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Linked workflow

One vehicle, one job, one paper trail.

One visit is one job. Pitlane links the RO, the inspection, and the estimate so the whole packet travels together — and you never have to ask "which inspection went with this RO?"

3 records

One job graph

1 click

To the related record

0 guesswork

Explicit FK links

Three records, one workflow.

An RO has a panel listing every linked inspection and estimate. Each inspection lists its parent RO and any estimates drafted off it. You're never more than one click from the related record.

  • Bidirectional FK links — not derived from same-customer-same-day guesswork
  • Pickers scoped to the same vehicle
  • Open ROs and draft estimates sort to the top
  • Re-linking warns before moving a record from one parent to another

The print packet uses the link graph.

Click Print on an RO and the sheet bundles every linked inspection (with photos and Pass/Attention/Fail) and every linked estimate (lines + totals) onto the same packet. The packet doesn't exist if the records are disconnected.

Service history that stays connected over years.

Sandra brings her F-150 in for brakes today. Two years later she's back for a transmission flush. The vehicle record shows both visits with their linked DVIs and estimates — not five disconnected line items in a flat invoice list. The link graph is what makes that view honest.

How it works.

01

Customer drops off

Open a new RO. The vehicle, customer, mileage, and concern land on the record. The job exists.

02

Tech inspects, links to the RO

+ Inspection on the RO opens a new inspection pre-linked. Tech walks the vehicle, marks Pass / Attention / Fail with notes and photos, and the inspection lives under the RO.

03

Estimate drafted from inspection findings

Pull the failed items into an estimate. Send it to the customer. The estimate is linked to both the inspection and the RO. Customer approves, the lines flow back into the RO.

04

Print, invoice, close

Print packet bundles all three onto one document. Customer pays through Stripe Connect. The whole linked job becomes part of the vehicle's service history.

This runs for your shop on a 30-day free trial.

Every feature on this page is included in the trial. No credit card. Live in under 10 minutes.

Start 30-day free trial See a live demo

Questions about linked workflow.

Can one RO have multiple inspections linked to it?

Yes. A 60k service might have a courtesy inspection on drop-off and a deeper inspection after the tech pulls the wheels. Both link to the same RO. The print packet renders each on its own page.

Can one inspection be linked to multiple ROs?

No — an inspection has a single serviceRecordId, so it belongs to one RO at a time. If you accidentally linked it to the wrong RO, the inspection's right-rail panel has a Change button that opens a picker scoped to the same vehicle.

What happens to linked records if I void an RO?

The linked inspections and estimates stay (their FK is set to null on RO delete). They become standalone records you can re-link to a new RO if you re-quote the same job. We never cascade-delete inspection or estimate history — those are part of the vehicle's audit trail.

Do I need to link manually, or does Pitlane do it automatically?

When you click + Inspection from an RO, the new inspection is pre-linked. When you draft an estimate from an inspection, the estimate is pre-linked. Manual linking is for the case where you created the records separately and want to wire them together after the fact — common for shops that started using inspections before the linking UI shipped.

Where do I see all of a vehicle's history at a glance?

The contact page lists every vehicle on file, and clicking one opens the vehicle record with every RO, inspection, and estimate linked to it, ordered by date. The link graph is what makes that view honest — without it, a vehicle's history is fragmented across disconnected records.

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