The problem
Bodyshop work is paid on the labor hours in the estimate, but nobody knows whether the 6-hour repair took 6 or 9. If 4 technicians between them overrun by 20 hours a week on jobs paid at the estimate, that's 86 hours a month of labor nobody pays for, and the shop can't see which repairs cause it.
What the AI does
Toggl Track runs timers on phone, desktop or browser and reports where the hours went on each project. Its Starter plan adds project estimates. Set up a project per repair with the estimate's labor hours, and have technicians start and stop a timer on a shared workshop tablet or their phone. Each week, look at the jobs that went over and why: parts that didn't fit, rust, a supplementary nobody raised. Raise supplementaries for hidden damage promptly, and change how you estimate job types that always overrun.
A worked example
A four-technician bodyshop in Telford suspects its estimates are tight on rear quarters and sills. They put the four technicians and the manager on Toggl Track Starter, with each repair as a project carrying the estimated hours.
Before
About 20 unpaid overrun hours a week across 4 technicians: 86 hours a month, causes unknown
After
Overruns visible by job; at least 10 of the 86 hours a month billed as supplementaries or saved by better estimates
What it's worth
About $665£500€595A$960C$940 a month, if timing lets the shop bill or avoid 10 of the 86 overrun hours (an assumption) at an assumed $67£50€60A$96C$94 an hour labor rate. The technicians are paid either way, so recovered hours are almost all profit. Toggl Track Starter for 5 users is $45 (about $45£34€40A$65C$64) a month on annual billing, or $60 (about $60£45€54A$86C$85) monthly.
How to set it up
- Sign up for Toggl Track Starter for the technicians and the manager.
- Create a project for each repair by registration, with the estimate's labor hours as its estimate.
- Put a tablet near the booth or ask technicians to use the phone app, starting a timer when work starts and stopping it at breaks.
- Every Friday, check the jobs that overran and note the reason.
- Raise supplementaries promptly for hidden damage, and change how you estimate the job types that overrun every time.
What goes wrong
- Timers only work if people use them. Explain it's about estimates, not watching staff, or technicians will resent it.
- Toggl is priced per user in US dollars; every technician you time is a paid seat.
- The Free plan, for up to 3 users, doesn't include project estimates, so you'd compare hours by hand.
- Timing staff means processing their personal data. Tell them what you record and why, under UK GDPR.