfinished conversations.

Give customers clear choices and a visible repair status

Customers notice clearer decisions and access to their repair's status, rather than the software behind your desk. They can see each proposed extra-work line with its price before work starts and follow the repair's status on their phone. That is useful when someone cannot answer a call during work or needs time to consider a proposal. SMS reminders also support communication around visits. Keep your explanations plain: describe the work you suggest without presenting a proposed repair as something the customer has already authorised.

Junto works in Georgian and English, in the browser on a computer or phone; customers get SMS in their language. A free car owner account keeps each car's service history, bookings and reminders, and can be shared with family. For your garage, this means the customer has somewhere to return to their records instead of depending only on a paper invoice. At handover, explain what was completed and what remains undecided; access to a record supports that conversation but does not replace it.

Start with a trial and move your working routine from paper

You can start with a trial and move your active workflow from paper or spreadsheets in manageable steps. Plans: Start 79 ₾ a month (1 branch, up to 3 bays, up to 5 staff), Pro 149 ₾ (unlimited bays and staff), Network 299 ₾ (2 branches, each extra branch +99 ₾); paying yearly costs 10 months; every plan has a 14-day free trial with 100 free SMS and no card needed. A garage with more than three bays should consider Pro rather than assuming Start covers its layout.

Begin by deciding which upcoming bookings and open jobs you need to enter, and keep older records available for reference. Do not assume that a spreadsheet or notebook will transfer automatically. During the trial, practise a complete job: booking, check-in, work order, approval, invoice and payment. Agree who records each step, especially when you leave reception to help a mechanic. SMS costs 0.04 ₾ per segment from a prepaid balance, so include messaging in your review of the routine as well as the plan.

Questions and answers