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Mobile mechanic software

Mobile Mechanic Software, Built by Mobile Mechanics

Quotes, signed approvals, parts, manuals, texting, invoices and payment, all on the phone in your pocket. We built it inside our own mobile shop, we run on it every day, and you can start on it free.

Start free. No card.See it workTalk to us first

Free plan, not a trial. No card. We look at every new shop ourselves and switch it on, usually the same day.

A Chrysler 200 with the hood up in a Hemet driveway, a mobile repair in progress
A Shop Desk job card on a phone, with the technician and advisor steps
A driveway job in Hemet, and the job card the tech works from. Customers on screen are invented.
The whole job

The Quote, the Yes, the Work, the Money. In the Driveway.

A mobile mechanic does the counter's job and the tech's job from the same phone, usually with dirty hands. So the desk is built around one loop and makes each step a single screen.

The customer gets the quote on their phone with your photos on it. They tap yes and sign. The job will not start until they have, which is how a comeback stays a record and not an argument. When the work is done, the invoice is built from what they approved, so the total they agreed to is the total they pay.

  1. Quote at the car

    Price it off your own labor rate and your real parts cost, with photos on each line.

  2. Get the yes

    One page on their phone. They tap yes and sign. The time is kept.

  3. Do the work

    The ten step walk on your phone, from the arrival photo to the finished job.

  4. Get paid

    The invoice comes from the approved quote. Payment closes the job.

Real screens from our own shop. Names and plates are changed. Watch it on YouTube.

The phone

The Call You Miss at Six Is the Job You Lose by Eight

You cannot answer the phone with an impact gun in your hand. On Pro, when a call rings out, the desk texts that caller back within minutes and asks the two questions you would have asked. What is it doing, and what is the vehicle?

It only texts inside your shop hours, in your time zone. It sends one follow up five minutes later if they go quiet, and never a third. It stops the moment a person replies, and it never quotes a price nobody approved. Customer texts can relay to your cell, and your reply goes back out on the shop line, so your personal number stays yours.

A Supercanic mechanic's gloved hands working in an engine bay
Both hands busy. The phone rings anyway.
Your day

Today's Jobs, the Map and the Way There

Every job is marked Mobile or In the shop, so a crew that does both can see which is which at a glance. Today's jobs sit on a map by town, and every job has a navigate link that opens the directions on your phone.

The schedule shows the day, the week or the month, with the car and the customer already on each booking. For a one van shop that is the dispatch board. For a bigger crew, the job card has a step for who is going.

  • Mobile or In the shop on every job
  • Today's jobs on a map, by town, never an exact address
  • A navigate link on every job
The Shop Desk schedule with the week's jobs
The schedule, in day, week and month views.
At the car

Look It Up Without Leaving the Job

Paste the VIN and press decode, and the year, make and model fill in from the federal vehicle database. Pick the car and the desk pulls its open recalls and owner complaints, then opens the manual sources for it.

The repair AI answers in plain words. Ask what causes a code on this exact engine, what to check first, or how long the job should take. It suggests a labor time and you accept it or change it. It is a suggestion, never a price.

Labor guides are links to your own account. ProDemand and ALLDATA open from inside the job, but you need your own subscription. We do not resell them.

A Supercanic mechanic running a block test on a coolant reservoir
A block test on a call in San Jacinto.
Parts

Your Counter First. Not Whatever Is Cheapest Online.

Your suppliers sit on the Parts screen in the order you ring them, each with its phone number and your account number. A counter that answers and has the part beats a cheaper one that does not, and only your shop knows that order.

The desk does not search a parts catalog or place orders yet. You call or order the way you do now, put your real cost on the line, and your markup bands turn it into the customer's price. It remembers what you paid last time, so the next quote prices itself.

The customer

They Follow the Job From Their Driveway

One text opens their page. No app and no password. They see the stage the job is at, the photos your tech took, the price before the work starts and the receipt after. They can approve, sign and pay from the same link.

There is a fleet version too, with every van and every job on one page for the office manager. Both are live demos with invented customers: the customer page and the fleet page.

Shop Desk invoices on a phone, paid by cash, card or check
Invoices on a phone. Paid ones close their own job.
The money

Bill It, Get Paid, Pay the Techs

The invoice is built from the job that was approved. Payment closes the job on its own, so nothing sits finished and unbilled unless you let it. Cash, check and transfer are recorded the same way a card is.

Payroll runs off the same jobs. Flat rate, hourly or commission, per technician, figured from the work that actually went out the door. Parts deposits are tracked on their own, so a deposit never quietly pays somebody commission.

Card payments run on your own payment gateway. That takes a short setup call with us. The desk refuses to bill a card against another shop's merchant account on purpose, because the alternative is money landing in the wrong place.

Start free. No card.See it workTalk to us first
What it costs

Free to Start. Pro Is $149 a Month.

Most mobile mechanics start free and move to Pro when they want their own texting number and the text back. Nobody takes a card at sign up.

Free

$0

Forever. Not a trial, and no card at sign up.

  • The job board, quotes and the technician walk
  • Quotes the customer approves and signs on their phone
  • Digital inspections and the photo hub
  • The customer page, with no app and no password
  • VIN decode, recall lookups and the repair AI

Start free

Pro

$149

A month. A little under $5 a day.

  • Everything in Free
  • Your own texting number, set up by us
  • Missed call text back and the follow up texts
  • Invoicing and payroll on flat rate, hourly or commission
  • Card payments on your own gateway, after a short setup call

Start on Pro

Prices read from our own sign up page on 3 October 2026. Cancel at the end of any month. Cash, check and transfer can always be recorded against an invoice. Taking cards needs your shop on its own payment gateway, which is a short call with us, so it does not happen on day one.

Compared

What a One Van Shop Needs, and What It Does Not

The big systems are good software built for shops with bays, advisors and a counter. They price that way too. Here is how they line up for one van, from their own pricing pages on 3 October 2026.

Shop DeskTekmetricShopmonkeyAutoLeap
Lowest monthly price$0 free plan. Pro $149$199 Start ($179 on annual)$239 Basic ($215 on annual)$199 Essentials ($179 on annual)
Free plan or trialFree plan, no cardDemos, not free trialsNot stated on the pricing pageNo free trial
Setup or migration feeNoneNone stated$500 data migrationOne time setup fee, amount not published
Missed call text backYes, on ProNot advertised on the pages readNot advertised on the pages readAI receptionist add on from $99 a month
Parts ordering inside the appNo, not yetYesYesYes
Mobile mechanic pageBuilt by mobile mechanicsNo dedicated page foundYesYes

Read from each company's own website on 3 October 2026. Prices change, so check theirs before you decide. Full comparisons: Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, AutoLeap.

Running the van

Guides for the Business Side of Mobile Repair

The software is half of it. These guides come from running our own mobile crew in Southern California.

  • How to Start a Mobile Mechanic Business

    How to start a mobile mechanic business in the order that saves money. Paperwork, insurance, tools, prices and software for day one.

  • Mobile Mechanic Business Plan

    A mobile mechanic business plan you can fill in tonight. The seven sections, the numbers, and a worked example of break even jobs a week.

  • How Much to Charge as a Mobile Mechanic

    What a mobile mechanic charges, from a working mobile shop's own price list. Call out fees, labor rates, common jobs, and your own rate.

  • Free Mobile Mechanic Invoice Template

    A free mechanic invoice template. Fill it in here, then print it or save a PDF. Labor, parts, call out fee and tax. Nothing is sent anywhere.

  • Auto Repair Invoice Software

    Invoice software for small and mobile auto repair shops. Built from the signed quote, paid from a link, unpaid ones on one screen.

  • Best Apps for Mobile Mechanics

    The apps a mobile mechanic needs on the phone, from a working mobile shop. Quoting, invoicing, texting, maps, manuals and photos, and which can be one app.

Before you sign up

Two Things We Will Not Oversell

Labor guides are links to your own account. Shop Desk opens ProDemand and ALLDATA from inside the job, but they are portals you log into, not a feed we resell.

You cannot take cards on day one. Card payments need your shop on its own payment gateway, and that is a short setup call with us rather than a checkbox. There is also no route optimization, GPS tracking or offline mode yet. If your van works where there is no signal, the desk shows a No signal card and waits.

Start free. No card.See it workTalk to us first
Questions

Questions Mobile Mechanics Ask

What is the best software for a mobile mechanic?
Software that works one handed on a phone in a driveway. It should send a quote the customer can approve and sign from a text, keep photos on the job, build the invoice from what was approved, and text back the calls you miss while you are under a car. Shop Desk was built by mobile mechanics to do exactly that, and the free plan costs nothing.
Is there free mobile mechanic software?
Yes. Shop Desk has a free plan that is not a trial, and no card is taken at sign up. Pro is $149 a month and adds your own texting number, the missed call text back, invoicing, payroll and card payments.
Can I take payment at the car?
Yes. The customer pays from the same link that showed them the quote, and cash, check and transfer are recorded too. Taking cards needs your own payment gateway, which we set up with you on a short call, so it is not available on day one.
Does it do routing and dispatch?
Partly. Every job is marked Mobile or In the shop, today's jobs show on a map by town, and every job has a navigate link. There is no route optimization or GPS tracking yet, and we will not pretend there is.
Does it work without signal?
No. Shop Desk runs in the browser and needs a connection. When there is no signal it shows a No signal card. If you often work where there is no coverage, that matters, and we would rather you know now.
Is there an app in the App Store?
Not yet. It installs to your home screen from the browser and works like an app. The store versions are built and waiting on the developer accounts.
How do I start a mobile mechanic business?
Get the legal side and insurance done, buy tools before the van, set your prices from your real costs, and have a way to quote, invoice and answer the phone from day one. Our [step by step guide](/auto-repair/mobile-mechanic/how-to-start-a-mobile-mechanic-business/) walks through each part.

The Mobile Mechanic Guides

Talk to us

Ask a Mechanic Who Uses It

Not ready to sign up? Tell us how your shop runs and what your software gets wrong today. One of us will call you back, and we will tell you straight if Shop Desk is not the right fit.

  • A person reads it, usually the same day
  • No sales sequence and no drip emails
  • We run our own shop on this software

Rather email? Write to hello@yourshopdesk.com