Customer accounts for garages and auto repair shops

How customer accounts work in a garage

A customer leaves the car and the job grows: first brake pads, then discs, then wheel alignment. Part is paid when the car is collected and the rest waits for payday. Taxi drivers, motorbike couriers, delivery vans and small company fleets bring in many jobs a month and settle at the end.

On the parts side, the dealer gives you credit and bills weekly or monthly. When a customer pays late, you pay the dealer out of your own pocket.

What usually goes wrong

• Which car? One person has two cars, a company has five; an entry without a plate does not say which job it was.
• “What is this part?” Customers want to see parts and labour separately; one lump sum creates doubt.
• Part payments: cash at pickup, a transfer later, the rest still open; hard to total on paper.
• Parts dealer account: parts for many jobs come from one account, and what you owe gets blurry.

Setting up garage accounts in Baki Fast

1. Add the customer with the plate next to the name, for example “Joseph Mwangi KDA 123B”, and the car model in the customer note. Search looks at names and entry notes, so typing the plate finds them straight away.
2. Write the job with item lines: “1 × front brake pads × 45”, “2 × disc × 60”, “1 × labour × 40”. Add the mileage to the entry note if you like.
3. Record what is paid at pickup as a payment; the remaining balance stays on the customer’s account.
4. For big jobs, split the rest into instalments or set a single due date.
5. For a fleet, make the company one customer and put each vehicle’s plate in the note of each job; send one statement at month end.
6. Add your parts dealer as a supplier and record purchases and payments. With Pro, attach a photo of the parts receipt to the entry.

A reminder for the remaining balance

With Pro you can put your own logo and bank details on statements, so a fleet’s accounts office sees where to pay without asking. To draft the message, try the payment reminder generator.