Skip to content
First 25 shopsFOUNDER90Start free
For independent repair shops

Every customer remembered. Every follow-up handled.

Repair order

#1005In bay

Sandra Pruitt · 2019 Ford F-150

Text customerTake paymentRequest review

Visit timeline

Write-up8:20a
Front brake pads + rotors
$389.00
Brake fluid flush
$74.00
Cabin air filter
$39.00
Labor 0.9h
$90.00
Total$592.00
Customer approval

After the write-up

Payment

When the work is done

Review

2 hours after pickup, on its own

Take payment

Balance due

$592.00

Card link · Cash · Check

Text a card link

Paid in full

$592.00

Visa ending 4242 · Receipt emailed

Kenji writes it up after the 8:20 inspection. Four lines, $592.

Pitlane is the customer side of your shop on one record. You close the job. It handles every conversation after.

Open the live shopStart free for 30 days
No card to start Nobody calls you 0% platform fee on payments

After you close the job

The part nobody has time to do by hand runs on its own.

Once a job is closed, Pitlane keeps the conversation going from the same record. This is Sandra's phone for the six months after her brake job.

2:58

Riverside Auto

(614) 555-0182

Tuesday, two hours after pickup

Thanks for coming in today, Sandra. How did we do? Rate your visit

Tuesday evening

Email from Riverside Auto

Your visit summary, 2019 Ford F-150

Front brakes, fluid flush, cabin filter. $592.00, paid. Invoice attached.

Friday

Hi Sandra, Kenji noted the rear pads at 4mm while the F-150 was in. No rush. I can hold a slot next week if you want them done. Riley

Sent by Riley

December, 90 days quiet

It has been a few months since the F-150 was in. When you are ready, reply here and we will get you in that week.

March, service due

The F-150 is due for an oil change and rotation. Tuesday 8:30 is open. Want it?
Yes, Tuesday works.
  1. Runs on its own

    The review request goes out.

    Happy customers land on your Google page. A complaint lands in your inbox first, with an instant email when a rating comes in low.

  2. Runs on its own

    A service summary email, on its own.

    What was done, the invoice total, and a one-tap review link. The customer keeps the record; you keep the relationship.

  3. You send it

    The follow-up is drafted for you.

    PitCrew writes the note about the work they said no to. You read it, change a word, and send it. It never texts a customer on its own.

  4. Runs on its own

    Win-back texts go out on their own.

    A customer who has not been back gets a nudge from your shop's number, three times, then stops. Nobody has to remember.

  5. Runs on its own

    Reminders and confirmations, on their own.

    Service reminders by text, appointment confirmations and day-before reminders, all from the same record as the last visit.

It plays on its own. Swipe the cards to go back and forth.

The payoff

The three things that slip.

A customer text sits unanswered for an hour. A car is in the bay and nobody up front knows how far along it is. An invoice waits a week to get paid. Pitlane closes all three on the same records, nothing re-typed.

Text back without the phone tag

Every message in one thread, from your shop's own number. Not your personal cell.

See every car on the floor

One tap clocks a tech onto a line. Photos, notes, and parts land on the same repair order.

Get paid before they leave the lot

Text a secure card link, or take cash or a check at the counter. Pitlane takes 0% on top.

Why Pitlane exists

Independent shops keep the country moving. Their software should act like it.

The software sold to them is a $500-a-month management suite built for a 40-bay dealer group, or a generic CRM that does not know what a VIN is. So the customer work gets done by hand at the counter, or not at all: review requests forgotten, declined repairs in a drawer, a customer six months gone and nobody noticed. Pitlane exists to do that work. It runs the front of the shop and watches the back. Software that does work, not software that makes work.

Switching

Already on Mitchell 1, Tekmetric, Shopware or Shopmonkey?

Export a CSV, upload it, and your customers, vehicles, VINs and last-visit dates land in Pitlane. Most shops are imported inside a day. Send us the export and we import it for you. Run it next to your current system on the trial and move the day over one job at a time.

Shopmonkey runs $239 to $499 a month for three to five users, then $20 a seat, as of August 2026. Pitlane is $200 with every seat included. Texting and card payments are part of it, and Pitlane takes 0% on the payments.

Pricing

One plan. Everything included.

$200/mo

Every seat included, no per-user fee. One approved brake job covers the month. 30-day free trial, no card to start.

  • Repair orders with parts, labor, and per-line tech time
  • Text approval with a finger signature
  • Digital inspections with photos the customer approves
  • Card payments by texted link, 0% platform fee
  • Two-way texting from your shop's own number
  • Reviews, reminders, win-backs, and PitCrew AI

The first 25 shops on Pitlane get 3 months free after the trial, with code FOUNDER90. Then $200 a month.

  • Nobody calls you
  • We import your customer list for you
  • Cancel in one click, your data leaves as a ZIP

See the full pricing page

Who builds it

One person builds it and answers the email.

That’s me, Abdul. Support is support@usepitlane.com, and the reply usually lands the same business day. There is no support tier to get routed through, and nobody calls you unless you ask.

Shipped lately

Last update September 23, 2026. Updates landed on 4 of the last 30 days.

  • September 23Text a customer a card link for a deposit of the amount you choose, before any of the work is authorized
  • September 23When a customer answers an approval text by texting back, the repair order and the inbox show the reply beside the request, with one tap to record the yes or the no
  • September 23Text a customer one link that follows the visit: checked in, approved, in the bay, ready, picked up, what is waiting on them, and the balance once the car is done

Bug fixes and other improvements ship most weeks. Read the changelog

Questions

The honest answers.

What exactly is Pitlane?
The customer side of an independent auto repair shop, on one record. It writes the repair order (with AI-suggested lines), gets added work approved by text with a signature, takes payment, and then runs the follow-up on its own: the review request two hours after pickup, the service summary email, reminders, and win-back texts at 90, 120 and 180 days of silence. Around that it keeps a CRM built on vehicles and VINs, digital inspections, estimates, and two-way texting from your shop's own number. You close the job; Pitlane handles every conversation after.
Can I write the actual repair order inside Pitlane?
Yes. Per-line tech assignment, clock-in/out time, parts cost and margin per line, mid-job text authorization with a finger signature, and the take-payment step all live on the same page. Parts and labor price off your own numbers: enter a part's supplier cost and Pitlane carries the margin on that line, and labor hours price against the shop rate you set.
How is this different from my shop management system (Mitchell1, Tekmetric, Shopware)?
Those sell the back office: labor guides, parts catalogs, accounting. Pitlane owns the customer side natively, plus the RO itself: RO writing, mid-job text approval, payments, reviews, win-backs, inspections, PitCrew AI. It sits next to your current system just as happily as it replaces it. Most shops start it alongside on the trial and move the day over one job at a time.
How much does it cost?
$200 a month, everything included. One plan, no tiers, no add-ons. No setup fees, no contracts, cancel anytime. Texting, repair-order writing, inspections, payments, reviews, win-backs, and PitCrew AI are all on from day one.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. 30 days free, no credit card. Write real repair orders, run inspections, and text customers on your own local number as soon as carrier registration clears (we handle that registration). The trial includes 100 outbound texts, plenty to kick the tires. Add a card when you're ready, or don't and the account just pauses. Nothing auto-charges.

See it run before you decide anything.

The live shop has a morning’s work already in it. Poke around, then start free for 30 days. No card, no setup fee, no platform fee on payments.

Open the live shopStart free for 30 days

Free Google check

See your shop's scorecard.

Grade your public Google listing against the shops nearby, rating, reviews, photos and hours, then see what to fix first. 60 seconds, no signup.

Grade my shop