Mobile mechanics

Magpie books your jobs at the customer's home or workplace and sends the quote first. It bills the parts and the labour, paid by card on the driveway.

Everything works in your own Magpie account, from the job request to the paid invoice. If you take on a second mechanic, you can both work in a team.

Créer un compte
  1. Booked visitsRendez-vous
  2. QuotesPropositions
  3. Parts receiptsDépenses
  4. Diagnostic kitSuivi du matériel
Leah Marchetti’s quote from Pryce Mobile Mechanic for the front brakes on her Honda Civic: the call-out fee, pads and rotors or pads only as packages, a brake fluid change as an add-on, and the total in a bar at the foot of the screen.

This combination of seven Magpie areas fits a mobile mechanic.

Forms
Forms takes job requests with the plate, the fault and a photo of the warning light.
Appointments
Appointments gives customers a page to book a service or a diagnostic visit.
Proposals
Proposals sends the quote for a bigger repair, signed online with a deposit for the parts.
Expenses
Expenses keeps each parts receipt, photographed at the counter and marked for the customer.
Invoicing
Invoicing bills the call-out fee, labour and parts, paid by card or on a fleet's terms.
Contacts
Contacts keeps each customer's cars and jobs, with a follow-up when the next service is due.
Asset Tracker
Asset Tracker keeps the diagnostic scanner, the jacks and the van, with their receipts and repairs.

Each job request arrives with the plate, the fault and a photo of the warning light.

Forms builds your job request, with its own address to link to or text. It asks for the plate, the mileage and what the car is doing. A File question takes a photo of the warning light. Another asks where the car will be parked.

Each request is emailed to you, and the responses are kept in one list. You answer with a booking, a quote or a call.

Pryce Mobile Mechanic’s job request form in the builder: the plate, make and model, what the car is doing, a photo of the warning light, where the car will be parked and the mileage.

Customers book a service or a diagnostic visit at times you are free.

Appointments gives you a booking page with your services. An oil change, a full service and a new battery each have a price. The service's location says that you come to the car. Customers book without signing up first.

A buffer after each booking keeps time to drive to the next car. The page offers only the times your hours and calendar leave free. You add a phone booking yourself, with the address in its internal notes.

A bigger repair is quoted first, and the customer signs before you order the parts.

Proposals sends the quote for a set of brakes or a clutch. The parts, the labour and the call-out fee are its lines. Packages can offer pads alone, or a full brake job. Recommended work, such as a brake fluid change, is an optional line.

The quote opens in the customer's Magpie account, or a free one made for them. They sign it on their phone, and can pay a deposit for the parts by card. You will see when they open it.

Each parts receipt is photographed at the counter and kept for the customer's bill.

Expenses keeps every receipt from your parts supplier, photographed on your phone. You choose the customer and mark the parts reimbursable. They wait, unbilled, until you write that customer's invoice.

Fuel, tools and the van's insurance are expenses too, each with its category. A receipt can wait in Receipt Inbox until you add its details.

Pryce Mobile Mechanic’s expenses: this week’s parts for customers’ cars, each with its receipt and the customer it is for, with fuel and a socket set.

One invoice bills the call-out fee, the labour and the parts you bought.

Invoicing bills the customer's contact. Add unbilled expenses puts the parts on as lines, at the amount on each receipt. The call-out fee and the labour are lines too, each with your tax rate.

Sending it emails the PDF with a Pay online button. You can also text its payment link, and the customer pays by card on the driveway. Cash is recorded by hand, and Magpie adds no fee.

A fleet or a small business can have 30-day terms on its contact. Its invoices will be due 30 days after you send them. Reminders go out until each is paid.

A Pryce Mobile Mechanic invoice being written for a battery fitted on Ana Sousa’s driveway: the call-out fee, labour in hours and the battery from the parts receipt, each with 13% HST.

Each customer's page keeps their cars and every job you did for them.

Contacts keeps each customer with their address. A pinned note holds their cars: the make, the plate and the mileage last time. Their page lists every booking, quote and invoice. Search finds a plate written in a note.

A fleet is a contact under its company name, with its vans in a pinned note. A follow-up is a To-do with a date, such as a service due in six months. Follow-ups lists every open one.

Pryce Mobile Mechanic’s customers: people, fleets tagged Fleet with their company, and a supplier, each with their email, phone, when they were last contacted and their next follow-up date, two of them overdue.

Your diagnostic scanner, your jacks and the van each have a record of their own.

Asset Tracker keeps each piece of kit by its tag, serial number and condition. The scanner, the trolley jack and the van are three records. Photos, receipts and the warranty date are kept on each one's page.

Start maintenance records the scanner away for repair, with the date it is due back. Its history lists every repair, with what was done and when.

Five more areas cover your hours, the stock in the van, your website and the books.

Time Tracking
Time Tracking runs a timer on the job at your labour rate. Add unbilled time puts the hours on the invoice.
Inventory
Inventory counts the oil, filters and wiper blades in the van, and lists what to reorder.
QR Codes
QR Codes makes a code for the side of the van that opens your job request. It can point somewhere else later.
Websites
Websites gives you a site with your services and a link to your booking page.
Accounting
Accounting adds each invoice, card payment and parts receipt to the books. Bank statements come in as CSV files.

A car that will not start goes from the job request to a paid invoice.

The parts and the hours reach the invoice without being typed again.

  1. The request

    The customer sends the plate, the fault and a photo of the dash on your Form.

  2. The visit

    You book a diagnostic visit when they call, with the address in its notes. The booking adds them to your contacts.

  3. The part

    You buy a battery and photograph the receipt, marked for that customer.

  4. The labour

    A timer runs while you fit it, at your labour rate.

  5. The invoice

    The call-out fee, the hours and the battery are its lines. The customer pays by card from the link.

  6. The next service

    A follow-up on their contact reminds you when the car is due a service.

Setting up takes five steps.

  1. Publish your booking page

    You choose Home services, add your services with their prices and set a buffer to drive. Help: Set up Appointments.

  2. Build your job request

    You add questions for the plate, the fault and a photo, then publish the Form. Help: Build, publish, and share a form.

  3. Add your call-out fee and labour rate

    You add them to the price list, with the parts you quote most often. Help: Proposal starters, saved sections and the price list.

  4. Add your customers and fleets

    You add each with their address, their cars in a note and a fleet's terms. Help: Keep a contact list.

  5. Connect Stripe

    You connect your Stripe account, so customers can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

Plans

A mechanic working alone fits Pro, for your own work in Personal. The free plan creates 5 invoices and sends 5 proposals a month, with up to 100 contacts. Pro has no limit. Asset Tracker and Inventory are on every plan.

Magpie adds no fee to invoices or deposits. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. Prices are on the Pricing page.

Other businesses that repair things or come to the customer have pages of their own.

Mobile car detailers

A mobile detailer books details at the customer's address and quotes coatings with a deposit.

Questions mobile mechanics ask

Can customers book a service online?

Yes. Your booking page lists your services with their length and price. A customer picks a day and a time your hours leave free. They enter a name and an email address, without signing up first. They get a confirmation email with a link to move or cancel.

Can I offer an oil change, a full service and a diagnostic visit at different prices?

Yes. Each service has its own length and price. A diagnostic visit can take an hour, and a full service three. A service can be switched off for a while without losing its bookings.

Can customers book me at their home or workplace?

Yes. A service's location can say that you come to the car. Your job request asks where the car will be. The address is kept on the customer's contact. A buffer after each booking keeps time free to drive to the next one.

Can I take a booking over the phone?

Yes. New appointment books a service for a customer who calls. It follows the same hours and rules as the booking page. The internal notes can hold the address and the plate. The customer gets the same confirmation email.

Will my own plans block my booking page?

Yes. A time is offered only when your calendar is free. An event you put in Calendar, or answered Going to, takes that time off the page. A minimum notice stops a booking for the next hour.

Can customers tell me what is wrong before I come out?

Yes. Your job request Form asks for the plate, the mileage and what the car is doing. A File question takes a photo of the warning light or the leak, up to 10 MB. Each request is emailed to you as it arrives.

How do I quote a repair before I start?

You send a proposal with a line for each part, the labour and the call-out fee. The customer opens it from their own link. It opens in a free Magpie account made for their email address. They sign on the page with a finger or a mouse. You see when they open it.

Can the customer choose between a cheaper repair and a fuller one?

Yes. A quote can offer 2 to 4 packages, such as pads alone or a full brake job. One can be marked Recommended. Recommended work, such as a brake fluid change, can be an optional line they add.

Can I take a deposit for the parts on a big job?

Yes. The quote's payment schedule can start with a deposit, invoiced when the customer accepts. They pay it by card into your own Stripe account. The balance is invoiced when you bill it.

Can I charge a call-out fee?

Yes. The call-out fee is a line on the quote or the invoice, with its tax rate. On quotes, it can come from your price list. A booked service's price can include it too.

Can I put the parts I bought on the customer's bill?

Yes. You record the parts as an expense with its receipt, marked reimbursable, for that customer. In the invoice editor, Add unbilled expenses lists it. It becomes a line at the amount recorded. It is marked billed when the invoice is issued.

Can I photograph receipts at the parts counter?

Yes. On a phone, the receipt chooser offers the camera, up to 10 MB a receipt. Receipt Inbox keeps receipts you photograph first and enter later.

Can I bill my labour from the time I worked?

Yes. A timer runs on the job, linked to the customer, at your labour rate. It keeps running if you close the browser. Add unbilled time puts the hours on the invoice as a line, priced at that rate.

Can customers pay me by card on the driveway?

Yes. Each invoice has a payment link, shown on the invoice's page, so you can text it. The customer pays by card on their own phone. The payment is recorded on the invoice.

Can customers pay cash or by bank transfer?

Yes. Record payment records cash, a cheque or a bank transfer on the invoice, with the date. It can be part of the balance. The invoice moves to Paid when payments reach its total.

What does Magpie take from a card payment?

Magpie adds no fee. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to your bank.

Can I add HST or VAT to my invoices?

Yes. Invoicing has named tax rates, such as HST or VAT, each with a percentage. Each line uses one of them or no tax. A combined rate such as GST + PST shows each tax on its own line.

Can I bill a fleet or a small business on 30-day terms?

Yes. A contact tagged Customer has its own payment terms and billing address. Its invoices will be due that many days after they are issued. Reminders go out until each one is paid, and Overdue lists the ones that are late.

Can I put a fleet's order number on the invoice?

Yes. Each invoice has notes, printed on its PDF. They can hold the order number and the van's plate. The fleet manager can also sign the quote first.

Can I keep each customer's cars and their plates?

Yes. A customer's contact holds their address. A pinned note stays at the top with the make, the plate and the mileage. A fleet's pinned note can list every van.

Can I see what I did to a car last time?

Yes. The customer's page lists every booking, quote and invoice, newest first. Each invoice opens with its lines, parts and labour. Notes record the mileage and what you found, and search finds a plate written in one.

Can I remind myself when a customer's service is due?

Yes. A follow-up on the contact has a date and a reason, such as a service due. It is a To-do with the usual reminders. Follow-ups lists every open one as Overdue, Today or Upcoming.

Can I keep track of my diagnostic scanner and tools?

Yes. Asset Tracker keeps each tool with its tag, serial number and condition. Its receipt, manual and warranty date are on its page. Start maintenance records it away for repair, with the date it is due back.

Can I keep track of the oil and filters in the van?

Yes. Inventory can keep the van's stock apart from what is at home. Oil is counted in litres and filters one by one. An item below its minimum is listed to reorder. Magpie can email the order to your supplier.

Can I put a code on the van that opens my job request?

Yes. A dynamic QR code opens any web address, such as your job request or booking page. You can point it somewhere else after the van is lettered. Its page counts the scans.

Will my invoices and receipts reach the books?

Yes. Accounting adds each invoice, each payment and Stripe's fee to the books. Each expense goes to the account its category chooses. Bank statements come in as CSV files to reconcile.

Take your next job request on your own Form.

Create a Magpie account and build your job request.

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