Question 1

Why not just use Tekmetric?

Accepted Answer

Tekmetric is solid — for general repair shops running oil changes and tire rotations with service advisors at the counter. If that's your shop, use it. But if you're tracking a suspension build across three weeks with custom parts from four suppliers and two techs touching the same car — that's not what Tekmetric was built for. Their whole system is optimized around repair orders and flat-rate labor times. Third Gear Shop is optimized around builds.

Question 2

Shopmonkey looks slick — what's the difference?

Accepted Answer

It does look slick. Shopmonkey is designed for shops that want to look professional to customers. Third Gear Shop is designed for a tech who needs to log parts fast while his hands are dirty. Shopmonkey is also priced for volume shops doing $800 average repair orders — not boutique performance shops with 2–4 techs doing high-ticket builds.

Question 3

What about AutoLeap?

Accepted Answer

AutoLeap targets indie shops, and they do it well. But like the others, it's built around the repair order model — quick in, quick out. If your average job lives in the shop for two days, AutoLeap is fine. If your average build lives in the shop for two months, you need something that tracks it that way. Third Gear Shop was built for the long build.

Question 4

Is cheaper software actually worse?

Accepted Answer

We don't charge you for features you'll never use. Third Gear Shop does one thing — run an independent shop — and it does it well. $79/mo for a 1–5 tech shop. $149/mo for everything else. That's it.

Question 5

Does it work for builds, not just repairs?

Accepted Answer

This is the question. Every other shop tool is built around the repair order — vehicle comes in, tech fixes it, vehicle leaves. That's fine for a brake job. It falls apart when you're tracking an SR20 swap across 40 parts orders, 6 months, and 3 techs. Third Gear Shop tracks the whole build — parts per job, labor per tech, margin per build, customer portal so they can check status without texting you at 11pm. Built for the work that actually happens in a performance shop.