Built by a Volvo shop owner. Running his shops every day.

A new advisor writes a veteran's ticket.

Shop management software for independent shops. RO Engine's AI writes every recommendation and tells your customer what it is, why it's due now, and what happens if they wait. They approve from a private link. No app, no login.

your-shop.roengine.comLive

Your own live shop in minutes · nothing charges for 90 days · no sales call

A real estimate, as your customer sees it. Every recommended service explains itself.

$199a month at launch, everything in it
82,000OEM service intervals, and growing
17,200AutoHouse repair orders moved off Shop-Ware, back to 2013
90days free to try it
Try it on your VIN

See it explain a real car.

Put in a customer's VIN and the mileage. What's due from the factory schedule, written the way they'd read it. No signup.

No VIN handy? Try a sample car
Why it matters

The estimate explains itself.

Every recommendation comes with three things your customer actually reads: what it is, why it's due now, and what happens if they put it off. The AI writes it. The customer approves from a private link, on their phone, without downloading anything.

$160spark plugs, today
or
$1,000–$2,500catalytic converter, later

That's the estimate in the video, written for a real 2013 Highlander. Quick-lube chains taught customers that maintenance means an oil change and a sticker. If the shop doesn't explain the rest, nobody will.

The advisor knowledge gap

Same car. Two advisors. $722 apart.

A car comes in for a routine oil change. Here's what gets written up, depending on who's at the counter. Or it's the same advisor on a busy Tuesday.

MV

Your veteran advisor

8+ years on the counter
✓Oil & filter$89
✓Transmission fluid — overdue$189
✓Brake fluid flush — 3 yr$95
✓Spark plugs — due at 90K$145
✓Rear diff service$120
✓Cabin + engine filters$72
✓Deferred from last visit$137
Ticket written$847
$722missed on a single car — not for lack of effort
NH

Your new hire

4 months on the counter
✓Oil & filter$89
✓Wiper blades$36
–Transmission fluidMissed
–Brake fluid flushMissed
–Spark plugsMissed
–Rear diff serviceMissed
–Deferred servicesNever surfaced
Ticket written$125

Illustrative example, not measured data.

RO Engine writes the explanation the veteran would have given, so whoever is at the counter writes the better ticket.

The phone gets answered.

RO Engine's AI answers the shop line and books the work, so the call that comes in while you're under a car still turns into a job on the schedule.

Plans include 300 AI phone minutes and 300 shop-line calls a month.

Built different

I'm not a software company. I run a shop.

I opened AutoHouse in 2013, and that same year I wrote our first shop system in PHP. We outgrew it, then ran Shop-Ware, then Steer. They kept the records. I wanted software that did part of the work. Most shop systems are big, slow-moving software, and improvements come slow. Software moves faster than that now.

What we shipped this week, dated →

RO Engine is what I built next. It runs both AutoHouse locations, in Northwest Arkansas and Wood Dale, Illinois. Bailey, our service advisor, is in it all day. In Arkansas we moved our whole Shop-Ware history over: 17,200 repair orders back to 2013, about 5,100 customers and 40,900 photos.

Try it for 90 days. If it doesn't earn its spot, cancel.

Joe Sprandel, owner, AutoHouse Automotive

13+years on the shop floor
2013built his first custom shop system
17,200repair orders carried over from Shop-Ware
2shops running it every day

Factory maintenance on every RO.

RO Engine puts what's due on every repair order, from a validated database of 82,000+ factory service intervals. Nobody has to look it up.

Two shops run on it today. Both are mine.

AutoHouse Automotive in Northwest Arkansas and AutoHouse Chicago in Wood Dale, Illinois.

The launch price is $199 a month, locked in for as long as you stay. Tell me what's broken and I'll fix it.

Questions first? Ask me directly.

Pricing

One price. No contract. No sales calls.

No tiers to upgrade into. No per-user fees. No add-on for the phone to answer itself.

$199per month
unlimited users · month to month
Launch price, locked in for as long as you stay. Regular price $349 a month.
  • AI service recommendations on every RO
  • Mnemos, the AI assistant built on Claude
  • AI phone answering and two-way texting
  • Digital estimate approval
  • 82,000+ OEM service intervals
  • Parts ordering on your own supplier accounts
  • Work orders, invoicing, customers, inspections
  • QuickBooks Online sync
  • Export all your data, anytime
Set up my shop — free for 90 days

Includes 300 AI phone minutes, 300 calls on your shop line and 1,500 texts a month. Past that: $0.35 a minute, 10¢ a call, 2¢ a text — most shops never get there.

Texting and AI phone turn on after carrier registration, usually within two weeks.

The test drive is the real thing

Your own shop at yourshop.roengine.com — not a sandbox. Everything you enter carries forward when you stay.

90 days free, no card

No card needed to start. Add one before the trial ends if you're staying; cancel online in a few clicks — there's no one to call.

We move your history over

Customers, vehicles and repair history, migrated free. Coming off Shop-Ware? We've already done it — for ourselves. See what comes over

Leave whenever, with everything

Export all your data anytime, from Settings, in a few clicks: customers, vehicles, every repair order and invoice, payments, inspections, messages and inventory as spreadsheets (CSV) or JSON, plus every photo, filed by repair order. No fee, no request, no one to call. It isn't tied to your bill, either: cancel, and you can still sign in and take it all. Watch the whole export (1:03)

No sales calls. Ever.

If you want to talk, you ask — and the shop owner who built it answers.

Everything in one plan. Here’s where it lives elsewhere.

Every row in our column comes with the one plan. On the others, the same things are spread across higher tiers and add-ons — straight from their own price lists.

FeatureRO EngineTekmetricShop-WareShopmonkeyAutoLeapMitchell 1 SE
Price, monthly billing$199 launch price — everything below$199 entry plan$279 entry plan$239 entry plan$199 entry planNot published
Try it first90 days free, in your own live shopDemo and self-guided tour; no free trial15-minute demoDemo; trial terms not publishedDemo only; no free trialFree demo
Estimate that explains each jobWhy it’s due and what happens if they wait, on every recommendationAnnounced April 2026, “coming soon”AutoWrite rewrites tech notes; Pro plan, $389Not listedAI write-ups; Elite plan, $449Not listed
Factory maintenance schedulesOn every RO, timed from the car’s own historyGrow plan, $349“Maintenance Builder,” not describedMOTOR schedules; plan not statedPro plan, via ProDemand, extra feeThrough a ProDemand subscription
AI phone answering300 minutes a monthNot listedOffered; price not publishedCRM Essentials add-on, $349/mo$99/mo add-on, 200 callsNot listed
AI assistant for your shop’s dataAsk in plain words: reports, how-tos, services drafted for the RONot listedNot listedNot listedNot listedNot listed
Online bookingIncluded$345/mo Marketing add-on$249/mo add-on, or Ultimate+ plan, $999CRM Essentials add-on, $349/moMarketing add-on, price not listedBook It Now add-on
Two-way texting1,500 texts a monthScale plan, $439Limited; unlimited on Pro, $389IncludedPro plan, $349$39/mo add-on
Digital inspections with photosIncluded, with videoIncludedIncluded2 templates on BasicIncludedOneFlow add-on
Parts orderingOn your own supplier accounts, with POs and receivingIncludedNative catalog on Pro, $389IncludedIncludedIncluded
UsersUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited3–5, then $20/user3 on Essentials, 5 on Pro, unlimited on Elite$15/mo per extra user
Contract and setupMonth to month; history in free, everything out anytimeNo contractNo annual; migration fee may apply$500 data migrationOne-time setup fee12-month lease

From each company’s own pricing page, checked October 18, 2026, at monthly billing (Mitchell 1’s texting, user and lease terms from our September 29 check). “Not listed” means we couldn’t find it on their pricing page — ask them, they may offer it. Mitchell 1 sells Manager SE on a 12-month lease and doesn’t publish the car-shop price. Prices change, so check theirs before you decide.

The free trial

Not a demo. Your shop, live in minutes.

Most "free trials" are a sandbox with fake data and a salesperson waiting at the end. This is the actual RO Engine — your own copy, at your own address, running your shop from the first repair order.

1

Pick your shop's address

Choose your name and get your own yourshop.roengine.com — checked and reserved on the spot.

2

Start your 90 days

No card needed. Nothing charges for 90 days, and you can cancel online in a few clicks.

3

Check your email — you're in

"Your RO Engine shop is ready." Set your password and a short setup walks you through hours, labor rates, your team and payments. Skip anything you want.

  • Real repair orders from day one
  • Everything carries forward when you stay
  • Your whole team — unlimited users
  • We move your history over, free

Texting and the AI phone switch on once your shop's number clears carrier registration — usually within two weeks. Everything else works the day you sign up.

Main Street AutoMAIN-STREET-AUTO.ROENGINE.COM
Setup
Dashboard
Schedule
Repair Orders
Customers
Settings

Welcome to your shop

Let's get the basics in — about ten minutes.
✓Shop identity
✓Your team
✓Labor rates
✓Payment methods
✓RO numbering
✓Business hours
Write your first RO

Switching is our problem, not yours.

We migrate your history free. At AutoHouse we brought over 17,200 repair orders back to 2013, about 5,100 customers, 7,000 vehicles and 40,900 photos from Shop-Ware. Your data stays yours: export all of it, anytime.

Everything else you'd expect.

How it works

Write it up. It explains itself. They approve.

01 · INTAKE

Snap the door jamb. The RO fills itself.

Your tech photographs the car. RO Engine reads the VIN sticker, the odometer and the plate, and builds the record — with timestamped photos of the car's condition before you touch it.

02 · RECOMMEND

The AI writes the maintenance on every car.

Your best advisor is two hours into a cylinder head job. The 2001 Corolla in for an oil change still gets the full write-up: the factory schedule, the car's own history and what's actually due. Normal or severe service, your call.

  • Overdue and coming-due work surfaced automatically
  • Deferred work remembered from past visits
  • Plain-language reasons the customer understands
03 · APPROVE

The estimate explains it. They approve it from the couch.

Every service says what it is, why it's due now and what happens if they wait. A private link — no app, no login. Line by line, approve or decline. The answer lands on the RO, timestamped and in writing, and declines become next visit's reminders.

And scheduling rules keep the day from filling past what your counter can handle, so every car still gets the full write-up. That's what moves your ARO.

See it work

The real app. No mockups.

Short videos of RO Engine doing real jobs, recorded on the real app. Nothing staged; anything sped up says so on screen.

The estimate that explains itself.

The customer taps their car and reads what each service is, why it’s due now, and what happens if they wait. The advisor reviews it first.

Show them what you found.

The tech marks the brake pads red, with the photo and the gauge reading. The customer sees exactly that on their phone and approves it.

Type it like you talk.

Scribble a service; the AI cleans up the title, asks which corner, and rewrites the labor line.

Four photos in. A vehicle out.

The AI reads the VIN, mileage, build date and tire size from four photos, and the repair order is ready.

Every conversation. One inbox.

Texts, email and calls, including the ones the AI phone answered, in one place. Built in, no add-ons.

Booked online, already an RO.

A customer books from your website and it lands on the schedule as a repair order.

Ask the shop.

Ask Mnemos about your shop in plain English. Anything that would change the shop comes back as a card for a person to approve.

No signal. No lost photos.

The tech app keeps every photo and video on the phone through a dead spot, then sends them by itself.

Scan the bottle.

Photograph a bottle's labels; the AI reads the product, specs and OEM approvals into inventory.

More on our YouTube channel

Everything in one plan. Here’s where it lives elsewhere.

Every row in our column comes with the one plan. On the others, the same things are spread across higher tiers and add-ons — straight from their own price lists.

FeatureRO EngineTekmetricShop-WareShopmonkeyAutoLeapMitchell 1 SE
Price, monthly billing$199 launch price — everything below$199 entry plan$279 entry plan$239 entry plan$199 entry planNot published
Try it first90 days free, in your own live shopDemo and self-guided tour; no free trial15-minute demoDemo; trial terms not publishedDemo only; no free trialFree demo
Estimate that explains each jobWhy it’s due and what happens if they wait, on every recommendationAnnounced April 2026, “coming soon”AutoWrite rewrites tech notes; Pro plan, $389Not listedAI write-ups; Elite plan, $449Not listed
Factory maintenance schedulesOn every RO, timed from the car’s own historyGrow plan, $349“Maintenance Builder,” not describedMOTOR schedules; plan not statedPro plan, via ProDemand, extra feeThrough a ProDemand subscription
AI phone answering300 minutes a monthNot listedOffered; price not publishedCRM Essentials add-on, $349/mo$99/mo add-on, 200 callsNot listed
Online bookingIncluded$345/mo Marketing add-on$249/mo add-on, or Ultimate+ plan, $999CRM Essentials add-on, $349/moMarketing add-on, price not listedBook It Now add-on
See the full comparison: AI assistant, texting, inspections, parts, users, contracts

From each company’s own pricing page, checked October 18, 2026, at monthly billing (Mitchell 1’s texting, user and lease terms from our September 29 check). “Not listed” means we couldn’t find it on their pricing page — ask them, they may offer it. Mitchell 1 sells Manager SE on a 12-month lease and doesn’t publish the car-shop price. Prices change, so check theirs before you decide.

The shop owner's fact sheet

Where does shop software really make its money?

We read the public filings. Follow the card fees.

Read it
Questions first?

Ask the shop owner who built it.

  • We migrate your customers, vehicles and history — free
  • Coming off Shop-Ware? We've already done that migration
  • A straight answer about whether it fits your shop
  • Or skip the questions — set up your shop: your own real RO Engine, live in minutes, nothing charged for 90 days

I read these myself, usually same day. No sales sequence, no drip campaign, and your email doesn't go anywhere else.

Try it on your own cars for 90 days.

Nothing charged during the trial. No contract. No sales calls.