Rebuilds, R&R and unit diagnosis
Transmission shop software built around the diagnosis
BayStacker is transmission shop management software for the work a general repair order cannot hold: the complaint, the VIN and the finding on one diagnosis case, a ranked hypothesis with its next test, and an invoice that waits for verification.
Analysis A is a draft until a person confirms it.
Next test
DX-18418 · 68RFE
Moves confidence most
Hot road test
Line pressure
Code recheck
Who it is for
Built for the shop that owns the rebuild.
The work that comes back is the work this product holds: a unit on the bench, a complaint that has already been guessed at once, and a customer who measures the shop in comebacks.
Independent rebuilders
One bay, one builder, and a comeback that costs the whole week. The case, the measurement and the verification gate are the difference between a rebuild you can stand behind and a free one.
Fleet powertrain
A unit is out of service while it is on the lift, so the record has to say what is blocked and who is holding it. One queue covers every location the account holds, so a fleet manager chases the whole fleet from one screen.
Multi-location groups
Each location keeps its own bays, its own team and its own books, and the group reads across them. A manager sees the shops they are responsible for and nothing else.
Dealership transmission
Warranty and comeback paperwork is the job, not an afterthought. Ownership, the phase history and the evidence behind a conclusion are recorded as they happen, so the claim is assembled from the record rather than remembered.
Solo, departmental, multi-location or wholesale: how each shape of shop is set up
The workflow
Complaint to invoice, on one case.
Seven steps, in the order a transmission job actually happens. The diagnosis is not a note inside a repair order — the case is the object and the work order follows it.
If it comes back, warranty rework reopens the work order it came from, on the same case, instead of starting a second one.
- 01ComplaintReception or technician
Voice or type what failed. This is the complaint, not a diagnosis.
- 02VIN decodedSystem
Analysis A will not run without a decoded VIN, so a hypothesis is never ranked against the wrong transmission family.
- 03Diagnosis caseDiagnostician
The case is the primary object. The complaint, the VIN and the first finding sit on it, and every later step reads from it.
- 04Analysis ADraft
A ranked hypothesis with the evidence behind it, the next test, and the rework risk — all unconfirmed until a person signs it.
- 05Road test and scanDiagnostician
Road-test notes, codes, or a confirmed clean scan. Analysis B revises the stack and shows what changed between A and B.
- 06Build or R&RBuilder
Work the recorded diagnosis, not a verbal handoff. The build record asks for each measurement, and one nobody took is reported as missing.
- 07Verify, then invoiceQC inspector
Road test and code recheck. A managed job does not invoice, deliver or close until the last check passes.
The record
Five places a job lived. One case.
A paper ticket, a group text, a parts portal, a build sheet and an invoicing app are five versions of one job. On the case they are one record, so a comeback traces to the step, the part or the person that touched it.
Illustrative record. BayStacker’s own interface, filled with a shop that does not exist — not a live account and not a customer’s data.
The gate
The invoice opens only when the job passes.
Verification is a step, not a checkbox someone ticks on the way out. Road test with a live reading, code recheck, line pressure at operating temperature, QC sign-off: each one that clears lowers the rework risk in view, and the invoice unlocks on the last.
- Completeness and confidence stay apart, so a confident-but-thin case cannot look finished.
- The next test is the gap that most moves confidence, named on the case.
The comparison
General auto repair software vs. BayStacker for transmission work
Seven criteria, in the order they decide whether a rebuild stays closed. The difference is not a feature list; it is what the software makes the primary object.
| Criterion | General auto repair software | BayStacker for transmission work |
|---|---|---|
| The primary object | A repair order for every job the shop takes. The diagnosis is a note or a line item inside it. | The diagnosis case. Work orders, parts, the build, verification and the invoice read from it. |
| Starting a job | A customer and a vehicle are enough to open a ticket. | The VIN is a hard gate. Analysis A will not run until it is decoded. |
| The first pass | An estimate: what to replace, priced before anyone has tested the unit. | A ranked hypothesis, the evidence behind it, the next test and the rework risk — a draft until a person confirms it. |
| Confidence | One status, usually set by hand and rarely revisited. | Completeness and confidence, always apart, so a confident-but-thin case cannot look finished. |
| The invoice | Raised from the ticket once the work is marked complete. | A managed job does not invoice, deliver or close until verification passes. |
| A comeback | A new ticket, or a warranty line on the old one. | Warranty rework reopens the work order it came from, on the same case, with the phase history behind it. |
| History from another system | The record starts in the system that owns it. | A CSV file, one row per past repair, matched by column heading, after a dry run shows exactly what the import would do. |
The column headed “General auto repair software” is the shape a general-purpose repair order takes, not one vendor’s product. “BayStacker for transmission work” is what this product’s own screens do, including the CSV history import with a dry run.
BayStacker against Tekmetric, Shopmonkey and four more, with published prices
Buying for a general repair shop? What auto repair shop software costs and how to choose
What it costs
One price per location, per month.
60-day free trial. A card is required when the trial starts and is first charged when the trial ends, unless you cancel before then. The plan can be changed or cancelled from the billing page afterwards.
Intelligence
$59USD per location, per month
The diagnosis workflow: an intake becomes a case, the case runs the guided analysis, and the findings and the evidence stay on the record.
- ✓Intake: a vehicle checked in becomes a case
- ✓The guided diagnosis: Analysis A and Analysis B on the case
- ✓Findings, evidence and the case history
60-day free trial, then $59 USD per location, per month. Includes 1,000 analysis runs a month.
Full OS
$99USD per location, per month
Everything in Intelligence, plus the operational shop: work orders on a location, and the invoices that close them out.
- ✓Everything in Intelligence
- ✓Work orders: create and run a repair on a location
- ✓Invoices: raise one and close the repair out
- ✓Continue a diagnosis case into the operational workflow
60-day free trial, then $99 USD per location, per month. Includes 1,000 analysis runs a month.
A shop with two locations bills two subscriptions. See pricing, and how an upgrade is prorated
Keep reading
More on choosing, diagnosing and rebuilding.
Best transmission shop software
What to compare before you buy: where the diagnosis lives, what gates an invoice, and what a comeback costs.
Transmission diagnosis
The test sequence that separates a confirmed root cause from a list of symptoms.
Tekmetric alternatives
When a general shop system is the right answer, when it is not, and what changes when the work is transmission.
Questions
What a transmission shop asks before it buys.
- What is the best software for a transmission shop?
- It depends on what the software has to hold. General auto repair platforms are built around the repair order and serve every job a shop takes. BayStacker is built around the diagnosis case: the complaint, the decoded VIN and the finding on one record, a ranked hypothesis with its evidence, and a verification gate before the invoice. If the job you need to stop losing money on is a rebuild that comes back, judge the software on that sequence.
- Can BayStacker replace Tekmetric?
- For a transmission shop, it can: Full OS runs the diagnosis case, work orders, parts requests, cores and invoices on each location. It does not replace what a general repair shop leans on Tekmetric for — a labor guide, integrated parts ordering, card processing, two-way texting and marketing — and a shop that needs those can keep Tekmetric and run BayStacker’s diagnosis edition beside it. History comes in from a CSV file, one row per past repair, after a dry run shows exactly what the import would do; there is no direct Tekmetric import.
- Does a shop need the VIN before analysis can run?
- Yes. The VIN is a hard gate: Analysis A will not run until it is decoded. Without it there is no transmission family to rank a hypothesis against, and a hypothesis ranked against the wrong family is a wrong hypothesis — the kind that ends as a comeback.
- What happens when a rebuild comes back?
- It reopens the work order it came from as warranty rework, on the same case. The phase history, the measurements and the evidence behind the original conclusion are already on that record, so the shop can see which step failed instead of opening a second ticket and losing the thread.
- What does BayStacker cost for a transmission shop?
- Intelligence is $59 per location per month, and Full OS is $99 per location per month. Both include a 60-day free trial and 1,000 analysis runs a month. A shop with two locations bills two subscriptions, and the plan can be cancelled from the billing page.
- Is BayStacker general auto repair shop software?
- It is auto repair shop management software built for transmission and powertrain work rather than for every mechanical job. The analysis measures a hypothesis against the transmission family and the shop’s own closed cases, so the work it fits is work that has a family to be measured against: rebuilds, R&R, unit diagnostics, fleet powertrain and commercial units. A general repair shop with a transmission bay can run it for that bay.
Run Analysis A on the unit that came back.
A walkthrough is the shop’s own last rework — the complaint, the decoded VIN, the ranked hypothesis and the rework risk, on a case you can read. Nothing to install and nothing to migrate to look at it.