Your Client Portal Just Got Smarter: Introducing Expense Tracking for Vehicle Owners
Keeping customers engaged between visits is one of the biggest hurdles in the auto repair industry. That’s why we’re constantly innovating to make the ARI Client Portal more valuable—not just for your shop, but for the vehicle owners who rely on it.
Today, we’re rolling out Expense Tracking, a new feature that gives your customers a clear, visual breakdown of their vehicle spending over time.
What Your Customers Will See
When vehicle owners log into their portal and navigate to Reports, they’ll discover a new Expenses page. This dashboard pulls together their complete service history into an intuitive, easy-to-read interface.
At a glance, they can view:
- Financial Summaries: Total spent, total paid, and outstanding balances across all their vehicles.
- Visual Trends: A monthly bar chart displaying spending patterns over time.
- Fleet Breakdowns: Per-vehicle segmentation, allowing them to compare costs across their fleet.
- Detailed Records: A searchable, sortable table listing every invoice with dates, amounts, and payment statuses.
Power User Tools: Customers can filter by vehicle, select preset date ranges (such as “Last 6 Months” or “This Year”), or select custom time frames. Plus, they can export data as a CSV spreadsheet or a printable PDF—perfect for personal budgeting, tax records, or fleet management.
Why This Matters for Your Shop
You might ask: Why give customers this much visibility into their spending? Transparency isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a growth strategy. Here is how Expense Tracking benefits your bottom line:
- It Builds Trust: Transparency is the foundation of long-term relationships. When owners see exactly what they’ve paid and what’s outstanding, it eliminates surprises. That confidence keeps them returning to your shop rather than looking elsewhere.
- It Reduces Support Calls: When customers can self-serve their payment history and invoice details, they don’t need to call your front desk. This frees your team to focus on what matters—getting cars fixed.
- It Encourages Timely Payments: The Expenses dashboard clearly highlights outstanding balances in red. When customers see what they owe at a glance, they are significantly more likely to settle up without you needing to send a reminder.
- It Makes Your Portal “Sticky”: Every impactful feature gives vehicle owners another reason to stay connected with your digital ecosystem. The more they use the portal, the more likely they are to book their next appointment, approve an estimate, or refer a friend.
- It Positions You as a Pro: Not every repair shop offers this level of data access. Providing a polished expense dashboard signals that you run a modern, customer-first operation.
No Setup Required
Expense Tracking is now active for all ARI users at no additional cost. The feature works automatically using your existing invoice data—there’s nothing to configure or turn on. Your customers will see the new Expenses option under Reports the next time they log in.
We built ARI to help independent shops deliver a client experience that rivals the big dealerships. Expense Tracking is one more step in that direction.
Have questions or feedback? Reach out to us anytime at ari.app.
