BayStacker

BayStacker is diagnosis first shop software built specifically for transmission and powertrain work. It gives a repair one case that begins with the customer's complaint and continues through diagnosis, parts, the build, verification, invoicing, and reporting. The focus is not simply producing an estimate or moving a ticket across a board. It is keeping the evidence for a diagnosis attached to the operational work that follows, so a comeback can reopen the original record instead of becoming a disconnected second job. That structure is intended to help shops find where rework began and stop incomplete repairs from looking finished. Historical repair examples can help a technician see what was found in similar cases, but the product explicitly presents that history as supporting material rather than a replacement for diagnosis.

A case starts with the reported symptom, operating conditions, a decoded VIN, fault codes, and initial findings. BayStacker's Analysis A ranks a likely cause against the transmission family and the shop's own closed cases, shows the inputs behind that hypothesis, and identifies evidence that is still missing. Analysis cannot run until the VIN is decoded, which prevents a hypothesis from being ranked against the wrong family. The proposed conclusion remains a draft until a person confirms it. An evidence ladder records observations such as scan results, road tests, fluid checks, and pan photos, keeping confidence and completeness separate so a confident but thin case is still visibly incomplete.

Once work begins, the same case feeds the shop floor. A work order board shows each open repair, its current phase, time in that phase, and the condition holding it up. Parts requests distinguish requested, allocated, and installed quantities and retain the purchase order, vendor, landed cost, and charge treatment. A blocking part changes the repair's state rather than relying on someone to remember the delay. The build sheet records the failure mode, component work, torque values, fluid, and hours against plan. Unit and core records stay open until a vendor credit actually lands, which makes outstanding core value visible instead of treating a shipment as recovered money.

Verification is an operational gate rather than an optional note at the end. A diagnosis managed job cannot be invoiced, delivered, or closed until the required road test and code recheck pass or the gate is explicitly waived. Supplements also wait for approval before the build continues. After verification, the Full OS edition can create an invoice and send a focused estimate approval link to the customer. BayStacker records what the customer owes and what was paid, but it does not process card payments, so the shop continues using its existing terminal, cash, or check workflow. Reports cover repair verification, QC bottlenecks, work in progress, comebacks, repeated steps, aging cores, and purchase orders awaiting action. Unknown costs remain visibly incomplete on an invoice instead of being rendered as zero.

The system fits transmission rebuilders, R and R operations, powertrain specialists, and multi-role shops where reception, diagnosis, parts, builders, inspectors, accounting, and drivers need different views of the same job. It is narrower than a general auto repair platform, and that is a meaningful buying criterion. A shop mainly seeking tire sales, a labor guide, broad marketing, or integrated payment processing will need other systems around it. Existing history can come in through CSV, with a dry run shown before anything is written. Access is scoped by shop, location, role, and assignment, with PostgreSQL row level security enforcing the boundaries. The database is hosted in the European Union, and the vendor states that it is not SOC 2 certified. Support is included with each plan and advertises a one business day weekday response.

BayStacker charges by location rather than by user or vehicle. The Intelligence plan costs $149 per location each month for intake, guided diagnosis, evidence, and case history. Full OS costs $499 per location each month and adds work orders, invoices, and the operational path from a diagnosis case. Both plans include 1,000 analysis runs per month and begin with a seven day trial that requires a card. Creating an account alone does not start a subscription. A limited founding shop offer advertises Full OS at $99 per location each month with setup, history import, priority support, and a 90 day refund guarantee, but buyers should confirm availability before relying on that promotional price. Plans can be changed or cancelled from billing, and records can be exported if a shop leaves.