For auto garages

Auto garage software for labour, parts and jobs that run over days

A garage quotes one number but earns from two things: the hours its mechanics work and the mark-up on parts. Blended into a single figure, one of them is always subsidising the other and you cannot tell which.

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One quote, two different businesses

Ask a garage owner what he charges for labour and you usually get a pause. The quote was UGX 450,000 to fix it, the parts came to UGX 380,000, and the labour worked out at UGX 70,000 for a day and a half. Nobody decided that.

Parts and labour behave nothing alike. Parts tie up cash and carry a mark-up of maybe a quarter. Labour costs nothing to hold, is almost all margin, and is capped by how many mechanics and bays you have. Grow parts turnover without touching the labour rate and you get busier, not richer.

PesaScope records the two as separate lines on one job. The service line is the work; parts leave stock at what you paid. The mark-up is visible per job, not at year end.

How a garage runs a job

  1. Open the job against the customerName, phone, and the registration in the job notes. Everything that car has had done before sits on that customer's history.
  2. Put labour and parts on separate lines'Clutch replacement, two days' is a service you price. The clutch kit, the plate and the oil are products that leave stock at cost.
  3. Buy in what you do not stockA part fetched from a dealer for one job goes in as a purchase, so the money that left the tin is counted against it.
  4. Take what they pay when the car goesFull, half, or nothing today. Whatever is short becomes a balance against the customer, so a released car is not a forgotten debt.

What a garage sets up first

Pick "Auto garage / workshop" at sign-up and this list is already there. Labour jobs on one side, the parts and fluids you keep on the other.

Full service, small car Engine overhaul Clutch replacement Suspension & steering work Brake pads & discs fitting Engine oil (4L) Oil & air filters Brake fluid & coolant

Name the labour jobs you do every week and price them. A named labour line is the only thing whose rate ever gets reviewed.

A month, with labour and parts separated

Labour billed across 74 jobsUGX 9,250,000
Parts billed to customersUGX 12,400,000
Diagnostics & inspections × 31UGX 930,000
Parts bought in− UGX 9,300,000
Mechanics' wages and job shares− UGX 5,600,000
Rent, power, welding gas, consumables− UGX 1,850,000
Kept this monthUGX 5,830,000

Parts were more than half the turnover and returned UGX 3,100,000 on UGX 9,300,000 of cash tied up. Labour returned UGX 3,650,000 and tied up nothing. The side of the yard that feels smallest earns most.

No job cards, no clocked hours

PesaScope does not track time. No clock-in for mechanics, no hours-worked total, no labour price worked out from minutes. You set the labour line yourself, the way you quote it at the gate.

There is also no vehicle register. A car lives as a registration in the job notes under its owner. Search the customer and you get every job that car has had, which is what a yard needs when someone asks what you charged last time.

And there is no booking diary. Cars arrive when they arrive. The app is for what follows: what was done, what it cost, what was charged, and what is still owed.

Where a garage's money leaks

  1. Cars released before paymentIt happens most weeks and is forgotten by Friday. The balance stays against the customer until cleared, and the debtors list is a two-minute read.
  2. Parts bought with the mechanic's own moneyLeft unrecorded, the job looks more profitable than it was — until he asks for it back. Record the purchase the day it is made.
  3. Oil and consumables never billedHalf a litre here, a can of brake cleaner there. Held as stock, the shortfall turns up at the count instead of evaporating.
  4. Jobs quoted from memoryWhat you charged for the same work last month is on the customer's history. Quoting from memory is how a rate stays flat while parts prices double.

Read further

Recording a jobLabour and parts on one service record. Parts & fluidsCost price, counts and reorder levels. Who owes youCars released unpaid, and your supplier bills. Customer historyEvery job that car has had, and a statement.

Questions garage owners ask

Can I keep a record per vehicle?

Not as its own record — there is no vehicle register. A car lives as a registration in the job notes under its owner, whose profile shows every job.

Does it track how long a mechanic spent on a job?

No. There is no time tracking and no clock-in. You set the labour price yourself when you record the job.

How do I handle a job that runs over three days?

Record it when the car leaves, with the parts and labour as they turned out. If the customer pays only part, the rest sits as a balance against them.

Can I see labour and parts separately?

Yes — that is the point of separate lines. Reports show what labour earned and what the parts trade earned over any period.

What about a part I buy for one job and do not stock?

Record it as a purchase. The cash that went out is then counted in the same month as the money that came in for that job.

Can mechanics record their own jobs?

Yes, and each job is tagged to whoever did it. Reports and profit figures can stay with the owner.

Does it work without internet in the workshop?

It runs on a phone, but the main app needs a connection to record. The separate POS till app is the one that keeps working offline and syncs later.

Set it up in about three minutes

Pick your trade at sign-up and PesaScope loads your starting list for you. Change any price, add what's missing, and record your first sale the same day.

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