Challenges
The manual work this trade still runs on, what it costs, and what changes.
Estimates agreed over the phone, then disputed at delivery
- How it is done today
- A verbal quote or a handwritten slip, with approval by phone call
- Cost or risk
- Arguments over the bill and work done without consent
- With Finocket
- An estimate sent as a link that the customer approves or declines, then converted to the bill
Labour and parts billed by hand with GST worked out on a calculator
- How it is done today
- A carbon-copy bill book and a separate GST calculation
- Cost or risk
- Wrong tax on parts or labour, and slow billing at delivery
- With Finocket
- One GST invoice with labour as service lines and spares as goods lines, each with its own code
Spares run out, or sit unsold for years
- How it is done today
- Counting the shelf when a part is not found
- Cost or risk
- Vehicles held in the bay waiting for parts, and money stuck in dead stock
- With Finocket
- Spares inventory with part numbers, brands, the models each part fits, and low-stock alerts
Vehicle details retyped on every visit
- How it is done today
- Registration number and kilometres written on a job slip that is thrown away
- Cost or risk
- No record of what came in and when
- With Finocket
- Registration number, vehicle type, odometer reading and complaint on every estimate and bill. There is no per-vehicle history screen yet
Customers forget their next service
- How it is done today
- A sticker on the windscreen, if anything
- Cost or risk
- Lost repeat business to the next workshop
- With Finocket
- Record the next service date on the bill. Finocket does not send reminders from it automatically yet
Dealers track vehicle units in a register by chassis number
- How it is done today
- A stock register with chassis and engine numbers written in by hand
- Cost or risk
- A sold unit shows as in stock, or the wrong unit is invoiced
- With Finocket
- Each vehicle unit received and sold by its serial (chassis number)
Matching financier payouts to vehicle invoices by hand
- How it is done today
- Reading bank statements against a list of financed sales
- Cost or risk
- Unpaid balances go unnoticed
- With Finocket
- Bank reconciliation that matches receipts to the invoices they settle
Showroom, workshop and spares counter in one ledger
- How it is done today
- One cash book for everything
- Cost or risk
- No idea which part of the business makes money
- With Finocket
- Cost centres for showroom, workshop and spares
Fleet and corporate enquiries lost
- How it is done today
- Notes in a diary and on a personal phone
- Cost or risk
- Large orders lost to slow follow-up
- With Finocket
- A deal pipeline from first call to order
Year-end means a box of bill books for the CA
- How it is done today
- Handing over bill books and bank statements in March
- Cost or risk
- A costly close and late filings
- With Finocket
- Double-entry books all year and GST returns prepared from your bills