Auto repair is a high-ticket business. That's great for your revenue, and terrible for your processing costs. At 2.9%, a $2,000 brake job costs you $58 in card fees. A $4,500 engine rebuild costs you $130. A busy shop billing $80,000 a month in card volume is giving away over $2,300 before the owner takes a dime.
There's a legal, straightforward way to stop that. Thousands of shops already have.
You track your parts cost to the penny. You know your labor rate, your bay efficiency, your average ticket. But most shop owners have never actually done the math on what they're paying to accept cards. Here it is:
| Monthly Card Volume | Fees at 2.9% | That's per year |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $1,160/mo | $13,920 |
| $60,000 | $1,740/mo | $20,880 |
| $80,000 | $2,320/mo | $27,840 |
| $120,000 | $3,480/mo | $41,760 |
That bottom number, $41,760, is a full-time technician. It's a lift. It's a year of marketing you've never been able to afford. And it's walking out the door every month to a processor you probably couldn't name off the top of your head.
Let's be real about something. Your customers chose your shop because they trust your work. They're paying you $800 for a timing belt because you're the shop that does it right. Nobody is driving to the other side of town to save $24 on card fees.
The average repair order in the U.S. runs $350 to $600. At 3%, that's $10 to $18 per ticket you're absorbing. On a $3,000 job, it's $90. Those numbers add up in a way that makes the program pay for itself immediately.
Parts markups, shop supply charges, diagnostic fees, environmental fees — your invoices already have line items. A clearly disclosed card fee or cash/card price difference fits right in.
Especially for bigger jobs. Dual pricing gives those customers a clear incentive and card customers a clear choice. You're not forcing anyone into anything, you're giving everyone options.
After the first visit, they already know how it works. The second time there's nothing to explain.
The default recommendation for shops with a service counter. Your estimate shows both prices, cash and card. The customer chooses when they pick up. Signage at the counter and on the estimate explains it clearly. Terminal handles the rest. Works great for walk-in repairs, routine maintenance, tire shops, body shops, anywhere the customer is physically at your counter paying.
The better call if you're doing a lot of fleet work or commercial accounts where you're billing by invoice after the fact. One price on the invoice, surcharge added as a line item if they pay by credit card. Clean, professional, expected in a commercial billing context.
Some shops use both — dual pricing at the retail counter, surcharging on fleet and commercial invoices. We can set that up.
Big touchscreen, fast processing, built-in printer. Handles dual pricing automatically, customers see both prices on screen before they pay. Tough enough for a shop environment where things get bumped around. Built-in WEX fleet card acceptance for shops that service commercial and fleet vehicles — no separate terminal needed. Most shops qualify for a VL550 at no upfront cost through our free terminal program.
See If You Qualify for a Free Terminal →Same capabilities as the VL550, battery-powered with 4G. Good for shops that do on-site estimates, roadside service, or towing operations where you're collecting payment away from the counter.
See If You Qualify for a Free Terminal →You might not have to. Many shop management systems (Mitchell, ShopWare, Tekmetric, Shop-Ware) can be configured to work with dual pricing or surcharging. We'll look at your specific setup during the analysis. If your current system supports it, we configure it. If not, the standalone terminal handles the card payments and your management system handles everything else, estimates, work orders, parts, reporting. Nothing changes about how you run the shop.
Fleet cards (WEX, Voyager, etc.) and corporate purchasing cards have their own fee structures that are typically lower than standard consumer cards. We'll break down exactly what applies to your card mix during the analysis. The Valor VL550 and VP550 both accept WEX fleet cards natively, so you won't need a separate terminal for fleet work.
Maybe one in a hundred. The shop down the street is also paying $20,000+ a year in processing fees they don't have to pay. You're not losing business over a $15 fee on a $500 job, not when you do good work and your customers trust you. The math on this is overwhelmingly in your favor.
It happens. Once in a while someone will grumble. Your service advisor says one sentence: "The cash price is right there, same great service either way." That's it. Move on. The savings you're keeping from the 99% of customers who don't care more than covers the one who does.
We were doing $95K a month in card volume and just eating the fees. George set us up with surcharging for our fleet accounts and dual pricing at the counter. Eight months in, customers barely blink. I'm keeping an extra $2,500 a month.
I was nervous about the customer reaction. After the first week I stopped worrying. Maybe two people mentioned it out of a hundred. Everyone else just paid and moved on.
Free analysis. Real numbers based on your actual volume. If it doesn't make sense for your shop, George will tell you straight.