While the other guys lock features behind $400/month paywalls, Shop Commander gives you everything — every feature, every module, every user — for nothing. Built by a shop owner who got tired of writing checks to software companies.
The single biggest ARO booster in any shop. Techs inspect on a tablet, customers approve on their phone. Shops using DVIs consistently see 20-30% higher average repair orders.
Every inspection item gets a color-coded status. Customers instantly understand what's urgent, what's coming, and what's fine.
Annotate photos with arrows, circles, and text. Attach video clips of the problem. Show don't tell — it builds trust and sells work honestly.
Tech writes "serp belt cracked bad needs replacement." AI rewrites it as "Your serpentine belt is cracked and should be replaced to prevent a breakdown." Professional, every time.
The inspection app works without WiFi. Your tech completes the full inspection in the bay, and it syncs automatically when the tablet reconnects. No dead zones.
Customer receives the inspection via SMS, reviews findings with photos, and approves work with a single tap and digital signature. No phone tag needed.
See when the customer opened the inspection, how long they looked, and which items they clicked on. Know who's engaged before you follow up.
From any inspection finding, one tap creates a line item on the estimate with the correct canned job, labor, and parts. Finding to revenue in seconds.
Customizable templates by vehicle type — oil change inspection, full multi-point, pre-purchase, seasonal. Create your own or use the built-in library.
Real texting inside every repair order. Not a third-party add-on. Not a $300/month upgrade. Built directly into the platform from day one.
Customers text back and you see it instantly inside the RO. Full threaded conversation history. No personal phones, no missed messages.
Vehicle received, inspection ready, estimate sent, work approved, ready for pickup — each status change auto-texts the customer. Zero effort from your team.
Send photos and video clips directly via text message. Show the customer the cracked belt from the bay without them needing to open a link.
Pre-written message templates for every scenario — appointment reminders, estimate follow-ups, pickup notices, seasonal promos. Customize or create your own.
SMS sends a link to the estimate. Customer reviews line items, taps approve, signs digitally. Authorization captured and timestamped in the RO.
Invoice goes out by text. Customer taps, pays with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or card. Money in your account. No terminal needed, no chasing checks. Powered by Stripe Connect.
See every vehicle, every job, every tech — at a glance. Drag-and-drop Kanban board that tracks the entire repair lifecycle from check-in to checkout.
Visual drag-and-drop board with customizable columns. Color-coded by status, filterable by tech, sortable by promise time. Your whole shop on one screen.
QR check-in → received → inspection → estimate → approval → in-progress → QC → ready → invoice → review request. Every step tracked and timed.
Assign jobs to techs, track clock-in/clock-out per RO, measure efficiency against book time. Know exactly who did what and how long it took.
Customer scans a QR code, fills in their info on their phone, and a new RO is started automatically. No clipboard, no data entry, no waiting.
Set promised completion times. The system alerts your service writer when a job is at risk of missing its promise. No more angry "where's my car" calls.
Visualize which bays are occupied, which are free, and which jobs are queued for which bay. Optimize your physical space alongside your workflow.
The average shop has $50,000+ in declined work sitting in their system. Shop Commander automatically chases it down and brings it back.
Every declined job gets automatic SMS follow-ups at 30, 60, and 90 days. AI writes personalized messages based on the original finding, vehicle, and season.
Visual dashboard showing all declined work by customer, value, age, and status. See your total pipeline and recovery rate at a glance. Know exactly how much money is on the table.
Customer clicks the follow-up link, reviews the original recommendation with photos, and books an appointment — all without calling the shop.
Track recovery rate, recovered revenue, average time to recovery, and which follow-up interval converts best. Prove the ROI in real numbers.
Pre-built marketing campaigns that fire automatically based on season, vehicle data, and service history. Plus a Google review pipeline that actually works.
Rust proofing (fall), tire swap reminders (spring/fall), AC service (summer), battery checks (winter), coolant flush — all pre-built and ready to go.
Campaigns target the right customers automatically. Tire swap reminders go to customers with stored tires. AC campaigns go to vehicles with 2+ year old AC service. No manual list building.
3 days after pickup, happy customers automatically get a text asking for a Google review. The system detects satisfaction signals and only asks customers likely to leave 5 stars.
See exactly how many appointments, how much revenue, and what ROI each campaign generated. Kill what doesn't work, double down on what does.
Professional estimates in 60 seconds. Digital approvals. Clean invoices with HST. Payment tracking and export to QuickBooks.
Pre-built service templates with labor times, parts lists, and descriptions. Oil change, brake job, timing belt — one click to add to any RO. Build your own or use the defaults.
Based on vehicle make, model, mileage, and service history, AI suggests likely needed services. "2019 Civic at 90K — recommend spark plugs, transmission fluid, brake fluid flush."
Customers sign estimates and invoices digitally via their phone. Timestamped, stored, and attached to the RO. No paper, no disputes.
Professional branded PDFs for estimates, invoices, and inspection reports. Auto-emailed, auto-archived. Your logo, your colors, your shop's identity.
Canadian tax handling built in. HST on labor and parts, tax-exempt items, PST/GST for other provinces. Not an afterthought — it's the default.
Export invoices in QuickBooks-compatible format. CSV, JSON, or direct integration. Keep your bookkeeper happy without double-entry.
Track what you have, know what you need, and order it fast. Parts management that keeps jobs moving.
Part number, quantity on hand, quantity reserved, reorder point, cost, sell price, location, and category. Full stock management for shops that carry parts.
One screen showing all parts needed across all active ROs, grouped by vendor. Generate a single order list per supplier instead of calling for each job.
Create POs, send to vendors, receive partial or full shipments, auto-update part status on repair orders. Full PO lifecycle tracking.
Dashboard card showing all items below reorder point. Never run out of oil filters or brake pads again. Set thresholds per item.
Free VIN decoding. Complete service history. Customer profiles with communication preferences and lifetime value tracking.
130+ vehicle attributes decoded instantly from VIN. Year, make, model, engine, transmission, trim, drive type, and more. No per-lookup fees. Ever.
Every RO, every inspection, every declined job — all linked to the vehicle. Pull up any car and see its entire life story at your shop.
Based on mileage, service history, and manufacturer intervals, AI flags upcoming maintenance needs. Proactive service recommendations generated automatically.
Contact info, communication preferences, all vehicles, lifetime spend, visit frequency, average ticket, preferred tech. Know your customer before they walk in.
Track stored tire sets with location, tread depth, DOT codes, and seasonal swap notifications. Automated reminders when swap season hits.
Track loaner vehicles with digital check-out agreements, mileage logging, fuel level, damage notes, and return tracking. No paper forms.
Real-time dashboards and reports that tell you exactly how your shop is performing — and where the money is hiding.
Daily, weekly, monthly revenue with trend lines. Compare periods. Spot patterns. Know if this Tuesday is better or worse than last Tuesday.
Track ARO over time by service writer, by job type, by day of week. The single most important metric for shop profitability.
Billed hours vs. clock hours per tech. Efficiency percentage, jobs completed, comeback rate. Know who's producing and who needs coaching.
Inspection completion rate, customer view rate, approval rate, average findings per inspection. Measure the effectiveness of your inspection process.
Track parts cost vs. sell price across all jobs. Identify margin leaks, compare markup by category, optimize pricing matrix.
Visit frequency, lapsed customers, new vs. returning ratio, lifetime value trends. Know who's coming back and who you're losing.
Run multiple locations from one account. Complete data isolation between shops with centralized admin controls.
Each location's data is completely separate. No mixing of customer records, vehicles, or financial data between shops. Clean and organized.
Each location gets its own logo, colors, Twilio number, business hours, tax rates, and settings. White-labeled per tenant.
Owner, manager, service writer, technician — each role sees only what they need. Granular permissions per user per shop.
Owners with multiple locations can view consolidated reports across all shops or drill down into individual location performance.
The tools your shop already depends on, wired directly into the workflow. No extra tabs, no double entry.
Card-present terminals and text-to-pay links built into every invoice. Customers pay how they want. You get paid faster. Fully embedded, not a redirect to some third-party checkout.
Invoices export in QuickBooks-compatible format. CSV or direct sync. Your bookkeeper never has to touch Shop Commander — they just see clean data in QBO like always.
Search 30,000+ supplier locations for parts and tires from inside the repair order. Real-time pricing, availability, and one-click ordering. No switching tabs, no phone calls.
Pull vehicle history reports directly from the RO. Service history, accident records, and ownership data right where your service writer needs it.
Free unlimited VIN decoding. 130+ vehicle attributes. Active recall alerts flagged automatically during check-in. No per-lookup fees.
Customer can't swing the full repair today? Offer installment financing at checkout. They get the work done, you get paid in full upfront. Approval takes 30 seconds.
Everything below is included free. Here's what the other guys charge for the same features.
| Feature | What They Charge | Shop Commander |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Vehicle Inspections | Shopmonkey: $292/mo tier required | $0 |
| Two-Way SMS | Tekmetric: $439/mo tier required | $0 |
| CRM & Marketing Campaigns | Shopmonkey: $315/mo add-on | $0 |
| Declined Job Follow-Ups | Tekmetric: Marketing add-on required | $0 |
| Tire Management | Tekmetric: $39/mo add-on | $0 |
| Additional Users | Shopmonkey: $20/mo per user | $0 |
| Website & SEO | Shop-Ware: $999/mo tier required | $0 |
| AI Note Cleanup | Nobody else offers this | $0 |
| Seasonal Tire Storage Tracking | Nobody else offers this | $0 |
| Loaner Vehicle Management | Nobody else offers this | $0 |
Verified feature comparison. We checked their pricing pages so you don't have to.
| Feature | Shop Commander | Shopmonkey | Tekmetric | Shop-Ware |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $0 | $179-475 | $199-439 | $249-999 |
| Unlimited Users | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Digital Vehicle Inspections | ✓ | Tier 2+ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Two-Way SMS | ✓ | ✓ | Tier 3 | Tier 2+ |
| AI Note Cleanup | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI Job Suggestions | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Automated Declined Job Follow-Up | ✓ | ✗ | Add-on | ✗ |
| Seasonal Campaigns | ✓ | $315/mo add-on | Marketing add-on | $999 tier |
| Google Review Pipeline | ✓ | $315/mo add-on | Marketing add-on | $999 tier |
| Offline Inspections | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free VIN Decode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Seasonal Tire Storage Tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Loaner Management | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Text-to-Pay | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Embedded Payment Processing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Buy Now Pay Later | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Parts Ordering Integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-Shop | ✓ | Custom | Enterprise | ✓ |