BVS Brackley

For most garage owners, the "Debtors List" is a source of constant stress. At BVS Brackley, a busy independent garage, that list had spiralled to two full pages of outstanding invoices. Here's how they cut it by 75%, virtually eliminated no-show losses, and removed the admin from taking payments.

About BVS Brackley

BVS Brackley is a fully equipped independent garage based in Northamptonshire. Established more than 20 years ago, the garage offers MOTs, vehicle servicing, mechanical repairs and tyres, serving a loyal local customer base.

The "Silent Leakage" Problem

BVS Brackley relied on a standalone card terminal. It was a basic, familiar setup: the administrator had to manually type the invoice amount into the terminal, wait for the receipt, and then manually mark the job as "Paid" in Autowork Online, their garage management software.

With 25+ jobs passing through the workshop daily, this manual process was open to errors.

"I found payments that had just gone missing," says Dylan Allan, Administrator at BVS Brackley. "Because the systems didn't talk to each other, human error was constant. People would mark an invoice as paid when it wasn't, or vice versa. Worse, customers would leave promising to 'sort it later,' and those promises were often forgotten."

The Cost of No-Shows

It wasn't just labour costs being lost. One of the biggest hits to the bottom line came from special orders. When the garage ordered genuine manufacturer parts, like a Mercedes-specific component or a pre-painted mirror, they were often left holding the bill if a customer failed to show up.

Without an easy way to take remote deposits, the garage was exposed to significant financial risk every time they ordered expensive parts for a booked-in job.

“We’d order a £200 genuine part, or spend £90 getting a wing mirror painted to match, and then the customer just never showed up.” Dylan recalls. "We're not a credit company. It shouldn't be up to us to be loaning them the money and then chasing it every month."

The Turning Point: Integrated Payments

BVS Brackley switched to Klipboard Money: a card terminal and Pay by Link solution built to work directly inside Autowork Online. When a customer pays by card, Autowork Online sends the amount straight to the terminal. The customer taps their card. The invoice is marked as paid automatically. There's no manual entry and no second step.

The Workshop Manager noticed the difference immediately. He no longer picks up a separate terminal and types in an amount. He no longer risks hitting the wrong key on a touchscreen and charging the wrong figure. The payment just happens as part of closing the job.

For Dylan in the back office, the reporting change was just as big. He can now search any vehicle registration in Autowork Online and see instantly whether the invoice has been paid, how it was paid and when. Everything is there. Nothing needs to be cross-checked against a paper file.

Klipboard Money allows us to focus on important tasks by removing manual processes. We can now spend more time serving customers, fixing cars, buying parts cheaply.

Dylan Allan, BVS Brackley

Pay by Link: Getting Paid before the Car Leaves

The integrated terminal was already a big improvement. But Pay by Link changed the game with customers who don’t pay in person.

It's worth knowing that not all links generated using this method are created equal. Some payment providers do offer a Pay by Link option, but when the customer pays, nothing happens in the garage management system. The garage still has to log in separately and mark the invoice as 'paid by hand'. The problem of manual entry doesn't disappear; it's just moved from the card terminal to the computer.

This issue is removed with Klipboard Money. When a customer pays through a link, Autowork Online updates automatically. The invoice is reconciled straight away, with no one needing to touch it. That’s an integration that ensures consistency and limits errors.

BVS Brackley collects and delivers cars for some customers. Previously that meant handing the car back and then waiting for a bank transfer that might not arrive. Now the garage sends a payment link as soon as the job is done. The car goes back only once the payment has come through. And when it does, Autowork Online has already been updated.
Pay by Link has also removed the main excuse customers used to avoid paying at the time. There's no trip to make, no phone call to remember. The link arrives, the customer pays on their phone in 30 seconds. As Dylan puts it: "There's no excuse for people not to pay. It's as easy as sending them the link."

Everyone who has been sent a link so far has paid. The debtors list is now down from two pages to half a page.
Dylan also plans to use Pay by Link for deposits on expensive parts orders. The garage has been caught out before: ordering a pricey OEM part, only for the customer not to show up and the part to sit unused on the shelf. A deposit paid upfront via link before the order is placed would stop that from happening.

The Results

• 75% reduction in outstanding debt
• Zero new debtors since go-live
• No more manual double entry
• More wrench time, less admin time
• Customers pay before the car leaves
• Full audit trail by registration

What’s coming next

Encouraged by the results at the first site, BVS Brackley has rolled Klipboard Money out to its second garage. Having payments and workshop management on compatible systems means one support line and one set of reports to deal with, not multiple