ARI (Auto Repair Software)

Review by eFreeware

ARI sets out to cover the whole working day of an auto repair business inside one Android app, from the first client record through diagnosis, parts, jobcards, invoicing and payment. That breadth is the most distinctive thing about it. Instead of stitching together a notes app, a spreadsheet and a separate invoicing tool, the developer has put client management, vehicle history, inventory, accounting and billing in the same place.

It is built for people who fix and sell vehicle work rather than for drivers tracking their own maintenance. Mobile mechanics, independent technicians, shop owners, dealers and anyone responsible for a fleet of vehicles can use it. If your work generates estimates, parts lists and invoices, this is aimed at you; if you just want to log your own oil changes, the toolset here is far larger than that job needs.

The app has been on Google Play since December 2016 and now sits at a 4.3 average from 1,374 ratings, with more than 100,000 installs. Those numbers suggest a settled product rather than a new experiment, and the update history points the same way.

Client and vehicle records at the center

Everything in ARI hangs off the client and vehicle records. You can keep a history of the owners who have come through the shop, attach vehicles to them, and produce billing statements, invoices and estimates from those records. The developer places no cap on how many vehicle records a shop can add, which matters for anyone building a database over years rather than weeks.

Vehicle entry is helped along by a VIN decoder, which fills in make, model, year, trim, engine and other details from the identification number. A license plate reader uses CarFax integration to pull information from a plate, and CarFax history reports can bring in a vehicle's previous service record. For a shop taking in an unfamiliar car, that combination saves typing and gives the technician something to work from before the hood is up.

The diagnosis side goes further than basic lookup. The developer lists an OBD port locator, upcoming maintenance items, DTC error information, TSB details, full maintenance reports with recommendations, repair labor times and labor estimates. Recent updates added support for WiFi OBD dongles, which broadens the hardware you can connect, and voice dictation with cleanup for speaking concerns, inspection notes and summaries instead of typing them.

Parts, tires and labor under one inventory

Inventory management starts with a catalog of more than 400 default car parts, and you can build your own list on top of it without a stated limit on items. Part numbers and stock levels are tracked, and a barcode scanner handles adding, editing or removing parts, which is quicker than hunting through menus with dirty hands.

Tires get their own tracking for shops that sell them, and labor is handled as a separate kind of inventory item with a description and an hourly price. Canned services let you group parts and labor into packages, so a common job can be dropped into a jobcard or invoice in one step rather than rebuilt each time.

The accounting features sit alongside the stock side. Expenses such as employee salaries, vendor payments and utility bills can be logged; purchase orders can be created for parts, sent to suppliers, and the inventory updated when the parts arrive; income is tracked so invoices and payments do not slip through. Reporting covers income and expense, sales and purchases, inventory and net profit, and employees and salaries.

Jobcards, estimates and invoices

JobCards are where the work itself is organized: assigning tasks, tracking labor times and approving or denying service items. Estimates and quotes can be sent to clients in a professional format, and the deferred services program is there to surface work that was recommended but not done yet, which is a common way for a shop to bring a customer back.

Invoicing is unusually configurable for a mobile app. There are seven templates to choose from, a business logo can be added, and up to three tax types can be defined with custom names and values. Signature support means the customer can sign on the phone or tablet on the spot, and if you have a mobile printer, invoices and estimates can be printed immediately.

Payment collection happens in the same flow, with cash, check, credit card and PayPal as accepted options. Due service dates trigger automatic client emails. Vehicle inspections produce detailed reports that can be used to sell additional work, and online booking lets clients arrange service themselves, with appointments appearing in the app's calendar.

What ARI costs and what the extras are

The app is free to download and contains no advertising. It does offer in-app purchases, so some parts of the experience involve spending beyond the download. If you are comparing tools for a small shop, that is the one cost question to settle before committing your records to it.

One recent addition is a referral program that gives 3,000 free credits for each shop you bring in. A QuickBooks sync is also present, with status banners shown in the app, and customer intake links let clients fill in their own details rather than dictating them over the counter.

The app supports multiple languages: English, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Romanian, Indonesian, Greek, Danish, German, Italian and Japanese. Customer support is described as available around the clock by email, which is the channel to use if a question comes up outside working hours.

How it compares with the alternatives

The realistic alternatives fall into a few groups. One is a general-purpose invoicing app paired with a spreadsheet for parts and a separate calendar for bookings; that combination is cheap and familiar, and it suits anyone whose work centers on billing rather than on tracking vehicle history, VIN decoding and CarFax lookups. ARI's case rests on keeping those pieces in one database.

Another option is desktop shop management software, which tends to offer deeper reporting and a larger screen for paperwork but ties the work to a computer in the office. ARI's advantage is that the invoice can be signed on the device in front of the customer and printed on the spot if a mobile printer is available.

For a dealer or fleet operation, the choice may come down to whether the tool handles many vehicles as records rather than as jobs in progress; the unlimited vehicle records and the inspection and reminder features are the relevant parts here. For a single technician doing occasional jobs, a simpler billing app may be enough, and the depth of the inventory and accounting sections would go unused.

A management tool for working shops

ARI is worth considering if your business already runs on estimates, parts and invoices and you want those records in one Android app rather than spread across several. The combination of client and vehicle history, CarFax-backed lookups, inventory with barcode scanning, jobcards and configurable invoicing is broad, and the free download with no ads makes it easy to see how the pieces fit your own workflow.

The app rewards a shop that will put its data in properly: records, parts and labor items only pay off once they are populated.

Independent technicians, shop owners, dealers and fleet managers are the people who will get the most from it. Anyone whose vehicle work does not produce a bill, an estimate or a parts list will find far more tool here than the job requires.

What's new in version 16322.0.0

• Voice dictation with AI cleanup — speak concerns, inspections & summaries • Smart service reminder suggestions from vehicle history • Refer & Earn: 3,000 free credits per referred shop • Customer intake links — clients fill in their own details • OBD: WiFi dongle support added • Redesigned inspections & email setup • QuickBooks sync status banners • Short links that fit in one SMS • Fixes: inventory counts, odometer wipes, photo-email crashes, PayPal refunds, Square POS on Android