#auto repair manager software

[univsoftwareinc]

ARM© includes CARFAX integration allowing you to save time on every vehicle written up by automatically retrieving the VIN, Year, Make, Model and Engine Size using the vehicle’s License Plate Number. You also have access to every vehicle’s entire CARFAX Service History, including first time customers. For More Details Visit - univsoftware.com

[m1autorepair]

Who's ready for our next training session?! 🙋‍♂️ You may have seen the wrap-up post about our recent Mitchell 1 Manager SE Shop Management Workshop, but are you curious what it was all about? Check out this press release as we share topics of discussion covered in the classes, the hands-on training provided, and what our team has to say! 🔗 https://www.m1repair.com/mitchell1-managerse-hosts-sold-out-shop-management-workshop-in-sd

Not able to make it to the workshop? GET STARTED NOW with a 14 day free trial of Mitchell 1 Manager SE and get LIVE training from your local Mitchell 1 Representative. No obligation. No credit card. No risk. It's 100% FREE!

[crystlianajohn]

Auto Genius provides a comprehensive solution tailored to the unique needs of garage owners. With features like inventory management, appointment scheduling, and customer relationship management, it simplifies daily operations and optimizes resource allocation.

[autoservicesoftware]

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT AUTOMOTIVE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FOR YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS?

Do you run or own an automobile dealership? Are you unsure of how to advance it further? Management software, such as auto repair software, is now required in the modern era to guarantee efficiency. Besides, with the ability to unlock entire corporate processes with a single click, who would want to use paper and pen? Today, everyone operating or overseeing a company in the automotive sector is aware of the potential benefits and usefulness of shop management software.

What is auto repair accounting software?

A specific kind of application called auto repair accounting software was created to address the accounting and financial requirements of garages and repair companies. It provides a selection of tools and features designed to meet the unique needs of companies in the auto repair sector.

Factors to consider when looking for Automotive Management Software

Choosing the right automotive shop management software is essential to fulfilling every requirement of your business. For this reason, before making a decision, you must think about the following purchasing steps:

Conduct analysis

To accurately establish the scope, objectives, timetables, deliverables, and platform for software selection, it is imperative to plan an automobile software procurement project. Selecting the best software solutions can be simpler for you if you do a little planning.

Define the requirement

 It is essential to Note down detailed responses to inquiries such as What objectives would the automobile shop management software help achieve? Companies should know who will be using the software. The features or functionalities the software must have. You must know if your local or on-site remote workforce requires this kind of software.

Listing the required features

Enumerate every aspect that is necessary for your software solution, such as pricing, scalability, flexibility, or personalization; cloud/web-based or local install; mobile support; and software security. Task management, resource planning, email integration, risk analysis, file sharing, and time tracking are a few additional necessary features.

Security and Reliability

Data security and dependability are most people's top concerns, therefore you must find out from your vendor how Automotive Management Software preserves data integrity and creates backup copies. Additionally, find out from them which security measures will shield your internal data.

Budget

Examine carefully both the vendor's services and the total cost of the automobile shop management software package. Inform your vendor of the timeline you need to install the software in your car shop as well.

When choosing repair management software, keeping these things in mind will help you make an informed choice that will ultimately increase the productivity and profitability of your automotive company.

[cloudautoservice]

Carfax Integrated Shop Management Software

Streamline your auto repair business with Cloud Auto Service - the ultimate solution for efficient workflow management and exceptional customer service. Request a demo today! For more information, visit- https://cloudautoservice.com/

[rampglobal]

Demystifying Garage Management Systems: Why They are Essential for Your Auto Repair Shop

As we navigate the 21st century, the auto repair industry is not untouched by the wave of digital transformation. Amidst an array of modern tools available to drive business efficiency, one solution stands tall - a garage management system. This powerful tool is not just another fancy addition to your software arsenal, but a necessity that promises streamlined operations, customer satisfaction, and amplified profitability. However, despite these benefits, some auto repair shops are hesitant to embrace this technology due to a lack of clarity or apprehensions about its usage. If you find yourself in this group, it's time for some enlightenment. In this article, we aim to demystify the concept of garage management systems, underlining their inarguable value and explaining why they are not just beneficial but crucial for the modern auto repair shop's success and growth.

In the evolving world of auto repair, efficiency and organisation are the keys to success. For businesses looking to streamline their operations and bolster profitability, a garage management system is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. If you're still unsure about whether or not to adopt this technology, it's time we demystify garage management systems and shed light on why they're essential for your auto repair shop.

Customer Management Made Effortless

In the auto repair business, the customer is at the centre of all the operations. With a garage management system, you can store customer’s information, easily track customer information, manage enquiries, send customer alerts and notifications for better customer relationship, vehicle history, and service schedules. This ensures you deliver personalised service, fostering strong customer relationships and encouraging repeat business.

Scheduling and Workflow Optimization

Efficient time management can make or break your auto repair shop. A garage management system simplifies appointment scheduling and optimises your workflow, preventing overbookings and idle time. Your team stays productive, and your customers experience minimal wait time – it's a win-win.

Inventory Control at Your Fingertips

Ever had to put repairs on hold because a part was out of stock? With a garage management system, you can track inventory in real-time and get alerts when stock levels are low. This means repairs go on uninterrupted, enhancing productivity and customer satisfaction.

Accurate and Timely Invoicing

Invoicing can be a time-consuming task prone to errors. RAMP garage management system automates the invoicing process, ensuring accuracy and saving you precious time. It simplifies, automates, and makes payments transparent. Plus, with instant invoices, your cash flow improves.

Harness the Power of Data

In today's data-driven world, the insights you can gain from your business operations are invaluable. A garage management system provides comprehensive reports on key metrics like revenue, profitability, and customer satisfaction, guiding your business strategies and decisions.

RAMP Garage Management Software: A Case in Point

An excellent example of a comprehensive garage management system is the RAMP garage management software. Designed with the needs of auto repair shops in mind, RAMP integrates all essential features into one user-friendly platform. It offers seamless scheduling, efficient job tracking, real-time inventory management, automatic invoicing, and powerful reporting, revolutionising the way auto repair shops operate.

With RAMP, you can streamline your operations, improve customer service, and enhance profitability, all while making your job easier. It's a testament to how a well-chosen garage management system can elevate an auto repair shop.

The Verdict: Embrace the Digital Revolution

There's no denying the benefits a garage management system brings to your auto repair shop. It's an investment in efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability – three pillars of a successful auto repair business. The digital revolution in the auto repair industry is here, and it's time you hopped on board.

The fast-paced and ever-evolving auto repair industry leaves no room for inefficiencies and outdated practices. Adopting modern technologies such as a garage management system is no longer an option; it's a necessity to remain competitive and profitable in today's digital age.

After this comprehensive exploration of the topic, it's clear that a garage management system acts as the backbone of an auto repair shop's operation. By streamlining processes from appointment scheduling to invoicing, this technology improves your shop's efficiency and productivity manifold. It eliminates guesswork, reduces errors, and frees your team from cumbersome administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on what they do best - repairing vehicles and serving customers.

Moreover, these systems help cultivate a more customer-centric approach. By maintaining detailed customer profiles and histories, it allows your team to deliver personalised service, thereby fostering stronger customer relationships. The ease of online appointment scheduling and instant invoicing further enhances the customer experience.

Real-time inventory management, coupled with low stock alerts, ensures that your work is never halted due to unavailability of parts. Finally, the insightful reporting and analytics feature acts as a powerful decision-making tool, guiding your strategic planning and fostering growth.

In essence, an investment in a garage management system is an investment in your business's future. As we move further into the digital age, integrating such systems is not just about keeping up with the competition, but about preparing your auto repair shop for a future of sustained success and growth. It's about embracing change, harnessing the power of technology, and steering your business towards a streamlined, efficient, and profitable future.

[shopmanagementsoftware]

How to find the best blend for your location

There are many ways that auto shops can market to different types of customers. In order to do this, they should be focusing on improving customer experience, creating tailored strategies for each customer type, and collecting the right metrics.

On May 31, we hosted a webinar on marketing. Our key presenter was Jeff Tremper, who is the Founder and Executive Vice President at Throttle, a company that helps marketing programs for auto shops succeed. He discussed how to create a winning marketing strategy, giving tips on how to integrate with R.O. Writer by Matrix Imaging Solutions (Throttle).

Learn 4 key takeaways from this webinar on finding the right location

1.     Learn how superior customer service is essential to retaining customers.

A good customer experience is what builds trust. Your customers need to be happy with your products before anything else can happen. Try to improve your store services before moving on to marketing so when you do, it will be more successful.

Furthermore, marketing efforts that go beyond the shop doors can be a success. When you take small steps to improve your customer experience, you'll see more success in your marketing as well. Some of these small steps include paying attention to accurate information, deleting coupons, and getting rid of confusing codes.

When R.O. Writer’s repair shop management is combined with Throttle’s marketing platform, it provides tools for excellent customer service, such as Digital Vehicle Inspections vehicle-specific services created out of manufacturer recommendations.

2.     How to invest in your business with a marketing budget

A marketing budget is critical to follow through with your brand being top of mind for your customer. It shows that you are committed and will make sure that the next service visit for your customer is met with a thriving, successful business.

a successful marketing strategy requires dedicating 7 to 8% of your annual revenue for the year. This way you can establish a game plan that caters to your customer experience from new and existing customers to lost customers.

How a marketing budget for repair shops helps to increase customer loyalty

With R.O. Throttle, you can keep track of your customer interactions as well as financials. The integration with Throttle's marketing solution allows general managers at auto repair shop software like ours to view our transactions in a single feed and receive comprehensive reports of our customer communication.

3.     Create a marketing strategy that includes 3 audiences: new customers, existing customers, and lost customers.

Jeff also discussed the importance of having a marketing strategy for three different customer journeys. For example, there is one for unmotivated customers and another for those who are loyal.

Both direct mail and guerilla marketing cards can be effective in supporting an auto shop's target audience. Facebook advertisements can also be targeted by location to reach new audiences. Consider your current customer demographic data to learn who you should be targeting.

Develop a marketing plan for the existing customers in your area

People who were visited by your company should be contacted with surveys and other post-visit materials to keep them returning. The best way for marketing to the customers you already have: focus on keeping your brand top of mind by using channels like email, direct mail, and text message reminders together.

Your lost customers can be any type of people that you have already done work for, but then stopped communicating with. When it comes to marketing to these lost customers, your first priority should be those paying the most. You could use techniques such as social media engagement and phone calls for communication.

A consistent, omnichannel approach to auto repair shop marketing is necessary. R.O. Writer’s Bodyshop Management software and Throttle’s marketing platform integration can help make this a reality. With this set-up, for instance, you can send out timely messages to each unique customer. The integration also lets you utilize other retention opportunities for existing and lost customers, such as fleet and state inspection reminders.

How repair shops can use customer journey mapping to strategically promote themselves

4.     Use marketing KPIs to find your best location

It is important to know how well your marketing strategy is working. When you are trying to determine indicators of success, Jeff recommends tracking a few specific metrics such as

Geo-targeting marketing: Where are the cars?

Develop a layered marketing strategy to find the right location

Learn what brings in traffic to your site

Find a detailed list of the best email/mail addresses

Read about how you can use a combination of Rate of return and the Risk-adjusted rate of return.

Where is the best location for marketing?

With R.O. Writer and Throttle, you can clean up your email list, maintain every customer record, and perform all business transactions in one user-friendly tool.

Throttle allows businesses to reach different customers using a variety of marketing touchpoints.

Find out how to find the perfect place for your auto repair shop

To learn more about how Throttle-R.O. Writer's partnership can help kick-start your efforts, you can watch Jeff's presentation or contact our team at sales@rowriter.com.

[autorepairsoftwareaustralia]

Automotive repair software programs are taking up the market and almost all the repair stations are accepting these because of the benefits it brings along. Repair software can help with a lot of things including invoice generation, sending notifications, and many more.

[bumperlegal3]

Four Suggestions When Beginning Your Car Restoration Enterprise

You may have considered that launching your vehicle maintenance company was the tough portion. Actually, that is merely the beginning. Once you wide open your shop, you have to choose the right combination of several elements to hold it not just up and running but in addition rewarding. The shoppers are on the market. The key is becoming them in the doorway and supplying providers that have them coming back again time and again.

There are several ways for you to make your car go shopping from the video game. One of those particular is adding auto repair shop management software. This software program streamlines your operations and lets you center on other duties, for example the types below. 1.)Learn Bankroll Managing and Responsibility You will not succeed as a business owner should you not recognize how financial situation and business function. You want familiarity with diverse bookkeeping and financial administration techniques to experience optimum overall performance while still generating profits. In addition, you need economic self-control. As a business person, you should be able to comply with wholesome bankroll control tactics, maintaining your targets in vision at all times. Begin with cutting down expenses and working on the maximum expense of operations. You must also build a cost savings routine to plan for conditions that may develop. 2.)Have Appointments Timetabled Before taking any vehicle that really needs providing, make certain a scheduled appointment is made. This really is necessary to minimize a backlog within the garage area, therefore you don’t squander the customer’s time. You must understand just how many sessions your experts are designed for and day time and make sure they are able to stay on goal, so meetings don’t fall behind. Come up with a indicate remind your prospects you will end up using emails or texts of their approaching meetings to get a clean flow of pursuits to become suffered. 3.)Improve the Assessment Approach It’s crucial that you carry out a complete car assessment when a car is your car port. This pinpoints any troubles the dog owner is probably not mindful of and let a conversation about future improvements. In the event the technicians and consumers hold the time, they might be willing to get the concern fixed with they are already there. This is certainly a wonderful way to show your buyer that you just care about the standard of assistance you’re delivering, along with their safety while driving a car their vehicle.

4.)Mitigate Charges on Greeting card Purchases Bank card transactions are necessary in today’s organization. Unfortunately, paying a charge for every purchase can cause harm to your earnings. Discover possibilities that permit for general obligations on credit history purchases as opposed to individual costs. The rates framework you layout to your enterprise should also determine the particular cards clients use, as an example, debit or credit cards. Your customers will enjoy varied choices, growing their total satisfaction together with your automobile go shopping. Verdict These are just a couple of techniques to enhance your enterprise income. Using any or all will assist you to see substantial progress toward your objectives. It’s vital that you look at the techniques you put into action consistently to ensure you remain on target.

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 1

Episode 10: Too Much Game

~The Man Cave~

Down in the Man Cave, Charlotte and (y/n) were struggling with the headquarter's failing equipment. The supercomputer, snack machine, tubes, the sofa: you name it, sure enough, it was on the blink.

Charlotte furiously tapped the buttons on the computer, but it was unresponsive, causing the young woman next to her to hit the control panel in frustration.

"Gooch? Hey! Gooch, are you there?" They were trying to get contact with the store above their heads, but so far they were unsuccessful.

"Stupid thing!" (y/n) kicked it for good measure.

"Mama." A baby doll came on the screen.

"Okay, that's not Gooch. Ugh, what is wrong with this thing?" Charlotte asked her.

"I don't know! I can do some of the repairs, but I can't work out what's wrong because of all the circuit boards and software in this heap of junk." (y/n) pressed the resignal button, hoping it would fix the fuzzy screen

"Gooch!" They finally managed to get some patchy images.

"Go for Gooch!" Charlotte asked him as his voice crackled from the interference.

"Where are Henry and Ray?" (y/n) questioned, wondering what was taking the superheroes so long.

"There was an emergency at the Swellview mall," Gooch told her.

"I know that!" She pinched her eyes in exasperation.

"Oooh, what happened?" Charlotte hadn't been down in the Man Cave for very long and wanted to know what was going down.

"Santa Claus was running around without his red pants," Gooch reported, confusing the girl.

"But it's not even Christmas." She looked at (y/n).

"Weird, right?" She was interrupted by the auto-snacker processing another order that they hadn't asked for.

"Your hot dog is ready." The A.I said.

"We don't want a freakin' hot dog!" (y/n) yelled at the thing, walking over to the thing and pressing a few buttons to cancel the food.

"You ordered a hot dog?" Gooch asked, not hearing some of their words over the bad connection.

"No. The snack machine is still broken and acting all crazy." Charlotte explained to him as (y/n) peered through the food window.

"R--repeat, y--ou'--re b-break--ing up," Gooch said in a distorted voice, the connection then breaking again. 

"Gooch!" Charlotte tried to fix it again, revealing that Ray and Henry were back. Only, one tube came down with Ray, but there was no sign of Henry.

"Hey, guys." He greeted them in a tired voice.

"Hi, those Santa's pants?" (y/n) walked up behind Charlotte.

"Yeah." He replied, his voice telling her that the mission was more trouble than it was worth.

"So, where's Henry?" Charlotte piped up.

"He's right-- huh, that's weird." Ray thought the teen was right behind him, so he looked up the tube to see where he was.

"Henry? Come down." He yelled.

"I can't my tube isn't working." The boy's voice echoed down the shaft.

"Not another malfunction." (y/n) scrubbed her palm against her face. The faulty tube meant there was another problem in the cave that she had no idea how to fix, and she was supposed to keep the place under control and ready for action.

"Okay, hang on." Ray took out his remote laser and tried to manually tried to bring down the tube. It came down halfway before an error noise sounded and the tube retracted. Ray kept pressing it, hoping that it would work eventually.

"Do that and it'll break completely. And then I'll break your face." (y/n) looked at him with her arms folded, but her threat was empty as trying to break the man's face would actually break her fist.

"Ray?" Henry called out, wondering what was going on.

"Yeah?" 

"If you keep doing that, I'm gonna vomit," Henry warned him and the woman smirked at Ray.

"Ha, and you're standing under the tube." And the man quickly stepped out from any falling puke.

"Your hot dog is ready." The snack machine said again, this time revealing a terrified Chihuahua.

"Aw, puppy!" (y/n) couldn't help but say. She didn't even know the machine could do that.

"What the..." Charlotte looked at her boss with a puzzled face.

"(y/n), what have I said? We can't have pets in the Man Cave." Ray assumed that his friend had tried to sneak the dog into their lives.

"He's not mine!" She said in an offended tone. She knew that buying a pet without getting his agreement would be rude and irresponsible, two things that she rarely was.

"That's our lunch that we did not order!" Charlotte stressed, the glitches around the room freaking her out.

"Argh, I thought we fixed that thing. Why does it keep--" Ray tried to use his controller to stop the auto-snacker, but then the couch started to spin around.

"Now, why is that spinning?" Charlotte asked as he and his best friend groaned.

"Because everything in here is a piece of crap!" The stress was getting to (y/n), and she was losing her cool.

"We gotta find a good repairman!" Ray told her, pressing his controller repeatedly, and the sprocket started playing up.

"Not the sprocket, too." He whined, throwing the Santa pants to the couch.

"Gooch!" The screen showed the Indian man with a patchy signal.

"Go for Gooch."

"Just get your toolbox down here and come help (y/n). We got a lot of stuff to fix." Ray tried to tell him, but the woman just growled in annoyance.

"Ray, you know there is only one repairman who can fix things down there," Gooch said, not naming any names.

"I'm not calling him!" Ray muttered back, the memory of the man making him angry.

"We need him, get on the damn phone!" (y/n) shook his shoulders, but he grabbed her wrists and looked into her eyes.

"No, we don't need him, and I will not let him back in our Man Cave!" He said sternly, but she didn't miss the way he said "our Man Cave". That had never been said before.

"I can't fix this stuff!" She tried to reason with him, but he just reached over to turn off the screen.

"Bye!" He said to Gooch.

"Don't you press that but--" Gooch and (y/n) said, not finished with the conversation, but it was too late.

"Who were you talking about?" Charlotte asked as the woman plopped down on Ray's knee in annoyance, his hand resting on her back to steady her.

"Schwoz." Ray spat out the name.

"What's a Schwoz?" Charlotte had never heard of a name like that.

"This guy that used to work with him. He built most of this place, all this cool stuff. He developed the technology we use, built all the weapons and devices. I'm telling you, he's a genius!" (y/n) told her about the man. He had been a good friend to her and was the only one she had properly told about how she felt about Ray. He had been sworn to secrecy and kept silent even when he and Ray fell out.

"Yeah, he's a genius." Ray mocked her, not liking how she was going on about him. He wanted to be the one she spoke of with such adoration. 

"He sounds awesome." Charlotte agreed with the young woman. This Schwoz sounded like just the guy they needed.

"Well, awesome guys don't steal your girlfriend!" Ray shouted at her, and (y/n) rolled her eyes.

"Ooh, wow." The teen looked down at the new information.

"Yeah, that's what I said when I found out that she'd been Schwoz'd!" Ray exclaimed, the memory still irritating him.

"Oh, please. She was just as much to blame!" (y/n) tried to make him see that the girlfriend was no good. Sure, Schwoz had done something wrong, but it took two people to cheat.

"Don't defend him!" Ray pointed a gloved finger at her.

"Don't be a dick then!" She replied, grabbing his finger and bending it back a little, the pressure making the man wince and back down.

The tube beeped, and they all thought Henry was finally coming down. He was, in a way. The boy fell down the shaft, landing on his feet and falling backwards. His knees ached from taking the brunt of the drop.

"Oh, man." 

"Henry!"

"I'll get the first aid kit!" Ray and Charlotte looked at the boy in horror, as (y/n) grabbed her medical supplies and quickly ran to the groaning boy's side. She helped him up, and he looked at her with a dazed expression. 

"That...that really hurt me." He said to her.

"My god, is anything broken?" She looked up and down his body, not seeing any visible injuries.

"I'm fine, it's all good." Henry smiled at her, as a beeping came from Ray's remote.

"Uh-oh. Oh, man." He cried at what it said.

"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked him, peering up at the screen.

"Santa Claus jumped outta the police car and now he's running down Swellview Boulevard," Ray whined, hating the thought of having to chase the pant-less man.

"But, his pants are right here." (y/n) picked them up from the couch and brought them over to him.

"Exactly, let's go." (y/n) handed them over and he and Henry went back to the tube area. They smacked their belts, but only Henry's tube came down. Ray slapped his navel several more times, however, nothing happened.

"Come on!" He yelled.

"Let's just both take my tube," Henry told him calmly.

"All right." The superhero grumbled, so Henry raised his tube and Ray shuffled over. He put his arms around Henry in a hug.

"Awwww, cute." (y/n) snapped a photo of them together on her phone, and they each gave her a bored face in return. Hitting his belt buckle again, they prepared for the tube, only this time, the opposite one came down.

"Seriously?!"

"Geez!" They both screamed as everything in the Man Cave began to malfunction at once.

"You better call Schwoz." Charlotte insisted.

"Never!" Ray hissed back.

"RAYMOND! CALL HIM!" (y/n) pointed her finger at him, the noise in the hideout was beginning to annoy her.

"Who's Schwoz?" Henry asked, having not heard about the clever man from the tube.

"He's this guy that used to work for me a long--" Ray was cut off when the tube over them came down and hit his head.

"OW!"He exclaimed, putting his hand over where he was hit.

"Just call him, please!" (y/n) didn't want anyone else getting hurt. No one else was indestructible, and that meant that she and the kids were at risk of serious injury.

"I hate him!" Ray seethed at her.

"I don't care!" She told him, as she ran to the computer, hoping she could at least she could get a tube working.

~The next day~

Ray, (y/n) and Charlotte were back down in the Man Cave trying to troubleshoot all of the problems.

"Hey, I really wish you'd get those things working." The tall man said to the two females, who turned around and glared at him.

"When you get off your butt and contribute to our efforts, then I'll take directions from you." (y/n) said to him, and he smiled sheepishly at her, and she turned back around with an amused expression. She couldn't stay mad for long, especially when he was looking so good in his tight, white, long-sleeved t-shirt.

The shouts of Henry falling down in the elevator drew their attention away from the fuzzy screens.

"Hey, something's wrong with the dumb elevator." He complained to the three after he stepped through the doors

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" Ray asked, sensing something was off.

"Because I got kicked off my dumb basketball team." He explained, as (y/n) stood next to Ray.

"Are you good at basketball?" She asked him, having never heard about the boy playing the sport before. 

"No." He replied, just as the couch began to spin, making Ray, who was leaning against it, fall into (y/n). Her arms wrapped around him to stabilise them both.

"Charlotte! You made the couch spin again." Ray shouted at the girl on the computer, as he guided his friend away from the twirling couch.

"Well, why don't you hop on it and take a ride?" The girl snapped back, having had enough of his bossing around.

"Ray, the repairman (y/n) ordered is here. He's on his way down." The man said excitedly, knowing who was on his way down.

"What? You can't just send some stranger down here until we have him checked out." Looking between the woman mentioned and Gooch.

"I got to go." Before he could get into trouble, Gooch killed the link. Ray looked at (y/n) for answers, but then the elevator came down, the mystery man inside. 

The doors opened, a small, strange man with a balding head and overalls on walked out and put down his toolbox.

"Hey." He greeted his old friends in a thick, foreign accent that was difficult to place.

"Schwoz," Ray said through his teeth, looking at the man in anger and then (y/n), who was smiling brightly at Schwoz.

"Get out." The superhero ordered him in a harsh voice, stalking towards the man, making (y/n) step in front of him and put her hands on his chest.

"Come on, Ray, don't be like that." She pleaded with him, but even her best puppy-dog eyes couldn't melt his anger.

"I mean it! I can't believe you brought him here! Out of here." He kept moving forward, forcing the woman backwards until she was stood next to Schwoz.

"That's Schwoz?" Henry asked, entertained by the man's funny appearance.

"You must be new sidekick, Kid Danger." The tech-genius smiled as he shook Henry's hand warmly. All the niceties were getting under Ray's skin.

"Don't you talk to Henry. You keep your Schwoz cooties off of him." Ray slapped the man's hands away from Henry, and (y/n) looked up at him in horror, shocked that her best friend, who was usually so amicable, was being so mean.

"Ray! It's been three years!" She pointed out to him, as Schwoz walked around the group.

"Yeah, three years since he stole my girlfriend." He replied, following the repairman's every move.

"If it makes you feel any better, I dumped her two weeks later," Schwoz told him, leaning the computer controls. His words made (y/n) wince. 'Why tell him that?" She groaned inwardly.

"Why would that make me feel better?" Ray exclaimed.

"Can I get something to eat?" Schwoz moved away from the subject.

"You could if that hunk-a-junk snack machine you built actually worked." Ray insulted him.

"I check it." The small man said, determined to prove that his machines were cutting-edge science, not junk.

"Don't order a hot dog," Charlotte warned him, remembering what happened yesterday.

Schwoz pressed the touch screen on the snack machine, and a probe dropped out. Holding it against the screen, he then clicked a few buttons, so the machine's software system would reset itself. The four people behind him just looked on in confusion.

"Now, would anyone like a nacho tower?" He said to the machine in his funny voice, and the computer responded immediately, creating a hot, steaming pile of tasty-looking nachos.

"Whoa, nacho tower," Henry said it as Schwoz did, and (y/n) took a nacho from the plate.

"He fixed the auto-snacker," Charlotte said, sounding impressed.

"Oh my god, I tried for hours last night to get that thing to work. And he made it looked so easy." She said the last part whilst looking directly at Ray.

"I don't care, you ruined our friendship. Now, I've only got one left." Ray replied, gesturing to the woman, which made Henry and Charlotte look at him with frowning faces.

"You know what I mean. And, you're not gonna fix it with a platter of hot, Mexican treats." Ray tried to say, the smelling enticing him, as Henry, Charlotte and (y/n) filled their faces.

"Well, I forgive you."

"Me too."

"I was never that mad." The superhero folded his arms after they voiced their support.

"Look, if you want me to leave, just tell me 'Leave'." Schwoz looked at the grumpy man.

"Leave, leave, leave, leave, leave," Ray repeated at him in an agitated voice.

"Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay." (y/n) said this time, looking up at Ray with hard eyes.

"I'm the boss here!" He whispered at her.

"I have to run this place! I need the equipment to work!" She snapped back, so Henry interjected.

"Shut up before you fall out again." He deadpanned to the friends, which made them break apart and look at each other apologetically, the tension dissolving immediately. Their hearts were still tender from the last time they argued, and they didn't want to be apart again.

"So you want me to stay?" Schwoz butted in, making Ray form a fist at his face. 

"Because I could fix up all the broken schtuff around this place." He offered.

"Do it." Henry and Charlotte nodded.

"No!" While he didn't want to make (y/n) angry, he stilled hated Schwoz and didn't want him all over the Man Cave.

"Let him fix the broken schtuff," Henry said to him.

"Please, Raymond. Pretty please? I'll love you forever..." (y/n) fluttered her eyes at him and made her voice as sweet as she could, even though she was already sure she would love Ray until the end of time. The large man looked down at her, and couldn't resist how she gazed at him.

"All right, fix the broken schtuff. And give me a nacho." He said to Schwoz, giving in. Henry took the plate of food, as Ray went to sit on the couch, taking (y/n) with him. They giggled together as they sat down, and the three still at the computer looked their way.

"Ah, young girl is still in love, no?" Schwoz whispered to the teens.

"Oh yeah, totally," Henry answered as he put a chip in his mouth.

"And Ray finally asked her out?" He carried on, hoping that their pining was over.

"Ha, no. He'll never admit it to her." Charlotte said in a hushed tone, but the couple were still in their happy, little world and didn't see them talking to each other in a huddle. 

"So he is still nincompoop? Man, it's been years since she told me. I thought she would have done something by now." Schwoz told them, their eyes widening at how long (y/n) had been crushing on Ray.

"She never said it was that long." Henry looked at the girl as she smiled and laughed along at what Ray was telling her.

"I had been here long time when Ray employed her. She was a hard worker and he couldn't help but love her." He sighed dreamily, remembering the good old days.

"But?" Charlotte said, expecting a twist.

"He kept dating the womens and she wanted to stay professional. So, here we are." Schwoz said, frowning at the pair, who were now looking at cat videos on (y/n)'s phone, her head on his chest and his arm around her shoulder.

"He's dumb." Henry said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

"And she's too shy." Charlotte analysed.

"They will realise one day, and they will get married and have lots of beebees. Now, children, I must work." Schwoz left them standing together and started working on the computer's video-chat system.

"What's a beebee?" Henry looked at Charlotte, who just shrugged and ate another nacho.

~

Schwoz was tweaking some controls at the back of the Man van, as Ray, Henry and (y/n) finished the nachos on the couch. Grabbing his remote, the repairman walked to the centre of the floor and turned to them.

"Now, who's ready for technological fun?" He asked them.

"Yeah."

"Give us your best shot." Henry and (y/n) answered him, but Ray was still cheesed off.

Running to the tube area, Schwoz went up and came down in the one opposite, proving they were working again.

"All right, he fixed them!" The woman smiled, a hand on Ray's shoulder.

"And I fixed the TVs and the sprocket. And watch this." Schwoz told them excitedly, running down from the tubes.

"Security lasers on." Schwoz pressed his button, and a series of red lasers appeared all over the Man Cave.

"OOh, lasers." Henry geeked out at the new feature, (y/n) grinning too. But Ray was still upset. The teen reached out to touch one and was still impressed when it burned his finger.

"Security off." The lasers disappeared and Schwoz leapt onto the end of the couch, next to where Henry was sat.

"Smoochy music on." A romantic love song began playing over the speakers, and the couch started spinning slowly as Gooch danced. 

"That'll impress your girlfriends." (y/n) patted Ray's leg in an attempt to impress him, despite her words breaking her heart.

"Smoochy music off." Ray wasn't bothered by the new addition, because it was installed by the man who he currently hated.

"Whoaaa, he is impressive." Henry clapped and looked at Ray.

"Yeah, yeah." Captain Man just ate another nacho. Schwoz sat down from where he was stood.

"Too bad you can't use your technical skills to make me a better basketball player." Henry sighed at him, sparking an idea in the small man's mind.

"Hey... who says I can't make you a better basketball player, huh?" He smirked and nudged Henry, who didn't pick up on his hints.

"I did. Was I wrong?" He asked, Schwoz nodding with a devious smile.

~

Schwoz had found the gear he was looking for and started to put the sleeves onto Henry's arms.

"Cool sleeve. Feels good." The boy nodded once it had been programmed.

"I've seen better sleeves," Ray commented, taking a swig from his soda, as (y/n) dozed peacefully on his shoulder.

"What are the goggles for?" Henry asked Schwoz, ignoring his boss's comment.

"They are wirelessly connected to the sleeve using bloop-toop." The foreign man said to him, his ending words not making much sense to the teen.

"Bloop-toop?" Henry sounded confused.

"He means Bluetooth." (y/n) called to him, her voice rough from sleep and how she smushed her face back into Ray's chest.

"I don't understand but--whoa!" A rocket-propelled basketball hoop appeared from the ceiling once Schwoz pressed his controller again. Ray stood up, the woman on him complaining but following too as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes,

"I didn't know we had a hoop." She said through a yawn. Her attempts to repair the tech last night and therefore her lack of sleep was starting to catch up to her.

"Neither did I," Ray said, bringing her to his chest so she could rest on him again, enjoying the way her warmth seeped through his shirt.

"And now..take this and shoot the bashket." The small guy instructed Henry, a basketball dropping from the ceiling.

"Wait!" He suddenly stopped the boy, his loud voice making (y/n) jumped under Ray's arm. He petted her hair and she soon quietened down.

"What?" Henry wanted to know what he had done wrong.

"Close your eyes." Schwoz directed him, to prove how well the device would work.

"But I need to see." The boy insisted, but regardless, he did as he was told. Bouncing the ball once, he closed his eyes and shot the ball right into the hoop.

"What?" He looked extremely surprised.

"Hey, let me try one," Ray said, putting (y/n) down on the sofa and rushing off to get the ball. The young woman followed his movements through tired eyes.

Picking up the ball, Ray threw it as hard as he could at Schwoz, narrowly missing her on the couch. 

"That was uncalled for!" She said, her rapidly beating heart waking her up in seconds.

"That's not what balls are for!" Schwoz looked at Ray with a hurt face.

"Well, you shouldn't have kissed my girlfriend." The superhero refused to let it go, much to the annoyance of his two friends.

"So, if I wear these goggles and this sleeve thing..." Henry took back the inventor's attention.

"You will make bashket every time." He smiled back at him with reassurance.

"Oh, man. This is amazing. Thanks, Schwoz. I'm going to destroy that Shawn Corbit guy." Henry smiled back as Ray stood with his hands on his hips.

"Let us celebrate with smoochy music and whirly lights." Schwoz turned them on and ran to get (y/n) on her feet, so they and Henry could dance to it. Ray watched on, his stubborn streak not letting him join in. (y/n) stepped off the couch and sauntered over to him.

"You know you wanna dance." She smirked at him.

"Maybe." He didn't smile, and couldn't look her in the eye.

"Come on, dance with me." She held out her hand and nodded back to the spinning couch, where Schwoz and Henry were coyly smirking at each other. 

"Fine." The man caved in, after all, how could he refuse an offer like that?

~The next day, Swellview High~

It was the day of Henry's big match against Shawn Corbit, and Ray, Schwoz and (y/n) were walking to the gym where it was taking place. The woman's hand was firmly in Ray's as he dragged her along, harshly ignoring the smaller man.

"You could at least make small talk." She said to the man in front of her as they weaved through the corridors of Henry's school.

"I don't want to talk to him." He replied bitterly, Schwoz trying to keep up on his short legs. (y/n) rolled her eyes at Ray's words and they pushed open the doors to the gym. Walking in with their popcorn and snow cone, they saw how Henry was shouting perfectly thanks to the gadget Schwoz had built him.

Sitting down on a bench, Ray decided to sit way too close to a pretty looking woman at the end. Ignoring (y/n) and Schwoz on his left he turned up the flirting as he noticed her long legs.

"Hey there." His smooth voice greeted her, and (y/n) found herself in the middle of two males who both fancied one woman. 'Why me?' She cried in her head, remembering how this situation ended last time.

"Hello." The woman smiled back with a sweet tone. Schwoz could see how sad his friend looked at Ray's new interest, so he decided he would try to help out.

"So, are you a teacher?" Ray asked the woman, giggling with her.

"Yeah, I teach eighth grade Spanish." She told him.

"Caliente." The large man complimented her.

"Bueno." (y/n) could deal with Ray's flirting from afar, but being sat right next to it with him and a beautiful teacher to her left made her cross her arms.

"Ay, Dios Mio." She muttered under her breath, only Schwoz hearing her, so he made his move.

"I am Schwoz." The man leaned across the woman in the middle of them and grinned at the Spanish teacher. 

"You say nothing!" Ray snapped back to him, not wanting another girl taken by the little man. How did he expect him to move on from (y/n) if he kept stealing the girls?

"Listen up! This is a game of one-on-one. Playing to ten. The winner stays on the basketball team, the loser goes home to his mommy." The coach explained to the two boys, even though (y/n) was fairly certain that 'Shawn Corbit' wasn't a boy and that the coach was a massive douchebag.

"Okay, let's get this over with. Henry, your ball." The manager made to pass the basketball to Henry but dropped it at the last minute. Switching on his sleeve, Henry gave a thumbs up to Schwoz and (y/n) who returned the gesture with encouraging smiles. Ray was preoccupied with making out with the hot teacher.

"Oh my god, do you mind?" She groaned at Ray as he was practically laying on top of her. 'Is he trying to kill me?' She whimpered inwardly but concentrated on the game as Henry started bouncing the ball and moving across the gym. He jumped up to make the hoop, but the vastly taller man used his height to slap the ball out of his hands. Running the ball up the court, Shawn fired and easily scored a goal. 

"Hey, give me your phone!" Piper said to Charlotte as she recorded the match.

"Why?" The dark-haired girl couldn't see why she would need it.

"So I can shoot Henry's disaster from two angles." She exclaimed, not caring if Henry lost and got kicked off the team.

"I'm going to get some lemonade. You want some?" Ray looked at the woman as they broke apart from their kiss.

"Sure." The woman hadn't looked at her student's match once, and Ray turned to his sulking best friend.

"You want some lemonade?" He smiled at her.

"No thanks, I'm feeling a bit sick." She told him in a flat voice, her eyes not leaving Henry's game.

"Okay. Be right back." He patted her knee, not taking her tone as an annoyed one, but rather an interest in what was happening on the court. Realising he'd be a few minutes in the queue, Schwoz looked at (y/n) and whispered in her ear.

"Change places with me." The woman furrowed her eyebrows, taking her focus off the game for a moment.

"Why?" 

"So, I can make move on lady teacher," Schwoz smirked at her, but she wasn't amused.

"Ray will kill you." Did this guy never learn?

"Just move." She slid down the bench with a sigh, as Schwoz took Ray's place and began to flirt in the teacher's ear.

Henry was struggling against the man he was playing with. He just didn't have the height to get around him, so every time he tried to shoot, Corbit took the ball from his hands and scored against him. 

"Henry, try and score this time." Oliver Pook called from the sidelines.

"Thanks, Oliver!" Henry said to the boy sarcastically. As if he was letting Shawn win. Making another run up the court, he aimed and fired, but once again, the ball was smacked out of his hands, ran back down the court and passed through the opposite hoop. It carried on and on until Shawn was way past the set benchmark of ten goals.

"Come on, grandma. Anyone can make instant oatmeal." Shawn even made a phone call during the match, and Henry still wasn't able to score.

Henry was starting to tire and lose faith as the score went past 0-26. Shawn gave him back the ball, appearing to let him score just once, but as soon as he jumped, the ball was slapped out of his hands.

"How is this fair?" (y/n) said to no one in particular since the Spanish teacher was still being 'Schwoz'd' and Ray was still in the line for lemonade.

"I thought we were only playing to ten," Henry questioned the coach, nothing that he was 32 goals down.

"Oh yeah. Game over! Shawn wins! Have a nice life, Henry." The coach blew his whistle, officially ending the game, and he put his arm around the victor. Henry looked depressed as he went to his stuff on the sidelines.

"One lemonade for me and one lemonade for..." Ray came back over to his friends and saw Schwoz making out with the teacher as (y/n) typed away on her phone. 

"Schwoz!" He yelled, making the small man jump up and run away, afraid that the larger man would hurt him.

"Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?!" Ray screeched, his fist closing around one of the lemonades, making it burst all over the floor. The teacher reached for the still intact cup, but Ray looked at her with wide eyes and pulled it out of her reach.

"No, no, no. No lemonade for you." He said to her with a miffed face. (y/n) stood up and put her phone back in her pocket.

"Come on, Casanova. She isn't worth it." She smiled at her friend and led him away from the pouty teacher, who clearly just wanted some free lemonade.

~After the match~

"Hey." Shawn Corbit walked up to Henry and sat down.

"Hi." The teen didn't really feel like talking to the man that beat him for a place on the basketball team.

"I'm sorry, man." The large male looked down in shame.

"Hey, you won fair and square," Henry said dejectedly.

"No, I didn't," Shawn revealed.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not 14," Shawn whispered to him, although it was pretty obvious already.

"I didn't think so. How old are you?" Henry asked him, wanting to know what the coach had pulled.

"I'm 26. I'm a grown man. I work at Master Prize Rent-A-Car." The tall man divulged his real identity.

"Well, how do you know Coach Bix?" The boy looked at him, not believing what he was hearing.

"He came in to rent a car. He pulled me aside and said, 'I want you to come play basketball for me.'" The man told the story."

"And you said okay?" 

"No, I said no."

"Then why are you playing ball for him?" Henry asked, not seeing why Shawn would agree to play against a bunch of kids.

"Because he kidnapped my Lulu." The man said in a teary voice.

~At the Man Cave~

"Who the hell is Lulu?" (y/n) asked Henry as he retold them everything Shawn had said to him.

"Shawn's puppy. She's a cockapoo." Henry explained to her as she stood next to Ray, who was sat down at the computer and trying to process the story.

"Wait a minute. So you're telling us that your coach kidnapped Shawn's puppy..." Ray started, wanting to know if he had all the facts correct.

"The cockapoo." (y/n) nodded at him.

"And now he's forcing Shawn to pretend he's 14-years-old so he can play in your junior high school basketball team?" It sounded really strange when Ray said it all out loud.

"Crazy, right?" Henry looked at them both.

"Uh, yeah. Coach Bix is insane." (y/n) told the boy.

"Coach won't give him the puppy back unless our team wins the state championship," Henry said, making Ray angrily take out his gum tube and pop a gumball.

"Oooh, you're chewing. What are you gonna do?" The teen looked at his boss with an excited expression.

"They are two things I hate in the world, and one of the is guys who kidnap other guys dogs to make them do stuff." Ray declared, moving away from the supercomputer so he could transform into his costume.

"What's the other thing?" Henry looked confused.

"Celery!" (y/n) immediately knew the answer, remembering when she first started working for Ray and he made her pick it out of his food. That was the first time he saw her temper blow up, and it was also one of the first times his heart skipped a beat when she spoke to him. No girl had ever stood up to Captain Man and resisted his charms, making him realise how special she was.

"Yeah." Henry agreed. He also disliked the green stem vegetable.

"It ruins tuna salad," Ray explained and the woman groaned.

"Ruins it," Henry said with him.

"I work with children." (y/n) grumbled, as Ray blew his bubble and became Captain Man.

~Coach Bix's House~

"Yeah, good old Salisbury steak." Coach Bix had only taken one bite of his dinner when his doorbell was pressed. He let out a groan and answered the door.

"Who is it?" He mumbled, still chewing his steak.

"Look through your peephole." Ray squeaked at him in a fake, high-pitched voice. The man looked through the hole, and that's when Ray punched through the door, knocking the guy backwards onto the sofa. He broke down the door and walked into the apartment, revealing himself to be Captain Man.

"Captain Man? Hey, I never said you could come in." The guy said to the superhero.

"Too bad, jerk." Ray snapped at the puppy-stealer. He crouched down by the dog cage next to the couch and freed the cute, little puppy. He could see why (y/n) wanted one so much.

"Hey, I didn't say you could touch that." Bix pointed a finger at the larger man.

"I didn't ask. Aw, you're a good baby. Aw, don't you worry, sweetheart." Ray cooed at the adorable creature, as he brought it into his arms.

"You better not take my puppy." The basketball coach seethed, but Ray wasn't scared of the pathetic man.

"It's not your puppy. Now, get in the cage." He hissed back.

"What? No, that's for a dog." The man protested.

"One..." Ray started to count.

"Maybe I'll get in the cage." The man submitted, not wanting to be on the receiving end of another one of Captain Man's punches. He crawled inside and Ray locked the door after him.

"Shawn, you can come in now." He called to the waiting man.

"Lulu!" He cried in joy at seeing his pet.

"Here you go." Ray passed her over, and Shawn was more than happy to cuddle her to her chest.

"Aw. Thanks, Captain Man." He smiled down at the squirming dog.

"Thank you, for liking puppies." The superhero smiled at the reunion.

"Come on, Lulu. Let's go buy matching sweaters." The man left with the puppy and Ray knew his work was done.

~Back at the Man Cave~

Henry was practising shooting a ball with Schwoz's techno-sleeve, Ray and (y/n) watching him with smiles on their faces.

"Whoa, yeah." He said when he scored the goal and patted the man's tummy in celebration. The elevator dinged and Schwoz stepped out sheepishly.

"Okay, I fixed the elevator."

"Good." Was all Ray said, so (y/n) took it upon herself to give the handyman the fitting recognition for his hard work.

"Thank you, Schwoz. I could never have fixed everything on my own." Her smiles and soft words made the man look at her bashfully.

"Yes, thank you. Now, leave my life." Ray's semi-polite tone turned cold, as he put his hands on his hips.

"Okay, boss," Schwoz said quietly, his distraught face breaking the young woman's heart.

"Ray..." Henry tried to reason with him.

"Stay out of this, Henry," Ray told him sternly, and (y/n) left his side, her face void of emotion.

"No, he can't go." Her face didn't move, but her eyes told them how she was really feeling.

"Goodbye, peoples. Schwoz out." The little man stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to close the door.

"Great. What happens next time something breaks around here?" Henery asked Ray.

"(y/n) can fix it," Ray said, as the woman blinked back tears.

"I don't know how! I can do some wiring and soldering but nothing like this." She sniffed and gesture to all the machinery in the Man Cave.

"No one else can fix this stuff." Henry pleaded, the woman steeling herself.

"Too bad. He's gone." Ray told him, but the elevator doors opened again.

"I still here." Schwoz waved and Henry and (y/n) smiled at Ray in hope.

"All right, Schwoz. You can have your old room back." Ray groaned and gave in. His best friend jumped on him, squealing with happiness that sank into his skin and made him smile with her.

"Yeah, baby!" Schwoz cheered and ran to join their hug. However, Schwoz wasn't (y/n) and his hugs didn't fill the larger man with love and joy in the same way.

"Get off!" He shrugged the foreign man off, but kept his arm around his best friend's waist, not ready to let go yet.

"Never leap on me again!" He pointed a finger at Schwoz, but (y/n) giggling at him, calmed him down quickly and the little guy ran off to reclaim his old bedroom.

Ray looked away in disgust at the thought of living with him again, but his face dropped into shock when (y/n) pressed a kiss to his lower cheek.

"Thank you." She smiled at him sweetly, her small peck making his heart beat faster than the ten-minute make-out session he had with the teacher earlier. Walking off, (y/n) left Ray in a daze with a stupid expression on his face.

"Schwoz! Don't touch anything till I get there!" She ran through the sprocket, intent on stopping the chaotic man in his wake before he could disturb the peace she kept in the headquarters.

Ray looked at Henry, his pupils dilated and his cheeks dusted with a pink blush. His hand still rested where her lips had been, making Henry grin.

"Should I leave the room?" He joked as Ray snapped out of his daydream.

"Shut up!" The superhero scolded him.

"All right, Ray... check this out." Henry moved on, taking off his goggles and the sleeve.

"No sleeve. Just the kid." Ray looked at him with a bored face. He knew that without the technology to help, Henry was terrible at basketball. Henry bounced the ball a few times, aimed and threw the ball at the hovering hoop, missing completely. The ball landed on a piece of equipment, which started sparking and short-circuiting from the blow.

"Schwoz?" They called the genius, as the machine stopped working.

"Don't tell (y/n) it was us," Ray said, holding his hand out for Henry to shake. His best friend would kill him if she found out they were playing basketball with sensitive apparatus around.

"Deal." They shook hands and smiled up at the two adults coming down from the sprocket.

"What have you done now?" (y/n) eyed them suspiciously.

"Nothing." They lied, and she still didn't believe them. There was always mischief going on down in the Man Cave.

[mariacallous]

This summer, a Vancouver car mechanic named Max got a perplexing ping on his phone: Betty White was in Ukraine and needed his help. This was surprising because she had died on a Canadian highway back in January.

When Max last saw Betty White, his nickname for his Tesla Model Y Performance, they were both in rough shape after getting sideswiped on the highway. Max’s rotator cuff was torn in several places. The small SUV had bounced off multiple concrete barriers at high speed and was bashed in on all four corners, its wheels ripped to pieces. Coolant appeared to be leaking into the battery chamber. From his own work on EVs in the garage, Max knew that Betty was done for. “No auto shop would put a repair person at risk with that kind of damage,” says Max, whose last name isn’t being used out of doxing concerns. A damaged EV battery can become dangerous due to the risk of shocks, fire, and toxic fumes. His insurer agreed, and Betty was written off and sent to a salvage yard.

Months after he had last seen the car, Max’s Tesla app was now telling him that Betty needed a software update. It showed the car with an extra 200 kilometers on the odometer, fully charged, and parked in Uman, a town in Ukraine’s Cherkasy Oblast, midway between Kyiv and the front line with Russia’s invasion force. Minutes after that first ping, the app showed the car in service mode, suggesting Betty was undergoing repairs. “I thought it must be a mistake,” Max says.

There was no mistake. WIRED tracked Betty down to a Ukrainian auto auction website, looking good as new, maybe even better, with newly tinted windows and rearview mirrors wrapped in black. Betty 2.0 was being sold by “Mikhailo,” who wrote that the car had suffered “a small blow” in Canada and been repaired with original Tesla parts. The price, $55,000, was roughly the same as a new Model Y Performance costs in the US.

Betty White’s intercontinental resurrection was impressive but not unusual. For a long time, cars written off in North America have found their way to Eastern European repair shops willing to take on damage that US and Canadian mechanics won’t touch. In 2021, the most recent data available, Ukraine was a top-three destination for used US passenger vehicles sent overseas, close behind Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. And Ukraine’s wreck importers and repairers are particularly known for their ingenuity. Some have made fixing EVs written off across the Atlantic into a specialty, helping to drive a surge in the number of electric vehicles on the country’s roads, even as the war with Russia rages.

Though few automakers sell new EVs in Ukraine, the share of newly registered vehicles that are fully electric, 9 percent, is about the same as in the US and nearly double that of neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic. Most of Ukraine’s refurbished EVs come from North America, and many arrive with major damage.

There’s a ready supply of crashed North American EVs in part because electrics are becoming more common, and also because in recent years, relatively new EVs with low mileage have been written off at a higher rate than their gas-powered equivalents, according to data from insurers. US and Canadian repair shops and insurers see them as more dangerous and difficult to fix. Scrapyards find it hard to make money from their parts and instead ship them abroad.

Ivan Malakhovsky is not afraid to work on cases like Betty White. His five-year-old repair business in Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, fixes about 100 Teslas a month, roughly a fifth of them from overseas, and employs a staff that varies between six to 10 people. He’s currently away from home, serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but he manages his workers, and sometimes makes software-mediated repairs, remotely. “We have problems in our lives and can fix them, whether a battery or a full-scale invasion,” says Malakhovsky. “Electric cars, electric car batteries—it’s no problem.”

An electric vehicle battery is made up of thousands of individual cells, which store and release energy. Sometimes, Malakhovsky says, he and his coworkers will break up large EV batteries damaged beyond repair and repurpose the cells to power electric scooters or even drones for the war effort. He says the vast majority of Teslas on Ukrainian roads were once involved in wrecks in North America.

The war has even boosted Ukraine’s EV resurrection business at times, by driving up gas prices and making electrics more attractive to drivers. Ukraine has a public charging network of some 11,000 chargers, according to Volodymyr Ivanov, the head of communications at Nissan Motor Ukraine—that’s more than the state of New York, and double the number in neighboring Poland. Since 2018, Ukraine’s government has removed most taxes and customs duties on used EV imports. In the US, electric vehicles tend to be expensive, and the average EV driver is still a high-income male homeowner. North American wrecks, Ukraine’s EV incentives, and its relatively low electricity prices have created a different picture. “There is a joke here that all poor people are driving electric cars, and all the rich people are driving petrol cars,” says Malakhovsky. “Tesla is a common-people, popular car because it’s very cheap in maintenance.”

That’s a relatively recent development, says Hans Eric Melin, head of Circular Energy Storage, a UK-based consultancy that tracks the international flows of used EVs and batteries. He began watching the Ukraine market in particular a few years ago, after he noticed more ads for Nissan Leafs on auction sites listed in Ukrainian than in English. At the time, the Leaf, a pioneer among EVs, was essentially the only one that had been around long enough to develop a healthy used market. Over time, Ukraine’s electric fleet grew to encompass the full range of EVs sold around the world, including Teslas, as more cars hit the roads and aged or got into crashes.

Melin had suspected Ukraine’s EV boom would end with the war. “I was completely wrong,” he says. By this summer, Ukraine’s EV fleet had doubled since July 2021, to 64,312, according to data compiled by the Automotive Market Research Institute, a Ukrainian research and advocacy group.

Roman Tyschenko, a 25-year-old IT worker who lives in Kyiv, decided last September that he was sick of his Jeep’s $400-a-month gas bill. Friends had purchased used, damaged electric cars on an online auction website called Copart, a US-based public auto reseller with 200 locations around the world. He logged on and spent $24,000 on a gray 2021 Tesla Model Y that had taken a solid blow to its passenger side in Dallas, Texas. Its bumper was almost fully detached; its hood was tented; some of its airbags had deployed.

That Texan Model Y was likely declared totaled by an insurer. From there, it probably moved to a salvage auction in the US, where licensed exporters, salvage shops, and repairers tried to figure out how much value they could squeeze out of the wreck. The winner, or perhaps the insurer itself, listed the car on Copart, which made it available to anyone around the world who wanted a smashed-up Tesla and was willing to pay for shipping.

If Tyschenko hadn’t brought the Texan Tesla to Ukraine himself, it had a good chance of being shipped there anyway by someone who professionally flips cars to countries like Ukraine. These exporters look for wrecks potentially worth more than their scrap value, but little enough that an expensive US repair and resale wouldn’t make sense. Some ship vehicles directly to Ukrainian repairers and pay for the fix, while others import damaged cars and relist them for sale to Ukrainian buyers who can figure it out for themselves.

It takes a damaged North American car between one and five months to reach a nearby port. Before the war, wrecked cars headed to Ukraine’s Port of Odessa on the Black Sea. Since Russia invaded in 2022, they come through Klaipėda in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, or Koper in Slovenia on the Adriatic, and are brought to Ukraine by truck. A shop like Malakhovsky’s can fix a Tesla in somewhere between one week and one year, depending on the damage.

Tyschenko arranged for his Model Y to be shipped to a local repair shop in Kyiv, where it arrived in February 2023, five months after he hit the Buy button online. The technician sent him videos of the EV’s ongoing revamp every few weeks, and Tyschenko stopped by to visit a handful of times. By May, he had paid the technician some $25,000 for his work and was driving the Model Y around Kyiv.

Two months later, the battery died and Tyschenko spent another $4,000 to replace it—a demonstration of the risks of electric vehicle rescues. Still, he’s happy with how things worked out, and now pays just $10 to $100 a month to refuel his car, depending on whether he charges at home or at public stations.

Finding parts to repair Teslas and other EVs can be a challenge. On Facebook and Telegram, groups like “Renault Zoe Club Ukraine” host thousands of EV owners who barter with each other for spare parts. Oleksandr Perepelitsa, a 25-year-old electric vehicle repairer in Kyiv, says that when he first began his work three years ago, he and his business partners would buy two wrecked Teslas from overseas to create a single working vehicle to sell to local Ukranians. “Even that was profitable for us,” he says. Now, business connections can send Tesla parts from the US or Europe, or repairers buy cheaper Chinese reproductions.

The success of Ukraine’s EV resurrection industry is the flip side of the failure of insurers and manufacturers in North America to figure out what to do when a shiny new EV becomes roadkill.

US insurers are more willing to write off vehicles of all kinds that in the past may have been fixed. New vehicle repairs have gotten more expensive, in part due to vehicles getting more complex and computerized, as well as a shortage of vehicle technicians. In the past decade, the damaged cars up for auction “are better and less damaged,” Copart CEO Jeff Liaw told investors on an earnings call this year.

Industry-wide data is hard to come by, but numerous sources suggest that EVs are more likely to be written off than gas-powered cars, and can be declared unfixable after even minor crashes. A Reuters analysis this year found that a “large portion” of damaged EVs sold for scrap were low-mileage, nearly-new vehicles. While one in 10 new cars sold in the US and Canada this year are forecasted to be electric, the infrastructure and expertise needed to assess and fix damaged EVs can be patchy. “In an ideal world, electric vehicles are as easy to repair as internal combustion engine vehicles,” says Mark Fry, research manager at Thatcham Research, which crunches auto market data for insurers and other clients. It recently found British EVs get written off at disproportionately high rates.

The main reason EV repairs are so tricky comes down to a lack of agreement on how to handle EV batteries after a crash. Worldwide, there is no industry standard for measuring battery health. Vehicle manufacturers sometimes refuse to sanction battery repairs because of liability concerns. “If you repair the battery, what's it going to be like after another two, three years and another 50,000 miles?” Fry says. It’s easier to let nearly new vehicles be declared dead than to find out.

The North American scrap industry is also somewhat leery of EVs, says Megan Slattery, a researcher at UC Davis who studies what happens to damaged EV batteries. Scrap businesses generally make money by taking cars apart to extract the most valuable widgets to resell. But dismantling a battery takes dedicated workers, equipment, and—most important of all—space, due to the fire risks of storing lithium-ion cells. Many mom-and-pop dismantlers don’t have any of that.

Plus, EVs tend to have simpler drivetrains, with more plastic and large, prefabricated body components that can’t be easily pulled apart. In some electric vehicles, the battery is built directly into the car’s structure, making it especially difficult to dismantle or repair. All of that means that exporters looking to sell to eager buyers abroad have less competition when bidding on totaled cars.

In the US, there’s increasing pressure to keep broken EVs from heading overseas. Regulators are concerned about safety, hoping to better track broken batteries through shipping channels as fears rise of fires sparked by used EVs, including on cargo ships. Another is to avoid dumping e-waste on countries without the means to recycle or repurpose, and instead keep the valuable minerals inside batteries local. Battery recycling startups have received vast amounts of private and public investment—both in Western Europe and the US, with funds from the Inflation Reduction Act—with a promise to help shore up raw material supply chains. But so far, they have received only a trickle of used batteries.

Policies that wind up choking off the export of EV wrecks would in some ways be a shame, Slattery says. More stringent European Union export rules for used cars and EV batteries in particular are one reason why the supply of Teslas to Eastern Europe is so dependent on North American wrecks. Without them, the electric revolution would be much less advanced in places like Ukraine, where US and Canadian write-offs have helped support the emergence of charger networks, trained repair specialists, and a wide familiarity and acceptance that electric propulsion is not just green but also practical.

In North America, there's a widespread belief that “people don't want electric vehicles and that it's just laws and regulations that push us to buy them,” says Melin, the used EV analyst. “There are other markets that want to have electrics.” It’s a testament to a system that is working, Melin adds, that used EVs end up in places like Ukraine, where new models are difficult to come by.

For Max in Vancouver, Betty White’s reappearance overseas did cause some headaches. The car was still logged into his Google, Netflix, and Spotify accounts, potentially allowing the new owners to access his personal data. When he asked Tesla support, he was advised to change his passwords, Max says. (Tesla did not respond to WIRED’s questions.)

But looking back on the crash, and now driving a new Model Y—named Black Betty—Max says his old car’s resurrection is the best possible outcome. “I’m happy to see that Betty White has lived to see another day,” he says.

[m1autorepair]

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[solarpunkbusiness]

Surera Ward, CEO and founder of Girls Fix It, LLC

Girls Fix It, LLC, which she calls a technology solutions company specializing in cell phones, tablets, smartwatches, game consoles and computers. 

Surera (pronounced “Shore-ah”) is part of the fastest-moving technology industry trend: consumer electronic repair and maintenance. Before starting Girls Fix It, she spent 20 years in the corporate sector, leading software development teams for Fortune 500 companies as an IT business analyst\project manager.

Ward taught herself to program in the 1990s when she worked in software development. 

“Growing up,” she said, “I always liked to take things apart and fix them, like when a tape got stuck in the VCR machine. I got good at fixing.”  At 19, Ward started a software development company in Delaware, Infinity Software Systems. After four years, she transitioned to teaching in schools in Wilmington and New Castle. Currently, Girls Fix It offers training to senior citizens, and Ward also does business consulting for Cellbotics, an electronic device repair training firm based in Atlanta.

But a major problem for Ward and others like her is the planned obsolescence that one also finds in the auto industry. After all, if a product works perfectly for many years, why buy a new one?

Ward is finding, for example, that once she and her two assistants have conducted a repair on a customer's phone, the device will “often throw up error messages hard-coded in by manufacturers to discourage users from going to third-party experts.”

And a practice known as “parts pairing,” which ties individual parts to the devices they're shipped with using unique serial numbers, has made it harder to repair them.

But consumers and small independent repair experts like Ward are fighting back. According to a recent WHYY report, a “Right to Repair” movement is gaining traction around the country. “Four states have passed laws that require manufacturers to make it easier for consumers to repair their devices – a cracked screen, broken phone camera or broken laptop,” according to the story. “There’s legislation in New Jersey, Delaware and a bill in the Pennsylvania Senate, and another in the House. Advocates of these laws say they will save consumers money, save the planet from tons of e-waste and will support small local businesses.” 

Ward insists, “The 'Right to Repair' movement is for consumers and small businesses to have access to parts and schematics that they need. The manufacturers deliberately make the products hard to repair. Parts are often unavailable; schematics are often not accessible, and they create error messages. It's getting harder and harder to repair different devices. Any Apple iPhone 10 phone or better is very hard to repair. Legislation could help, but it would not fully resolve the issue.”

[autoservicesoftware]

Go for the friendly software designed for the repair shop

Now, managing the expenses of the repair shop becomes easy with the selection of the repair shop management software.

Are you looking for the best management software for businesses? Yes. You can look ahead with the software for repair shop management. They are managed, particularly for businesses that provide repair services. The software is perfect for automotive repair shops, electronics repair shops, and appliance repair services.

Here are some key features and benefits of using software:

Repair Shop Management Software can assist in scheduling appointments efficiently for customers. It cut down on the waiting time and optimised the repair shop workflow.

It is equally important for the job tracking and order of the work. It lets you create as well as track the work orders. It makes it easy to handle the progress of repairs and handle the complete workload.

It is helpful for inventory management. You should track and handle the spare parts as well as the levels of inventory. It makes sure that the repair shops possess all important components available when required.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is made for customer information. It also shares information on the repair history, communication logs, better customer service, and personalised interactions.

The software helps make the estimates as well as invoicing. You can easily generate the right estimates for repair costs and automate the invoicing procedure. It makes it simple to give transparent costs to customers.

Shake hands with the suppliers of the parts. Now, you can streamline the collection of parts by adding the suppliers. It lets the repair shops quickly order the required components.

To enjoy the full benefits of free auto repair software, you should contact the service providers. The customer team can help you manage the things in a better way. 

[amdtv24]

How to accelerate business growth?

There are 7 tips you can use to help  accelerate business growth.

Hire the right people 

Focus on established revenue sources 

Reduce your risks

Be adaptable 

Focus on the customer experience

Invest in  yourself 

Always think ahead 

1. Hire the right people

You need a strongest crew to justification you in achieving your objectives before you can even consider the development trajectory of your business.

In order to guarantee fast  growth, Christian Lanng, CEO and co-founder of business software supplier Tradeshift, said, "Hiring the best people you can is a surefire way to ensure rapid growth." "Having the right group is everything."

Your business will be better prepared for future growth if you have motivated personnel who are dedicated to its success. Furthermore, freeing up your time and energy to focus on critical work will enable you to perform at your best and foster a combining work environment.

2. Focus on established revenue sources

Bill Reilly, a Wisconsin-based auto repair businessman, advised focusing on the core consumers you already have rather than trying to gain new ones. According to him, you may achieve this by putting in place a referral or customer loyalty programme or by experimenting with marketing techniques based on past purchase habits to promote repeat business.

If you're looking for finance, it's crucial to focus on your existing market. In the past, Reilly added, "we would accentuate our company's desire to become a franchise, which didn't resonate with banks. "We found that it's important to underline the size of the market for what we do. A banker would be interested in this because they are more concerned with the return on investment. 

3. Reduce your risks

Risk is an inevitable part of starting and growing a business. It’s impossible to control everything, but there are many ways to limit internal and external threats to your company and its growth. One important resource to help you accomplish this is your business insurance provider.

“Small businesses need to manage their development  to avoid disruptions that can bring business to a grinding halt,” said Mike DeHetre, senior vice president of underwriting and insurance at Preferred Mutual. For example, “the theft of employee data, customer records, and product designs can destroy a small business, generating significant costs and eroding customer belief in oneself  and faithful,” he said. “Not every business owner’s policy covers data breaches or other cyber losses. Small businesses should be prepared by seeking insurance products that help them recover, including those that cover the cost of remediation and lawsuits.”

As your small business grows, you may add space or equipment, create new products or services, or increase your operating and distribution footprint. Therefore, DeHetre recommended reviewing your policy periodically to ensure you have the right coverage.

“It’s easy to forget this step amid fast expansion, but you don’t want to find out that you’ve outgrown your coverage just when you need it the most,” he said.

4. Be adaptable

One trait that a lot of successful startups have in common is the ability to switch directions fastly in response to changes in the market. Lanng said an agile approach to development, both in your product and your company, will help you grow more quickly.

“By allowing yourself to homogenise and change fastly, you’re capable of testing various viewpoints  to business and search for  what works best,” Lanng told Business News Daily. “It allows you to fail, pick yourself back up and keep going.”

Chris Cornell, founder and CEO of Manhead Merchandise, said his company has found adaptability to be key in expanding its client base beyond its initial focus on music merchandise.

“Look at current pop culture trends for a chance to become part of the movement when it makes sense,” he said. “In an era of internet fame, we looked to expand our horizons beyond the music industry. We partnered with ‘The King of Pop Culture’ and Insta-famous pup Doug the Pug to release his new gear. Recognizing the reach and popularity of Doug, we were capable of taking his merchandise to the next level, extending our business model beyond bands.”

5. Focus on the customer experience

Customers’ perceptions can make or break your business. Deliver quality experiences and products, and they’ll fastly sing your praises on social media; mess it up, and they’ll tell the world even faster. Fast growth depends on making your current and potential customers happy.

“Compared with large companies, small businesses are nimble and often better able to see, anticipate and respond to their customers’ needs,” DeHetre said. “The most successful small businesses exploit this advantage by bringing new and innovative products and services to market more quickly and developing and nurturing long-term customer relationships.”

Dennis Tanjeloff, president and CEO of Astro Gallery of Gems, agreed. He said listening to your customers and giving them what they want is of utmost importance.

“Diversify your offerings so you can best cater to the customers’ changing tastes,” Tanjeloff said. “Remember, you are here to serve the customer — it’s why you are open for business.”

6. Invest in yourself

In the early stages of your business, you’ll likely see a very lean profit margin (or no profit at all), so any money you make should go directly to helping your business grow.

In the early stages of your business, you’ll likely see a very lean profit margin (or no profit at all), so any money you make should go directly to helping your business grow.

“A startup’s capability to invest in itself [helps] accelerate growth,” Lanng said. “In those departed years, it’s critical to make sure that you’re redirecting any revenues back into the company. It’s vital to invest early and heavily in order to grow quickly.”

While it might be tempting to pocket all of your profits, it’s better to invest in your business’s growth so you can reap bigger benefits later. Determine which parts of your business need more consideration. For example, do you need to hire more workers, expand your marketing efforts, or secure additional funding? When you find an important  area that needs development, give that area your financial support.

7. Always think ahead.

While activity is a vital quality for a startup, you can’t fly by the seat of your pants when you’re running a business. Planning your next step — in expectation of all possible scenarios — is the best way to stay grounded and secure as your business develops.

Thinking ahead is broad advice, but it can be as simple as reviewing all in-process contracts, like comparing rates with the best credit card processors and seeing if you can negotiate a better deal.

[automotivesoftware]

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