Scheduling:

The heart of BodyShop Office is the Scheduler. It is borrowed from BodyShop Schedule Pro, the predecessor to BodyShop Office. Scheduling is done by using historical data collected by BodyShop Office. Cycle time is collected and then used to determine delivery dates. BodyShop Office automatically collects cycle time data when you close an appointment or repair order. It also collects data about the number of hours you produce each month and then uses that information to automatically determine how many hours you can schedule each week.

Improvements made to the scheduler in BodyShop Office include multi level cycle time that breaks repairs into 6 different classes depending on the number of hours in the repair. This greatly increases the accuracy or your delivery dates.

Another big improvement is the graphical cues that show you at glance your scheduling situation.

Repair Orders:

Your appointments are converted to repair orders and you can either manually set the RO number or have BodyShop Office automatically set the RO number for you. Once you have a repair order setup you can print authorization forms, create tow bills, supplements, parts invoices, paint and materials invoices, diminished value reports and final invoices.

Technician Time Tracking:

Enter your technicians time card information and track their performance. Enter their vacation time and days off to keep your schedule as accurate as possible.

Performance Tracking:

Closing appointments or repair orders saves financial data and cycle time. Run reports that tell you how your shop is doing financially. Insurance company reports tell you which insurance companies you are making money with and which insurance companies are bleeding you dry.

Estimate Writing:

For those smaller shops that can't afford one of those expensive computerized estimating systems, BodyShop Office has you covered. Use your estimating guides and the included estimate writer to produce professional looking, accurate estimates. The estimate writer saves all the line item descriptions that you enter so the next time you don't have to type it. The estimate writer also gives you the option of printing estimates in hours or dollars only. The estimate writer also works like my Dollars $ Sense software and allows you to import estimates from your estimating system and print a dollars only estimate. You can save multiple labor rate setups for different situations. Here is a sample estimate in Dollars only. Here is a sample estimate in Hours.

Supplement Helper:

An improved version of my Supplement Helper software is built in to BodyShop Office. Here is a sample Supplement.

Tow Bill Helper:

An improved version of my Tow Bill Helper software is built in to BodyShop Office. It is part of my C.I.A. Technology. Tow Bill Helper enables shops to make a profit on sublet towing when insurance companies don't want to pay a mark up on your sublet tows.

Parts Bill Helper:

My Insurance Company Friends, please follow this link.

Parts Bill Helper is a new concept. It is also part of my C.I.A. Technology. List prices set by parts manufacturers are "manufacturer suggested list prices." There is no law that says you can't charge more or less than the list price. The wholesale prices offered by some dealerships do not allow for much of a gross profit. And on many big ticket items, like air bags, have very little discount off the list price.

When closing a repair order and costing out the repair, sometimes you find the overall gross profit on the repair is too low to make a profit. Increasing the sale price on some or all of the parts should be an option you have to make a profit. But insurers think manufacturer pricing is the law, and they will want to see the dealer's invoice as proof of parts prices.

Insurance companies have no legal right to see any of your invoices from your suppliers. Imagine asking the manager of some store to see invoices showing his costs on some item you want to buy. The thought is ridiculous, but we have been handing over these private documents for decades. We can refuse to show the appraiser our invoices but the appraiser will probably refuse to pay for the parts.

Paint & Materials Calculator:

My new paint and materials calculator is part of my C.I.A. Technology, and it surpasses anything else currently available with respect to simplicity, ease of use and accuracy.

Until now there have only been two companies offering software for calculating and billing paint and materials. They are both a step above the archaic and flawed system of the common dollars per paint hour scheme. But they are both seriously flawed because they both use paint hours to determine the amount of materials used.

Insurance companies are pressuring data providers to lower paint times. They have been falling steadily for years despite increased difficulties with high tech paint systems. As paint times fall, so too does materials reimbursements. Paint costs are rising almost as fast as medical costs yet insurers continue to push for lower reimbursements.

BodyShop Office includes a paint and materials calculator that does not rely on paint time to determine paint costs. So even if insurers lower paint times, you can still accurately calculate a fair price to charge for materials.

Also, you can create a materials invoice with just a couple of mouse clicks. Just import your estimate into BodyShop Office and the software does all the work. View sample Materials Invoice.

There are no monthly or annual fees. But you do have to spend some time to do the initial setup. Once setup, you will only have to do a periodic price update. This is one of the most useful features of BodyShop Office, and it alone is worth the price of the software.

Diminished Value Calculator:

Until now, only a select few, those who spent many thousands of dollars on software and engaged in post repair inspection, had the ability to create diminished value reports. It was an elite niche frequented by only those willing to make the invested needed to get started.

Those days are gone now. BodyShop Office includes a complex yet very easy to use DV calculator. It is part of my C.I.A. Technology. It brings diminished value calculation to everyone who wants it. With an NADA price guide and my software you can create a diminished value report in minutes.

The software focuses on inherent, or psychological DV that occurs automatically any time a vehicle is wrecked, regardless of how well the vehicle is repaired. Ask anyone if they had a choice between two vehicles, identical in every conceivable way except one car was wrecked and repaired and the other wasn't, which car would they choose to buy if they were both the same price. It's a no brainer. Start dropping the price of the repaired vehicle and you'd eventually reach a price that would entice the buyer into choosing the wrecked car over the pristine vehicle.

That discount needed to sell the wrecked car is the inherent or psychological diminished value.

The other diminished value that is due to improper or incomplete repairs requires you to write an estimate to repair it. That estimate can be included in your report.

I spent a lot of time developing the formula used to calculate DV. After talking with car sales people, used car managers, new car managers, every day average people, and studying price guides I determined there was seven different methods that could be used to figure DV. None of them worked in all situations. I then took those seven methods and weighted them depending on criteria chosen by the software user to come up with what I feel is an accurate, reasonable and fair formula.

Explain diminished value to your customers and attach a report to your invoices. Use your DV report as leverage against an insurance company's abusive tactics. Prepare reports for attorneys to use in court cases. Prepare them for your sales department so they can determine fair trade-in values. Here is a sample DV Report.

Other Features:

• Automated reminders for parts ordering prior to an appointment, and personal reminders that can be set to pop up on all computers on the network or just on your computer.
• Color cues and highlights to help identify important facts about an appointment. For instance, you can highlight all appointments that need rental cars one color and appointments for estimates another color.
• Quick access notes. Any notes you enter into the appointment are quickly available by hovering your mouse over the appointment, which displays a pop up box containing the notes.
• Automated weekly available hours.
• Automated Repair Order generation.
• Automated Cycle Time data collection and use for delivery date settings.
• Automated EMS file management
• Security settings and password protected techincian information and financial data.
• Customer management page.
• Built-in electronic rolodex.
• Many time saving and keystroke saving programming so you can spend more time running your shop and less time typing and searching for information.
• Each page has a demo that takes the user step by step through each task.
• Attractive user interface.

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