Rankings / Bay Versus Van
Quick lube software assumes the car comes to you, and a mobile oil change goes to the car, so a bay system leaves the route, the phone, the signal and the booking map to you. The table below sets each assumption beside what a van needs, with Droptop, LubeSoft and PM Attendant's own published facts and Mobile Service Sync's in every row.
Each row is one of the ten scored criteria. The cells come from each vendor's own pages, linked, and a row where the bay systems already do what a van needs is marked as one.
| The job | A bay system assumes | A van needs | What the three bay systems publish | Mobile Service Sync |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The day's orderRoute optimization | Cars arrive and queue at the door, so the order of work is whoever pulled in first. | Stops in drive order before the van leaves, because the drive is the one cost a bay never pays. | Included One click orders each tech's day on real drive times, on every plan | |
| The screenTechnician app on iPhone and Android | A computer at the counter or a podium in the bay, with a browser open all day. | A native app on the tech's iPhone or Android that carries the whole stop. | Included Native iPhone and Android app, on every plan | |
| The connectionWorks with no signal | The building has internet, so the software can take it for granted. | A way to finish the job in an apartment garage or on a county road with no bars. | Included Status, inspections with photos, completion, line items, cash and check and the clock all work offline and sync later | |
| BookingOnline booking that respects your area and capacity | The customer drives in, or picks a slot at the one address with bays to fill. | Bookings held to your service area, your hours and how many vans are out. | Included Hosted page or embed, gated by hours, service area and how many techs and vans are working | |
| StockStock counted per van | One stockroom per store, counted at the store. | Oil and filters counted in each van, since each van is its own stockroom. | Included Counted per van and per shop, deducted when the job closes | |
| Talking to the customerTwo-way texting | The customer is in the waiting room, so a text only has to say the car is ready or due. | A two-way thread, since the customer is at work or indoors when the van pulls up. | Included Two-way, with photos; 1,000 texts a month on Core | |
| ReviewsAutomatic review requests | Reviews arrive on their own and get answered after they are posted. | A request after every job, because a van with no storefront is found through its reviews. | Included Google or Facebook request after every job, on every plan | |
| The vehicleVehicle records with plate or VIN lookup | Every car through the door is looked up by plate or VIN at the counter. | The same lookup, typed by the tech in the driveway or by the customer while booking. |
| Included Every job on a vehicle record; plate or VIN fills year, make, model, trim and engine on every plan |
| Fleet billingFleet accounts | Charge accounts for local fleets, billed on terms. | The same terms, plus fleet pricing and PO rules applied each time the fleet books. |
| Included Per-fleet pricing, PO rules and net 15 or 30 on every plan; fleet portal on Growth and Pro |
| Buying itPublished price, month to month, free trial | A store that will run the system for years can sit through a demo and sign a term. | A published price and a free trial with no card, so a first van can start this week. | Included $49/mo published, month to month, 14 days free with no card |
Shopmonkey and QuoteIQ sit outside the quick lube group, and each misses the van in a different way.
Repair shop software. It answers the screen and texting rows that the lube systems miss, with Shopmonkey for Techs on iPhone and Android and unlimited two-way SMS on its $239 Basic plan, but it names no routing, documents no offline mode, and sells booking as the $349 CRM Essentials add-on with no service area rule.
How Shopmonkey scores for a vanHome-service software that began in pressure washing. It answers the screen row on every plan from $29.99, but its site states no vehicle record, and route optimization and online booking wait for the $299.99 Elite plan.
How QuoteIQ scores for a vanMobile Service Sync answers every row from the van's side, and every answer is on the $49 Core plan, which covers one user and 20 jobs a month. Growth is $175 with unlimited jobs and two users, month to month, and the trial runs 14 days with no card.
It also keeps what bay software already does well: a plate or VIN fills in the vehicle, and fleets get their own pricing, PO rules and net terms. Read the full review, or see Mobile Service Sync for mobile oil change on its own site.