Epicor is offering independent auto repair shops a way to answer price questions on their own websites without waiting for a service advisor. Epicor Smart Quoter, an optional feature for Epicor Service CRM customers, builds a quote from a visitor’s vehicle and chosen services using the shop’s own vendors, parts markups, and labor rate.
In a blog post, Epicor territory manager Robert Whitehurst argues that a shop can win a customer without being the lowest bidder: “you don’t always have to be the cheapest shop in town.” Visitors comparing local shops, particularly after hours or while advisors are busy, might not hold out for a next-day reply, he notes, so a fast, clear answer gives a shop an edge.
Smart Quoter Builds Quotes From the Shop’s Own Pricing
A web-based quote tool matches a customer’s vehicle and requested work against parts and labor data, then applies pricing rules to produce a total. Done by hand, the task takes a staff member several steps. They identify the vehicle, work out the services needed, check vendors for parts pricing and availability, add the shop’s markups, and price labor.
Smart Quoter draws on the same inputs. Visitors pick a vehicle and the work they want done. Epicor says the quote arrives in about 30 seconds and draws on current parts prices and availability as well as the shop’s vendors, parts markups, and labor rate. Epicor says the result is a price that mirrors how the shop charges for its work instead of a generic estimate.
Each quote ends with a path to schedule an appointment, so a visitor who is not yet ready to book can still take a next step. The feature runs around the clock, which lets customers request quotes and bookings when the shop is closed or the team is occupied. Whitehurst adds that shops stay in control of pricing, with Smart Quoter speeding up delivery of it.
Epicor Ties Answer Speed to New Business
Smart Quoter extends Epicor Service CRM, which Epicor positions as a way for shops to stay connected with existing customers. The feature points that product toward new customers.
Epicor’s cognitive ERP framing, outlined by Ellen Cox, a senior product marketing manager for AI, describes ERP moving away from managing transactional processes toward delivering insight for real-time decisions and automation.
A manufacturing example in Epicor’s ERP guide carries a parallel warning: a company that takes days to supply a figure, such as the share of products passing without rework, risks losing the prospect. Across shops and factories, Epicor treats the time between a prospect’s question and a clear answer as part of the sales process.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
Pricing records become customer-facing assets. Smart Quoter builds quotes from the vendors, parts markups, and labor rates shops already maintain. Quote quality therefore follows the quality of those inputs, so pricing data kept for internal use now shapes a customer’s first impression of an independent shop.
Answer speed joins price in local competition. Epicor argues price is not the only factor and that the fastest clear answer often gives a shop an advantage. Tools that respond outside business hours extend that contest past staffed hours, so shop software gets judged by what it does when no one is at the desk.
Owner control sets the terms for automated quoting. Epicor stresses that shops keep control of pricing and that quotes follow their own markups and labor rate. When a small business hands a customer conversation to software, that control keeps the automated answer consistent with the one the shop would give.
