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For Canadian shops

Shop software for Canadian shops, from the tax line to the text

Shop software for Canadian shops has two jobs a US-only tool does badly: the invoice and the text. This page is about both, including what it does not do.

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SV Owner on a phone: the shop's alerts showing a missed call from Priya Sandhu sixteen minutes ago with the note that she was texted back automatically, the inbox reading one thread waiting on you with her conversation marked Needs reply, the call log carrying that call with her voicemail on it, the transcript of what she said (a price on the five-year ceramic for a Macan, and whether she can drop it on a Saturday), and the text that went back a minute after the call, which nobody typed.

SV Owner, recorded. Product demonstration with sample data.

The short answer

What should a Canadian shop look for in shop software?

Shop software for Canadian shops has two jobs a US-only tool does badly: the invoice and the text. Service VIN charges your shop's own tax rate on every taxable line and reports what was actually collected, and it texts from your own Canadian number with quiet hours and opt-outs enforced in code.

  • One tax rate, set once for the shop, with every invoice line taxable or exempt against it. GST at 5 percent or HST at 13 or 15 is a setting, not a workaround.
  • A sales-tax report a bookkeeper can file from: the taxable base, the exempt base and the tax actually charged, on an accrual or a cash basis, and an invoice whose charged tax disagrees with the rate is flagged rather than averaged away.
  • Canadian carriers require no 10DLC registration, so a Canadian shop sends from its own number as soon as the line is live rather than waiting on a US carrier review.
  • Service and appointment messages are counted separately from marketing, marketing is held to a per-customer limit, and an opt-out applies across the whole shop rather than to one thread.

Bottom line: One rate is one rate: if you bill at two provincial rates from the same shop, there is no per-province split here, and that is worth knowing before you move. Plans are billed in US dollars.

The invoice

GST/HST invoicing, and the one thing it does not do

Your shop sets one tax rate and every line on a quote or an invoice is taxable or exempt against it, seeded from the service's own setting so a labour line and an exempt line behave the same way every time. The invoice stores the tax that was actually charged, and the sales-tax report reads that stored figure rather than recomputing it, because a filing has to reflect what the customer paid. The invoice-level discount is allocated across taxable and exempt lines in proportion, so the tax is charged on the genuinely discounted base, and the same figures reach QuickBooks Online and Xero.

What it does not do is split one invoice across two provincial rates. There is a single shop-wide rate and no per-line rate in the data, which means a shop that bills Alberta work at 5 percent and Ontario work at 13 percent from the same books is not served by this today. That is a gap, not a roadmap item with a date on it, and a shop in that position should check it before moving rather than after.

The same figures reach your books through QuickBooks Online and Xero, and the money side of the product is on deposits and card payments for auto shops.

Invoices
The Service VIN invoices list, each bill carrying its subtotal, the tax charged and what has been paid.

The text

CASL compliant texting for shops, as rails rather than a promise

Canada has no 10DLC registration, so a Canadian shop texts from its own business number as soon as the line is live, while a US shop waits on a carrier review we file for it. The rails underneath are the part worth reading: a message about a customer's own vehicle, appointment, money or paperwork always goes, and only unprompted commercial contact is rationed against a per-customer limit. Quiet hours defer a message rather than dropping it, an opt-out applies across the whole shop rather than to one thread, and imported records are held apart from the live messaging rails so a back catalogue can never text somebody who has not heard from you in two years.

None of that is legal advice, and no tool can be compliant on your behalf. What a tool can do is make the wrong thing hard to send by accident, which is what the rails above are. The rules the rails follow are written out on the SMS opt-in policy page, and the thing most Canadian shops actually start with is the AI front desk for auto shops.

Her phone: a call to the shop that rings out, the text back seconds later, her reply, and the booking confirmation, with a clip of her reading it in her parked car.

Illustration. Product demonstration with sample data; every reply in it is a text message.

What shop software for Canadian shops costs here

Four flat plans for the whole shop, Essentials $79, Growth $199, Operations $299, Command $399, with no per-seat charge. They are billed in US dollars, which is the honest answer rather than a converted figure that moves every month, so your card issuer applies its own rate. Two months free on annual billing, and every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with every feature unlocked.

Your arithmetic

About 4 jobs a month — $6,500 of work.

If one of those becomes a job this month, the front desk paid for itself 5.0× over.

Your numbers, not ours. We don't publish other shops' recovery rates. The Operations plan is $299 a month, so the multiple above is one job of the size you typed against one month of the offer.

Not ready to move the whole shop? Start with the call you missed. It is included on the Operations plan at $299 a month, it runs beside whatever you use today, and a Canadian number is texting from day one.

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Where to start

It starts with the call you missed.

Every missed call answered in seconds. The quote you promised, drafted before you hang up. Booked straight into your calendar.

It answers from your real services, your real prices and your real calendar — and writes the booking into them. No migration, no data to move — it runs beside whatever you use today.

A customer reading a text in her parked car, a shop owner at her laptop and at the shop's glass door, and the call, text-thread, quote, calendar and review panels drawn over the pictures.

Illustration. Product demonstration with sample data; every reply in it is a text message.

Included on

The Operations plan

$299/mo

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Canadian shops, answered

Does it handle GST and HST on an invoice?

Yes, as one rate. Your shop sets its rate once and every line on a quote or an invoice is taxable or exempt against it, seeded from the service's own setting. The invoice stores the tax actually charged, the sales-tax report reads that stored figure on an accrual or a cash basis, and an invoice whose charged tax disagrees with the configured rate is flagged rather than quietly averaged into the total.

Can it charge two different provincial rates?

No, and this is the honest limit of the page. There is a single shop-wide tax rate and no per-line or per-province rate in the data, so a shop billing Alberta work and Ontario work from the same books cannot split one invoice between them. If that describes you, check it before you move rather than after your first return.

Is it legal to text customers automatically in Canada?

Canada's anti-spam law draws a line between messages about a customer's own transaction and unprompted commercial contact, and the product draws the same line in code rather than in a setting. A message about a vehicle, an appointment, an invoice or a document always goes; a promotion, a win-back or a review chase is rationed against a per-customer limit; quiet hours defer rather than drop; and an opt-out applies across the whole shop. The SMS policy page sets out the rules the product follows. None of this is legal advice.

Do I have to register with carriers before I can text?

Not in Canada. Canadian carriers require no 10DLC registration, so a Canadian shop is texting from its own business number as soon as the number is live. A US shop registers with the carriers first, we file that for you, and it typically takes about one to three weeks. Calling, recording, transcripts and the rest of the front desk work throughout.

Is it priced in Canadian dollars?

No. Plans are Essentials $79, Growth $199, Operations $299 and Command $399 in US dollars and your card issuer applies its own conversion. Publishing a converted Canadian figure would mean a price that is wrong on most days of the month, and correcting it quietly is worse than naming the currency. There is no per-seat charge on any plan, which is usually the larger number in the comparison anyway.

Where is the data held?

The security pages carry the answer, including the subprocessor list naming every service that touches shop data and the data processing agreement. This page deliberately does not paraphrase them: if data residency is a contractual requirement for you rather than a preference, read those and ask us before you start a trial, because it is not the kind of answer anybody should take from a marketing page.

Does it work for a Canadian PPF, tint or detailing shop specifically?

Those are the trades it was built for, and the trade pages carry the detail: film costed to the linear foot, coverage packages, bay scheduling, VIN warranties. This page is about the two things that are Canadian rather than trade-specific, which are the tax line on the invoice and the rules on the text. Pick your trade from the strip below for the rest.

Built in a Canadian shop.

Your own tax rate on every taxable line, a sales tax report to file from, and a Canadian number texting on day one. Start a 14-day free trial with every feature unlocked, no credit card required.

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Then pick your trade