PartsTech Releases Tools To Power Auto Repair Technology's Next Wave

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Counterman has been serving auto parts jobbers, retailers and distributors since 1983.
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PartsTech Releases Tools To Power Auto Repair Technology’s Next Wave

Deep functionality in one place, via parts catalog and ordering API, the company says.

Counterman Staff
By Counterman Staff
Published:

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PartsTech today announced the launch of its parts-ordering API, a new service that gives automotive-software developers access to PartsTech’s auto-parts catalog and network of vendors. The Parts Ordering API connects users to 20,000 parts stores and 6 million parts. The parts-ordering API allows shop owners and managers to easily research vehicle parts and prices, check local inventory, and purchase parts online, within their own shop-management systems.

“80 percent of aftermarket auto parts are ordered via phone, during office hours; that process is long overdue for an upgrade. The U.S. auto-care industry is worth $220 billion, and many shops are running decades-old software,” said Erik St. Pierre, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of PartsTech. “Our new API provides an ultra modern, intuitive user experience that helps drive shops’ efficiency and productivity. For now, our focus is commercial users, but we encourage developers of consumer-facing applications to check out our API as well.”

Today, shop owners and technicians must be equal parts mechanic and IT expert; printed parts catalogs and calendars aren’t enough for progressive repair businesses to keep pace. In response, a variety of shop-management systems (SMS) have been developed, but even those haven’t effectively addressed one of the barriers to entry – the complexity of auto-parts cataloging and ordering. The PartsTech parts-ordering API solves that issue, allowing virtually any SMS to tap into PartsTech’s extensive parts catalog and e-commerce infrastructure. Now, via the API, the PartsTech parts catalog, and its e-commerce infrastructure, are available to support the latest cloud-based shop-management systems and consumer-facing applications.

Carolyn Coquillette, CEO and Founder, Shop-Ware, one of PartsTech’s premier partners, had early access to the PartsTech parts-ordering API, and offered her impressions: “Shop-Ware has been designed from the ground up to provide shops with software tools that work for them, making their shops more efficient and profitable, with less effort than what’s out there today. What’s so great about our integration with PartsTech is how completely the PartsTech catalog and experience offers this vision of ease and efficiency through great software. The two solutions together are really terrific.”

How It Works

The PartsTech API provides a better parts-ordering experience, and is available for shop-management systems (and automotive-app developers) to integrate. Users without a shop-management system can still access all the benefits of PartsTech online at www.partstech.com.

  • Create a free PartsTech account for your shop here, if it doesn’t already have one.
  • If you already have a PartsTech account, retrieve your access code from PartsTech If you need additional instruction on how to retrieve your API Key, click here.
  • Enter your PartsTech username, along with your access code, into your shop-management system in your system settings (See your system provider for specific instructions on where to enter this information.). The list of currently supported systems is available here, and it continues to grow.
  • Once the PartsTech username and access code has been entered into your shop-management system, it will have integrated directly into your partner system.
  • When building a repair order within your management system, and you choose to add parts, PartsTech opens and immediately displays the parts you need to complete the work order, along with available inventory from your preferred local vendors. Once you select the parts, they will automatically import back into your repair order.
  • PartsTech’s API offers:
    • Search, via keyword, VIN or license plate
    • Easy browsing of local parts vendors in a single search
    • Geolocating of hard-to-find parts
    • Order confirmation, tracking and shipment notifications
    • High-res images and videos
    • Mobile-friendly user experience

PartsTech API Now Available to Developers

Other systems with early access to the PartsTech API include Auto Repair Cloud, CarServ, CAR – Complete Auto Reports, EasyRO (by Management Feedback Systems), GEM-CAR, PM Attendant, Selectline (by MOTOR), Shop Boss. Approximately ten other systems are currently in development.

 

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Customer Service: How It’s Done

Customer service should be your number one priority, and it all starts with the greeting.

Eric Garbe
By Eric Garbe
Eric Garbe is a graduate of Columbus State Community College with a degree in Automotive Maintenance Technology. He has extensive independent and dealership field experience as a technician and shop owner and is an ASE Certified Master Technician and former Adjunct Automotive Professor. He has been professionally writing automotive technical articles and documents for many years and in his free time enjoys restoring old cars and creating custom interiors and upholstery.
Published:

This is always an important topic to discuss, because I consider excellent customer service one of the most important tools you can have to earn trust, respect and repeat business from the customers that come through your door. Whether that customer is do-it-yourselfer from across town or the professional repair shop across the street, your business depends on a solid relationship.It’s a subject that I am passionate about, and it’s one that many people are losing touch with. Whether you are communicating to someone in person, on the phone or using some type of social media, good customer service and bad can both exist. You can’t afford the latter, so this is the first in a series of topics which can and should be shared from the front of the shop to the back. No matter which role you hold, you represent the shop and yourself. Customer service should be your number one priority.First on the list is the greeting. From the second a customer walks in the door, they need to know you appreciate them coming in and how important they are to your business. First impressions are everything and here’s the correct way to do it each and every time: look them directly in the eye, smile and say hello!Of course, you can say “Good morning” or “Welcome to Joe’s Autocare,” but it should be a formal greeting and the most important thing is that you have smiled, looked them in the eye and recognized that they have walked through the door.You should always retain a formal greeting until you are on a first-name basis with a customer. Only once you have established that level of relationship is it OK to use the less formal greeting of “Hi,” followed by the person’s name.This greeting does more than just indicate respect and appreciation for someone walking through the door. Most likely there are customers both new and old who are in earshot of your conversation. For newer customers, this continues to build rapport and reinforce their positive view of your shop; they see that you demonstrate respect and treat everyone in the same manner. For repeat customers, even ones that have been coming for years, the greeting is important because the way you treat them is the reason they continue to come.And when a long-time customer comes in and you greet them with “Hi [First Name],” this indicates your appreciation for them and that you’re glad to see them as a person, more than just a customer. New customers that witness this will see that your repeat customers are comfortable enough to be on a first-name basis, another indication of the trust they have in you.

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