Welcome to Garage Manager

Your 8-step setup, ~20 minutes.

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1. Add your business details

These show on every quote and invoice your customers receive — get them right once and you never have to think about them again.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Fill in your business name, address, and phone number.
  3. Save.

2. Add your branding

Upload your logo. We extract a brand palette from it and apply it to your customer-facing booking page, public invoice/quote pages, PDFs, and transactional emails. Available on PRO and ENTERPRISE.

  1. Go to Settings → Branding.
  2. Click Upload logo and pick a PNG, JPG, or SVG (max 2MB, max 1024×1024).
  3. Review the extracted palette in the preview modal — tweak any color via the picker if needed.
  4. Click Save.
What if the AI picks the wrong colors?

You can override any of the three colors (primary, secondary, accent) in the preview modal before saving. The pickers update the live preview so you can see invoice + booking + email rendering before committing.

Why is one of my colors flagged as 'fails WCAG AA'?

It means white body text on that color is hard to read (contrast below 4.5:1). The flag is a heads-up — the color is fine for buttons or filled badges, but don't use it as a background under white paragraph text.

3. Invite your team

Add the people who work in your shop. Give them the right level of access — see Team & Permissions for the full role matrix.

  1. Go to Settings → Team.
  2. Click Invite.
  3. Enter their name, email, and role.
  4. They receive an email to set their password and sign in.
What's the difference between Admin and Manager?

Admin has full operational access except billing and team management. Manager handles clients, quotes, and jobs but cannot invite or remove staff. See the Team & Permissions page for the full matrix.

4. Connect Paystack

Take card payments via your invoices. Settles to your bank account in 1-2 working days.

  1. Go to Settings → Payments.
  2. Click Connect Paystack.
  3. Sign in to Paystack or create an account.
  4. Approve the connection.
Do I need a Paystack account before signing up?

No — you can create one during the connect step. You'll need a South African bank account to complete onboarding.

5. Build your service catalog

Your catalog (Settings → Library) holds the services, parts, and labour you sell, each with a default price. Quotes and invoices pull from it so pricing stays consistent — and it powers the smart part suggestions you'll use when quoting.

  1. Go to Settings → Library.
  2. Use the Service, Parts, and Labour tabs to add items with a name and default price.
  3. Add at least your common services (e.g. Major service, Brake pads replacement) and the parts they use.
  4. Anything you type directly on a quote or invoice can also be saved back into the catalog.
Do I have to build the whole catalog before I can quote?

No. Start with a few items and add more as you go — anything you type on a quote or invoice can be saved straight into the catalog. The more you add, the more consistent your pricing and the better the part suggestions get.

6. Add your first client

Add a client (and their vehicle) so you can quote, invoice, and track work for them.

  1. Go to Clients → New client.
  2. Enter their name, phone, and email.
  3. Add a vehicle: registration plate, make, model, year.
  4. Save.

7. Create your first quote

A quote is what you send a customer before doing work. Line items pull from your catalog so pricing stays consistent.

  1. Go to Quotes → New quote.
  2. Pick the client and vehicle.
  3. Add a service line — Garage Manager suggests the parts that service usually needs. Tick the ones you want and they drop in with their prices.
  4. Add any other line items from the catalog or type custom.
  5. Send to the client. They get a public link to accept.
Where do the suggested parts come from?

Three sources, in priority order: curated expert defaults for common services, parts you have actually used on past issued invoices for that service (it learns from your own history), and a keyword match against your catalog. You always choose which suggestions to add — nothing lands on the quote automatically.

8. Send your first invoice

Once work is approved, an invoice converts the quote into a billable record. Customers pay via the public invoice link.

  1. Convert a quote: open it and click Convert to Invoice, or use the Convert button right on the quotes list — works from Draft, Sent, or Accepted quotes.
  2. Or go to Invoices → New invoice for ad-hoc work — the same smart part suggestions apply here too.
  3. Click Send. The customer gets the link by email and SMS.
  4. Watch payment status update on the invoice list as they pay.