Switching workshop systems, step by step.

Before you start

Keep your current subscription running until you are working in the new system and have checked your data. Cancelling first leaves you with no way back to your records if something is missing. Ask your current provider how to export your data and how long you keep access after you cancel.

What to export

Most workshop systems can export to CSV or a spreadsheet. Ask for, or export, each of these:

• Customers: names, phone numbers, email addresses and postal addresses
• Vehicles: registration, VIN, make, model, year, odometer and which customer owns each
• Suppliers and their account details
• Stock: part numbers, descriptions, cost and sell prices, and quantities on hand
• Job and invoice history, if you want past work to show against each vehicle
• Open jobs, future bookings and unpaid invoices, which you will need on the day you switch
• Service reminder due dates, so reminders do not stop when you change systems

Keep a copy of every export file, whatever system you move to.

What PitlaneHQ imports

You can import customers, vehicles and suppliers from a CSV file yourself, in Settings → Data & integrations → Data. You map your columns to ours and see a forecast of what will be created before anything is imported, and you can roll an import back within 24 hours if it went wrong.

For two other systems there is also a built-in import, in the same place, that you run yourself. Both bring across customers and job history; one also brings vehicles, invoices, suppliers and stock. From other systems, send us your export and we will agree with you what can be imported and when. Data import is free, whatever system you use now. Stock, open jobs and history depend on what your current system can export, so we check your files with you before you rely on them.

Choosing a cut-over day

• Pick a quieter day, and tell your team the date in advance.
• Finish and invoice as many open jobs as you can in the old system beforehand.
• Enter future bookings in PitlaneHQ, so the diary is right from the first morning.
• From that day, start every new job, quote and invoice in PitlaneHQ.
• Note your unpaid invoices, so payments that arrive later go against the right system.

Running both for a while

For a few weeks after the switch, you may need to look something up in the old system or take payment on an invoice raised there. That is normal. Keep read access to it until those invoices are paid and you have checked that your history and reminders came across. Then cancel.

What it costs

PitlaneHQ has no setup fee, no data import fee and no onboarding fee. You can start a 14-day trial with no card and try an import before you decide. Plans are on the pricing page.

If you leave PitlaneHQ later

With the export permission, you can export your customers, vehicles, jobs, invoices, suppliers and stock as CSV at any time; jobs and invoices also need workshop-wide access. Your data is yours, and it should be as easy to take out as it was to bring in.