Appointment scheduling built for auto repair shops
NextCarHub is scheduling and customer management software for auto repair shops — a shared calendar, full vehicle service history, and technician scheduling in one place. $49 per month for the whole shop, however many people you have.
14 days free · no card required · cancel anytime
Built for the way a shop actually runs
Most shops are running on a paper diary, a whiteboard, or a shared calendar nobody trusts. Three things break first.
Double bookings
Two cars into one bay, or a job assigned to a technician who's already out. Everyone finds out when the customer is standing at the counter.
History nobody can find
"What did we do on this car last year?" means digging through paper files — or guessing, and redoing work the customer already paid for.
No view of the day
Nobody can answer "can we fit this in Thursday?" without walking the shop floor and asking three people.
Everything a shop needs to run its calendar
Nothing it doesn't. NextCarHub does scheduling and customer records properly instead of doing twenty things adequately.
One day, every bay, one screen
Each technician gets a column. You can see at a glance who's loaded, who has a gap, and exactly where the next job fits — with running totals for scheduled, confirmed and cancelled work.
Plan the whole week
Switch to the week view to see how the next seven days are filling up, per technician. Booking a job three weeks out is the same two clicks as booking one tomorrow.
The car, the customer, the history
Book a job and capture the vehicle with it — make, model, year, plate — plus the customer's phone number, the service type, who's doing it and how long it'll take. Every visit stays attached to that vehicle's history.
Customers & vehicles
Every customer with all their vehicles attached, searchable in a second at the counter.
Photos & documents
Attach damage photos, inspection sheets or customer authorisations to the job they belong to.
Reports
See appointment volume and workload by technician — how busy the shop was, not how busy it felt.
Make it fit your shop
No two shops run the same way, so NextCarHub doesn't force one. You set the service types you actually sell and the colour each one shows up as on the calendar, your technicians and what they specialise in, how long jobs take by default, and the statuses you track a job through.
Prefer working in the dark? Flip the whole app to a dark theme. It's one click, and it sticks.
And if the thing your shop needs isn't in there — ask. NextCarHub is small enough that a request from a real shop can become a feature, not a ticket in a queue.
Light or dark
Switch themes to suit the shop office or a bright front counter.
Your service types
Name them how your shop names them, colour-coded on the calendar.
Features on request
Tell the developer what's missing. Early shops shape what gets built next.
Is NextCarHub the right tool for your shop?
Straight answer: it depends on whether you need a full shop management platform or a calendar that works. Here's the honest split.
| What you need | NextCarHub — $49/mo | Full suites — from ~$199/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Shared appointment calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Customer & vehicle records | Yes | Yes |
| Service history per vehicle | Yes | Yes |
| Technician scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Customisable service types & theme | Yes | Varies |
| Unlimited team members included | Yes | Often per-user pricing |
| Estimates & invoicing | No | Yes |
| Parts ordering & inventory | No | Yes |
| Digital vehicle inspections | No | Yes |
If you need estimating, parts and invoicing in one system, buy one of the big platforms — they're good, and worth their price to shops that use all of it. If you're already invoicing fine and what you actually need is a calendar your whole team trusts, you shouldn't be paying $2,400 a year for it.
Working out what to buy?
Straight comparisons and real prices, including where NextCarHub isn't the right answer.
All shop software compared
Seven products, side by side, at their real published 2026 prices.
What shop software costs in 2026
Real prices from every major vendor, and the per-user traps that double them.
Software for small shops
What a 1–3 bay shop needs, what to skip, and what to budget.
Shopmonkey alternative
$49/mo vs $239/mo — and an honest account of what you give up.
Tekmetric alternative
$49/mo vs $199/mo, both per shop. Where the difference actually is.
How to schedule a shop
Structuring the day, realistic capacity, and handling jobs that grow.
Stop double booking
The five real causes — and the fixes that cost nothing.
Is there free shop software?
The honest answer, and where every free option breaks.
One price. Your whole shop.
No per-user fees, no setup fee, no annual contract.
- Unlimited team members
- Unlimited customers, vehicles & appointments
- Full service history and attachments
- Your own service types, colours and themes
- Reports
- Pay by card or PayPal
- Email support direct from the developer
No card required to start. Cancel anytime.
Built by one developer, not a sales team
NextCarHub is new. There's no call centre, no onboarding fee, and no account manager who'll chase you for an upsell — when you email hello@nextcarhub.com, you reach the person who wrote the software. Early shops get features built around what they actually ask for.
Frequently asked questions
How much does NextCarHub cost?
$49 per month per shop. That includes unlimited team members — there's no per-user pricing and no setup fee. Every shop starts with a 14-day free trial that doesn't require a card.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — 14 days free, no card required. You only enter payment details if you decide to keep using it after the trial ends.
Can I pay by credit card, or do I need a PayPal account?
Both work. Checkout accepts PayPal and debit or credit cards directly, so you don't need a PayPal account to subscribe.
How many people can use one account?
Unlimited. One $49 subscription covers your whole shop — every service advisor, technician and front-desk person gets their own login, sharing the same calendar and customer records.
Can I customise NextCarHub for my shop?
Yes. You set your own service types and their colours, your technicians and their specialties, appointment durations and statuses, and you can switch the whole app between a light and dark theme. Early customers can also request features — NextCarHub is built by one developer who takes requests directly.
Does NextCarHub do invoicing, estimates or parts inventory?
No. NextCarHub covers scheduling, customers, vehicles, service history and reporting, and you can record a price against a job — but it's deliberately not a full shop management suite. If you need estimating, parts ordering and invoicing in one system, a larger platform like Shopmonkey or Tekmetric fits better, at roughly four times the price.
Do I need to install anything?
No. NextCarHub runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet or phone. Nothing to install, no server to maintain, no IT person required.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. It's month to month with no contract and no cancellation fee. If you come back later, your data is still there.
Try it on next week's schedule
Set up your shop in a few minutes and put real appointments in it. If it doesn't make the week easier, you've lost nothing.