The estimate is the last cheap moment in a repair. Before it is signed you can decline the job, change the parts, or price it properly; after the vehicle is on the lift and the parts are ordered, the margin is whatever it turned out to be. That makes estimate software worth judging on one question above all others: does it show you the gross profit while you can still act on it. This page covers that, the authorization trail that keeps an estimate from becoming a dispute, and the handoff to the invoice that decides whether the software saved you any time at all.
Show the margin while it can still change
An estimate that shows only the customer total is a quote, not a decision. Parts at cost with your markup, hours at your rate, sublet at its own smaller margin, and the gross profit as its own number. That last figure is what tells you a job priced at a discount for a good customer has quietly gone negative, which is a thing you want to learn before you agree to it rather than in a month end report. The free estimate builder on this site prints it for exactly that reason.
The authorization is the estimate's most important field
In several states a written estimate and authorization before work begins is a legal requirement, and exceeding the estimate without a further authorization is where shops get into trouble. Even where it is not required, it is the record that settles the argument. Good estimate software makes recording a mid job authorization faster than skipping it: a name, a time, an amount and what was approved. If it takes more than fifteen seconds, a busy shop will not do it.
The estimate has to become the invoice without retyping
This is the whole time saving and it is where products differ most. If the estimate is a document and the invoice is a separate document, you have bought a formatter. If the estimate becomes the repair order and the repair order becomes the invoice, with authorized additions carried through, you have bought a workflow. Ask any vendor to demonstrate exactly that path, on their data, and watch for the moment somebody types something twice.
Free estimating, and where it stops
The arithmetic is free here: parts, markup, hours, rate, sublet, supplies, tax, deposit and the gross profit, computed in your browser with nothing sent anywhere. What it does not do is remember the estimate, chase the ones nobody approved, or file it against the vehicle. Those are record jobs, and they are what Lugtorq Pro is for at $79 a month for the whole shop.
Questions people ask about mechanic estimate software
Should the estimate show parts at cost?
Internally, always. On the customer copy, no: show the sell price. The point of holding cost separately is that your own margin is visible to you at the moment you are deciding, not that the customer sees your buying.
How binding is an estimate?
That depends on your state and how the document is worded, and it is a question for your attorney rather than for this page. What is universally true is that an unexplained gap between the estimate and the invoice is the single most common cause of a repair complaint.
Do we estimate a diagnostic job?
Estimate the diagnosis, not the repair. Sell an hour of diagnostic time with a clear price and get that authorized, then estimate the repair from what you found. Guessing the whole job up front means either padding it or apologising for it.