Garage software ROI

Time saved on admin

Job card → invoice

Writing a paper job card then rewriting it as an invoice takes 10–15 minutes per job. A digital job card that converts to an invoice in one click takes under a minute. At 10 jobs per day, that's 1.5–2.5 hours saved daily, or 30–50 hours per month.

If your labour rate is £60/hour, those hours are worth £1,800–£3,000/month in productive time.

DVLA lookups

Phoning or looking up vehicle details manually adds 2–3 minutes per vehicle. An instant DVLA lookup by registration takes seconds. At 10 vehicles per day, that's 3–5 hours per month.

Revenue from online booking

Garages with online booking fill more slots, especially evening and weekend bookings that come in while the garage is closed. Even 2–3 extra bookings per week at an average job value of £150 is £300–£450 in additional weekly revenue, or £1,200–£1,800/month.

A separate booking website costs £500–£3,000 to build and £50–£150/month to host and maintain. Garegi includes it.

Fewer no-shows

Automated SMS reminders reduce no-shows by 30–50%. If you lose 2 bookings per week to no-shows at £150 average, that's £300/week or £1,200/month in recovered revenue.

Customer retention

Automated MOT and service reminders bring customers back who would otherwise go elsewhere. Even retaining 5 additional customers per month at £150 average job value is £750/month.

Total estimated return

• Admin time saved: £1,800–£3,000/month
• Online booking revenue: £1,200–£1,800/month
• Recovered no-show revenue: ~£1,200/month
• Retained customers: ~£750/month
• Total: £4,950–£6,750/month

Against a £200/month investment, that's a 25–34x return. Even if you only achieve a fraction of these numbers, the ROI is significant.

Hidden costs to watch for

Not all systems cost £200/month flat. Some add per-user charges, credit systems for SMS and DVLA, setup fees and website costs. Always calculate total first-year cost, not just the headline monthly price.

Total cost comparison