Where a repair shop's cash goes
Shops invest in lifts, scan tools, alignment and tire equipment, and the technicians who use them, while carrying parts inventory and paying weekly payroll. Card deposits arrive daily, which suits some payment schedules. Roifunder helps independent repair, collision, tire and specialty shops get funded through our funding partners for equipment, hires and working capital.
- Two-post and four-post lifts for underused bays
- Diagnostic scan tools and calibration equipment
- Alignment, tire changer and balancer upgrades
- Technician hiring and training
- Parts and tire inventory
Lift and bay payback
A lift pays back through billed hours it adds. Monthly gain equals added billed hours per day times working days times gross profit per labor hour, meaning your labor rate minus technician pay for that hour. Only count hours you can fill: if cars are already waiting, the gain is real; if bays sit empty, a lift will not change that.
Monthly gain = added billed hours per day × working days × (labor rate − tech pay per hour) + parts gross profit on those jobs
Example: a $12,000 installed lift in an underused bay adds 1.5 billed hours a day for 22 days. At $70 of labor gross profit per hour, that is $2,310 a month before parts margin, a simple payback of about five months. Illustrative figures, not a forecast.
| Investment | Gain formula | Example monthly gain |
|---|---|---|
| Lift in an underused bay | Added billed hours × labor gross profit per hour | $2,310 |
| Alignment machine | Sublet margin recovered + added alignments | $3,450 |
| Technician hire (settled) | Billed labor − loaded tech cost | about $9,600 |
Bringing sublet work in-house
Alignment, calibration and some diagnostic jobs are often sent to another shop. Equipment that brings that work in-house pays back through the margin you now keep, plus added jobs you can sell once you have the capability. Pull your sublet invoices for the last six months to count real volume.
Example: a shop sublets 30 alignments a month, paying $60 and charging $120, so it keeps $60 each. With a $40,000 alignment machine, it keeps about $105 per alignment after tech time, an extra $45 on 30 jobs, or $1,350. If the capability adds 20 more alignments a month from inspections, that is another $2,100, for $3,450 a month against an illustrative $1,000 payment. Illustrative only. See equipment financing.
Technician hire and bay capacity
A technician hire pays back when the billed hours they produce, times gross profit per hour, exceed their loaded cost, and when you have bays and work to keep them busy. Count the ramp: a new tech may bill fewer hours in the first months while learning your systems and customers.
Example: a tech with a loaded cost of $6,000 a month bills 120 hours at a $130 labor rate once settled, or $15,600 a month. After that $6,000 cost, the shop keeps about $9,600 a month in labor gross profit, plus parts margin on those jobs. If the first two months run at half productivity, billing $7,800 each, the hire still covers its cost but earns about $7,800 a month less than steady state, roughly $15,600 over the ramp. Illustrative figures. Size the hire against what your shop can afford.
Parts inventory and daily card deposits
Shops with steady daily card deposits can often carry daily or weekly payments, but slow weeks after holidays or during bad weather still arrive. Convert any daily payment to a monthly figure and test it against your slowest month. For tires and parts, fund stock that turns quickly, not slow-moving inventory.
Multiply a business-day payment by about 21 for a monthly equivalent. If your slowest month has 30 percent fewer car counts, check that the payment still fits. See daily payment to monthly equivalent and the revenue-drop stress test.
When not to fund, and how to apply
Skip equipment you do not have a trained technician to run, lifts for bays you cannot fill, and inventory for parts that sit on shelves. The most common payback failure in shops is capacity without labor: the equipment payment starts, but billed hours do not.
Requirements vary by product and funder; many look at time in business, monthly revenue and credit. Some approvals come within a day or two, depending on documents. Many funders ask for an equipment quote along with bank statements. Apply once to compare options for your shop.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate gross profit per labor hour?
Take your posted labor rate and subtract what you pay the technician for each billed hour, including payroll costs. If you charge $130 an hour and the tech's cost per billed hour is $50, gross profit is $80 an hour. Use your effective labor rate after discounts, not the posted rate, for a realistic figure.
Should I buy equipment before hiring a technician to use it?
Usually not. Equipment only pays back through billed hours, and without a trained technician those hours do not happen while the payment still comes due. If hiring is uncertain, line up the technician first or choose equipment your current team can already use productively.
Do daily payments suit an auto repair shop?
They can, because card deposits arrive most business days. The risk is slow stretches after holidays or during bad weather, when a fixed daily payment stays the same. Convert the payment to a monthly figure and check it against your slowest month from the last year.
Is it worth bringing alignment or calibration work in-house?
It can be when your sublet volume is steady and you can sell additional work from inspections. Count six months of sublet invoices, estimate the added margin per job and the new jobs you can realistically sell, and compare the monthly gain with the payment plus training time.
Count the billed hours, then apply
Compare equipment and working capital options for your shop through our funding partners.
Updated September 14, 2026 · Roifunder Funding Team