Automagic is a calendar, resource planner and work-management tool for car repair workshops. Everything is built around two things: the vehicle and the job done on it. This handbook gives an overview of how a workshop uses Automagic – from registering to the service-book entry. A detailed step-by-step guide with screenshots will follow later.
Automagic is free, forever, for workshops with fewer than 5 employees.
1. Register your workshop
Create a workshop account and register your workshop. During launch you need the workshop code we give you to register. A workshop registered with the code is a verified workshop: it sees the jobs drivers publish and can make offers on them.
When you register, you enter the workshop's name – the one your customers know you by. The name also becomes your workshop's web address. You can add the registered company name separately; it is optional.
The setup then takes you through three steps:
- Name – the workshop's name.
- Resource – your first lift, garage space or piece of equipment.
- Contact details – address, phone and the regions you work in.
You need an address and phone number to make offers, because the driver sees your address with your offer and, once the offer is accepted, your phone number too. Regions are the areas around Estonia's bigger towns: every county centre, plus Narva. Choose at least one – you only see published jobs from your own regions. You can change all of this later under "My Workshop".
2. Resources: each one gets its own calendar row
A resource is what you plan work on: a lift, a garage space, a piece of equipment or a function. For example "Lift 1", "Lift 2", "Alignment stand" and "Diagnostics". Each resource has its own row in the calendar.
One job can take up time on several resources. If a car is on a lift in the morning and on the alignment stand in the afternoon, the job has two calendar entries. Entries on the same resource may also overlap, because in a real workshop that happens.
People are not planned in the calendar. Employees have their own login in Automagic, but the calendar rows are only for resources. If a lift is out of service, you can deactivate it and bring it back into use later.
3. The calendar
The calendar shows a day or a week across all active resources. To start a new job, mark a time range on a resource. You can drag an existing calendar entry or change its length. Click a job to open it.
You set the start and end of the calendar's working day in whole hours in your workshop details. This only shapes what the calendar shows – you can still add entries outside the working day.
4. Every job is tied to a vehicle
A job is all the work done on one vehicle in one visit to the workshop, including anything added during the visit. When you enter the number plate, the vehicle's details come from the Estonian traffic register: make, model, year, VIN, first registration, colour, next inspection and recalls. If the vehicle is not in the register, you enter the details by hand.
A job is made up of tasks. The common ones are ready-made templates: oil change, tyre change, winter maintenance, brake pads, battery, air conditioning, diagnostics, timing belt, gearbox oil, seasonal storage and maintenance. Anything else you type in yourself.
A job's status reads on one line: draft, planned, in progress, waiting for parts, completed or cancelled. The vehicles page lists every vehicle your workshop has done work on, and you can open all the jobs for one vehicle.
5. Contacts
A contact is your workshop's own record of a person you do work for: a name, phone, email and notes. In the notes you can keep extra numbers or when best to call. A job has one contact – the person to call when the car is ready.
If you add a contact with a phone number that already belongs to another contact, Automagic suggests the existing one, so the same person isn't recorded twice. A change to a contact applies to all of that contact's jobs, and the old number is kept in the notes.
6. Offers: drivers' jobs in your region
Car owners publish jobs in Automagic: the number plate, what needs doing and, if they like, a description and a preferred time. To see how this looks from the driver's side, read How Automagic works for car owners.
The "Inbox" page shows the published jobs in your regions. To make an offer:
- enter a price in euros – a ballpark is fine;
- pick a lift and a time in the calendar;
- write a note: what the price includes and how long the work takes.
The lift and time you chose stay in your calendar as an offer: a dashed grey area that only you can see. It doesn't block anything and isn't a calendar entry yet – it simply helps you remember what you have promised. The driver sees the proposed time, but not the lift. You can withdraw an offer and make a new one if needed.
7. You won the job: call and confirm the time
When a driver accepts your offer, you get a notification. The job appears at the top of your jobs list with the status "To confirm", together with the driver's name and phone number. In your calendar the offer turns into a highlighted area: "Won – call and confirm".
Call the driver and agree the time. Then press "Confirm booking" on the job. The time picker is already filled in with the lift and time you offered, but you can move it or change its length. Once confirmed, it is an ordinary planned job, marked "From marketplace".
A job won through offers cannot be deleted, only cancelled – and then the driver also sees that it has been cancelled. A job you created yourself you can delete if needed.
8. Complete the job: the service-book entry
Every job has a service-book entry: the date of service, the work done and the odometer reading. You can edit the entry until the job is completed. When you complete the job, the entry is locked. The locked entry goes into the vehicle's service history, which belongs to the vehicle and stays with it when the car changes owner.
What next
Start simple: register your workshop, add your lifts and equipment, and plan the first week's jobs in the calendar. Once every resource is in the calendar, you will quickly see where you have free time for offers.
If you are wondering how AI and automation could help you run a workshop, read our article on AI in car repair workshops.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Automagic cost a workshop?
For a workshop with fewer than 5 employees Automagic is free, forever. A larger workshop pays €30 per employee per month, and the full service with AI and the Automagic call centre is €480 per month with unlimited employees. See pricing.
Where do I get a workshop code?
During launch we hand out workshop codes to workshops ourselves. You cannot register a workshop without a code.
Do I have to make offers to use Automagic?
No. You can use the calendar, jobs, vehicles and contacts just to plan work for your own customers. Offers are an extra way to find new customers.
Can I plan employees in the calendar?
No. Automagic plans resources, such as lifts and the alignment stand. Employees have their own login, but they don't get a calendar row of their own.
Does the driver see which lift I chose in my offer?
No. The driver sees your proposed time, price and note, and your workshop's name and address. The lift is only for your own planning.