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A production board vs an all-in-one shop management system
All-in-one shop systems are built around estimating, parts and inspections. A production board is built around where every car is. How to tell which one your shop needs, and when you need both.
Most shop management software is sold as all-in-one: estimates, parts ordering, inspections, invoicing, payments and marketing in one system, usually built outward from the repair order. A production board is built outward from a different question: where is every car right now, and what is it waiting for?
When an all-in-one is the right buy
If your shop has no estimating system, writes every repair order from scratch, and wants supplier parts ordering, digital inspections and inventory in the same place, an all-in-one is built for that. Expect to pay several hundred dollars a month per shop for the established ones, and to spend some time on setup and data migration.
When a production board is the right buy
- You already have estimating. Collision shops on CCC ONE, Mitchell or Audatex do not need a second estimating system. They need to see the floor.
- Your problem is visibility, not paperwork. Cars sit, nobody knows why, customers call. That is a tracking problem.
- Your trade does not fit a mechanical repair order. Wrap, tint, PPF, detail, quick lube and heavy duty work run on stages and waits more than on diagnosis.
- You want it running this week. A board needs your stages and today's cars, not a migration.
What Carvikon is
Carvikon is a production board first. Every car is a card, every stage a column, and the same live board runs on phones, office computers and the shop TV. Around the board it does the work that follows a car moving: customer updates when a car reaches a stage, itemized estimates written on the car and approved by the customer from a link, e-signatures, online booking, a time clock, and reports on how long cars sit in each stage. Card payments come with Pro and Elite, QuickBooks Online sync with Elite, and the AI Front Desk, Ask Carvikon and AI estimate import with Elite.
It is not built around a parts catalog or an inspection workflow, and it does not replace an insurance estimating platform. It runs alongside one.
Price
Starter $49, Pro $99, Elite $199 a month per shop; 20 percent off billed annually (from $39). Extra shops are $25 a month on Starter, $50 on Pro and $99 on Elite. No contract and no cancellation fee; the account runs to the end of the paid period.
Questions shops ask
Only if you need estimating, parts ordering, inspections and invoicing in one new system. If you already have estimating, or your main problem is knowing where cars are and why they are stuck, a production board solves that for a fraction of the price.
Yes. Carvikon runs alongside estimating platforms such as CCC ONE, Mitchell and Audatex. The estimate stays where it is; the board tracks where the car is.
Rather see it first? Book a live demo