Native importer
Migrate from Mitchell 1 Manager SE to Pitlane.
Pitlane has a native column-aware importer for the Mitchell 1 Manager SE customer + vehicle export. The desktop-rooted format trips up most generic CSV tools — Pitlane's parser handles the column variations Mitchell 1 has shipped over the years.
Most shops on Mitchell 1 keep ProDemand for labor times and OEM repair info, drop SocialCRM and the customer-side modules, and run Pitlane for the entire customer relationship. The migration tool lives at /settings/migration inside your Pitlane account and runs in seconds.
What transfers from Mitchell 1
- Customer first/last name, phone, email — deduplicated on email or phone
- Mailing address (street, city, state)
- Vehicles per customer with VIN, year, make, model, license plate
- Last-known mileage when present
- Service-record stubs from the most recent RO date (full RO line items don't transfer)
What stays behind (and why)
- —Full RO line items, parts, and labor (Mitchell 1 retains those)
- —ProDemand integration — Pitlane doesn't replace ProDemand and isn't trying to
- —Mitchell 1's invoice and payment history (running totals don't transfer)
Where to find the export inside Mitchell 1.
Mitchell 1 Manager SE → Reports → Customer / Vehicle export. Use the standard CSV output. If your version emits one row per customer with concatenated vehicles, the importer will split them; if it emits one row per vehicle, it deduplicates customers automatically.
The full migration in five steps.
- 1
Run the Manager SE customer / vehicle export
From Manager SE, run the standard customer + vehicle export to CSV. Don't pre-filter — let the full list come out. The Pitlane importer deduplicates safely so re-imports are non-destructive.
- 2
Sign up for Pitlane
Create your account on /signup. The migration tool is part of the free trial; you don't need to pick a plan first.
- 3
Open Settings → Migration
Drop the CSV. The importer auto-detects the Manager SE format from the column fingerprint (Manager SE distinctively concatenates vehicles or uses a vehicle-id column).
- 4
Confirm and import
Preview the row count, the column mapping, and any warnings (malformed phones, unparseable dates, dropped rows with no first name). Click import — typical 2,000-customer lists land in seconds.
- 5
Switch off SocialCRM where it overlaps
Pitlane's review automation and customer-outreach replace what SocialCRM does on the customer-relationship side. If you keep SocialCRM running in parallel, you'll get duplicate review requests — turn off the SocialCRM equivalent or stop paying for the module.
After the migration: what to keep, what to drop.
Keep
- Mitchell 1 Manager SE for repair orders, estimating, and parts/labor catalog
- ProDemand for labor times and OEM repair information (Pitlane doesn't replace this)
- Your accounting integration if it's tied to Manager SE
Drop
- —SocialCRM (Pitlane's review automation and PitCrew AI cover the same surface, often more aggressively)
- —Mitchell 1's mobile inspection add-on if you're paying for it separately (Pitlane DVI is included on Growth+)
- —Any third-party SMS or review-request tool you've been bolting on
Questions about migrating from Mitchell 1.
Does Pitlane integrate with Mitchell 1 directly?
No native real-time integration today. The migration tool brings your Manager SE customer + vehicle data into Pitlane in one shot. After that, most shops mark a service complete in Manager SE for the RO and let Pitlane fire the customer-facing workflow (review request, service summary, follow-ups). It's a one-way data pull, not a two-way sync.
Will I lose my ProDemand integration if I switch?
No. ProDemand runs separately from Manager SE's customer-side modules. Most shops keep ProDemand and Manager SE running, drop SocialCRM and the marketing add-ons, and use Pitlane for the customer relationship. Net change is usually $200–$350/month back.
Mitchell 1 has been around for decades. Pitlane is new. Why switch?
Mitchell 1's repair-info dataset and Manager SE's RO workflow are mature and battle-tested — keep using them where they're strong. The customer-side modules (SocialCRM, the marketing add-ons) are where Pitlane is purpose-built and ships weekly. The bet is one tool for the customer relationship that ships every week, not one tool for everything that ships quarterly.
What happens to my historical RO data?
It stays in Manager SE. Pitlane's importer pulls customer and vehicle records plus a service-record stub for the most recent RO date so reminder logic works. If you need full historical RO data inside Pitlane, that's deferred until Pitlane's native RO writer reaches GA.
Ready to import your Mitchell 1 list?
30-day free trial, no credit card. The migration tool is included in the trial — drop in your CSV and you’re live.