Specialty and fast-service shops
Survive the changeover rush, and own the storage that follows it
Six weeks of the year decide your season. The shops that get through them are the ones where the booking, the vehicle and the set in the back are the same record.
- Client Julie Tremblay
- Vehicle 2019 Subaru Outback
- Season Winter
- Location Rack C, shelf 3
- Size 225/65R17
- Tread, in 32nds LF 7 - RF 7 - LR 4 - RR 4
- Last changeover reminder Sent Oct 14
The reminder does not book anything. The client still has to call or write back.
What gets in the way
Sound familiar?
- Changeover season books solid and the phone never stops long enough to book it.
- Whose tires are on which rack is a question with an expensive wrong answer.
- Every customer wants the same two Saturdays.
The tire year, in order
From the first snow to the set going home again, and what MecanoPro does at each step.
-
Autumn
The first snow is in the forecast
Set a winter recall date and a summer one, each by month and day. When the day comes, every set you are holding for that season is reminded by email, text or both, in the client's language, before they ever think to call.
- A set is reminded once per season, only while it is in storage, and only if it was stored before this year's date. All-Season sets are never reminded.
- It is off until a date is set and an administrator switches on the Tire changeover recalls task. It runs daily at 8:00.
- A client with email or texts switched off does not get that channel, and a client with nobody to write to is skipped.
-
The rush
Booking requests arrive faster than the phone can answer Growth and up
Your website takes the request any hour of the day, with the date, the time and the vehicle, and it lands on the schedule as pending. You approve it in a batch, choosing the bay, the technician and the time.
- A request is not a booking. Nothing is confirmed until someone on the team approves it, and the customer's first message says so.
- Times are limited by your business hours and by how far ahead you let customers book, from no limit to six months. The booking form asks for year, make and model.
- A bay holds one appointment at a time, so the schedule refuses a double-booking before you promise it.
-
The counter
The vehicle arrives and the set goes on the rack
Store a set from the work order, the quote or the invoice, against the client and the vehicle. It records what is on the rack, where it is, and what condition it was in the day it came in.
- Brand, model, size, rear size for a staggered fit, quantity up to twelve, and whether it is mounted on steel or alloy rims.
- Tread in 32nds at each corner, and the manufacture year from the DOT code. Green at 6/32 and over, amber from 3, red under 3. These warn you ahead of the legal minimums; they do not state them.
- Tires more than six years old get a yellow banner. It is a prompt to look at them, not an order to replace them.
-
The bay
Wear at all four corners, written down Growth and up
Build the tire inspection you actually do. The tire field records wear at all four corners against a printed guide, beside the brakes at four corners, the odometer, and photos on any line.
- Up to five photos per line, and the finished inspection prints as a PDF in the panel's language.
- The inspection's tire guide uses its own scale (7/32, 3/32 and 2/32), separate from the colours on a stored set.
-
February
Whose set is on which rack?
The Tire Storage list opens on what is in storage. Filter by season, location, client, date stored, or tread at or under a number, and the set is found in seconds instead of by walking the racks.
- Locations are yours to name. Tiles count the sets in each, with an amber tile for the ones with no location set.
- A Lowest Tread column and a CSV export, with brand, model, size, manufacture year and the four tread readings.
- Anyone on the team can view and add sets. Locations and reminders are for administrators.
-
Pickup
The set goes home
Hand Back records the day and who collected it, from the client's contacts. The set leaves the In Storage list, and if it was a mistake, Undo Hand Back puts it back.
- Each season is a new record, so last winter's readings stay on file beside this winter's.
- A stored set is not stock. It is never sold or counted into inventory.
-
Spring
The sales you were leaving on the rack
Tire Storage reports show which sets are due for replacement, which are in storage the longest, and a Lowest Tread list that is, in the module's own words, the call list for tire sales.
- Due for replacement counts sets whose worst tire is under 3/32. Sets with no tread reading never appear in it.
- Work a customer declined is followed up on a date you set, and Quote Again turns it into a new quote in one step.
The parts of MecanoPro this shop uses
Each one is a real module, and each is explained on its own page.
Where it stops and you start
A rack of tires is a lot of promises. Here is what the software leaves to you.
-
Storage is recorded, not charged
MecanoPro knows where every set is and what shape it was in. It does not price storage or add a storage fee for you, and it has no barcode or tag printing. A tag number can go in the notes.
-
The reminder is a nudge, not a booking
It tells the client it is time. Booking is still the client's reply and your approval. A set stored after this year's recall date waits for next year, and a client with nobody to write to is skipped.
-
The colours are a warning, not a verdict
Green, amber and red on a stored set warn you ahead of the legal minimums. They do not state them, and the measurement is yours: a blank is not measured, which is different from zero.
-
Online booking is a request
Somebody on the team approves it before it is on the schedule. Answer the pending requests the same day: it is the one queue with a customer waiting at the other end.
Fill the rush before it starts
Book thirty minutes and we will walk through it on your own work orders. No pressure and nothing to sign.
See it running on your own work orders
Thirty minutes, at a time that suits the shop. We load a few of your real jobs in and you tell us where it would break.