InsightTrack Bookkeeping gives mechanics full-service monthly bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online — transaction coding, bank reconciliations, AR/AP, and monthly financial statements — on flat-rate packages starting at $300 per month. One bookkeeper on your file every month. See package pricing or book a free consultation.
Who This Is For
A repair shop's numbers live in the shop management system — Tekmetric, Shop-Ware, Mitchell 1, or a paper ticket — and the bank account rarely agrees with it. Card batches land net of fees. Parts come in on a dozen vendor accounts with cores, returns, and credits. Sublet work like towing, alignments, and machine shop gets paid out and marked up. Sales tax collected on parts sits in the checking account looking like profit until the return is due.
InsightTrack sets up shop books that reconcile repair orders to deposits, split parts and labor revenue with their own costs, track sublet as a pass-through with its markup, and keep sales tax as the liability it is. Every month you get a P&L with gross margin on parts and on labor, a balance sheet that includes lifts, scanners, and their loans, and the effective labor rate your techs are actually producing.
A good fit for independent general repair shops, specialty shops (transmission, diesel, European, collision), tire and brake shops, and small fleet-service operations across Arkansas and remotely nationwide.
What Makes Bookkeeping for Mechanics Different
Parts vs. labor
Parts revenue and parts cost go on one line; labor revenue and technician pay on another. That split is the whole story of shop profitability, and it only works if every repair order is recorded with both components.
Shop management software vs. the bank
Card batches from the shop system arrive net of processing fees, checks from fleet accounts come later, and cash tickets happen. We match repair orders to deposits monthly so revenue is complete and AR is real.
Parts vendors, cores, and returns
WorldPac, NAPA, O'Reilly, and dealer parts accounts carry monthly statements with core charges, returns, and credits. We reconcile vendor statements so parts cost is accurate and no credit gets lost.
Sales tax and shop fees
Sales tax collected from customers is a liability, not revenue. Shop supply and environmental fees are revenue. We keep each where it belongs so the sales tax return is a report, not a reconstruction.
How We Set Up Your Books
Shop books use a cost-of-revenue chart of accounts with Parts, Labor, and Sublet each showing revenue and direct cost. Technician wages sit under labor cost of revenue; service advisors, rent, insurance, equipment, and owner pay sit in overhead. Sales tax payable and any customer deposits are liabilities on the balance sheet.
- Parts, Labor, and Sublet as separate revenue and cost lines — gross margin on each every month
- Shop software reconciled — Tekmetric, Shop-Ware, Mitchell 1, or AutoLeap repair orders and card batches tied to bank deposits net of fees
- Vendor statement reconciliation — parts accounts checked monthly for cores, returns, and credits
- Sales tax payable tracked — collected tax held as a liability with the monthly filing amount ready
- Equipment and loans — lifts, alignment racks, scan tools, and tire machines as fixed assets with loans on the balance sheet
- Fleet and commercial accounts — invoices, net terms, and AR aging tracked so slow-paying fleets are visible
The Numbers We Track for Mechanics
Every client gets a monthly P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. For mechanics we also report the operating numbers that drive decisions, and can build them into a dashboard that updates as the books close.
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Gross margin on parts and on labor
Two margins, reported separately. A shop can have a healthy blended number and still be giving away parts.
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Effective labor rate
Labor revenue divided by billed hours, compared to your posted door rate. The gap is discounting, comebacks, and unbilled diagnostic time.
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Technician efficiency
Billed hours divided by paid hours per tech, from your shop system, alongside labor cost — so you can see who is producing and who is being paid to wait.
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Average repair order and car count
The two numbers that drive shop revenue, tracked by month so you can tell whether a slow month was fewer cars or smaller tickets.
Serving Mechanics in Arkansas and Nationwide
InsightTrack is based in Conway, Arkansas, and works with mechanics in Little Rock, Conway, Maumelle, and across Central Arkansas, plus Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, and Springdale in Northwest Arkansas.
The work is done in QuickBooks Online with documents shared through a secure portal, so location doesn't limit who we can help. We also serve mechanics in Texas and nationwide. See all locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you separate my parts revenue from my labor revenue?
Yes. Parts, labor, and sublet each get their own revenue and cost-of-revenue lines in QuickBooks Online, so your monthly P&L shows gross margin on parts and on labor separately.
Do you work with Tekmetric, Shop-Ware, or Mitchell 1?
Yes. We reconcile repair orders and card batches from your shop management system to the bank each month, net of processing fees, and manage the QuickBooks Online sync where one exists.
How do you handle sales tax collected on parts?
Sales tax collected from customers is recorded as a liability rather than revenue, so the balance owed is always visible on the balance sheet and the filing amount is ready each period. Your CPA or you file the return; we make sure the number is right.
What does bookkeeping for an auto repair shop cost?
Flat-rate packages start at $300 per month. A shop with several techs, multiple parts vendor accounts, fleet customers, and payroll would usually run $500 to $1,200 per month depending on transaction volume.
Do you serve auto repair shops in Arkansas?
Yes. InsightTrack is based in Conway and works with independent repair shops in Little Rock, Conway, Northwest Arkansas, and statewide, plus remotely nationwide.
Get In Touch
Bring your current setup — QuickBooks file, spreadsheet, or shoebox — and we'll tell you what the monthly close would cost and what a cleanup would involve. Call (501) 697-1919 or email marcus@insighttrackbookkeeping.com.