Garage Hive unveils latest innovations at The Blend 2024

Garage Hive, the community-driven garage management system, has unleashed a wave of exciting new features and cutting-edge updates, further boosting garage productivity and providing an even better experience for their customers.

Garage Hive's Managing Director, Ray Dilsons, announced the raft of new features during his opening keynote speech at The Blend 2024, speaking to a crowd of over 400 industry professionals.

One of the standout innovations was the launch of Garage Hive Copilot, a groundbreaking new artificial intelligence (AI) tool built on OpenAI technology. Making it easier to communicate with customers while reducing staff workload, Garage Hive Copilot can automatically draft descriptions for vehicle health checks, sales invoices, and other tasks.

“It can generate suggested text based on vehicle inspection data, explaining the need for specific services or repairs,” said Ray. “It’s integrated directly into the existing workflow, so there’s no additional setup.”

For customers wishing to ‘self-check-in’ their vehicle, Garage Hive has introduced a pre-check-in option. Before their appointment, garage customers receive a message allowing them to confirm details. This not only enhances customer convenience but also reduces the administrative workload for garages by ensuring all necessary information is captured in advance.

Garage Hive now integrates with ServiceSplit, making it easier for workshops to offer flexible service plans to their customers. This new feature helps vehicle owners spread the cost of servicing and repairs, while garages can easily manage payments and keep track of balances directly within Garage Hive.

Taking inspiration from goods delivery services, Garage Hive now also offers real-time work status updates. Customers can track the progress of their vehicle's service from start to finish, reducing uncertainty and eliminating the need for frequent status inquiries, freeing-up staff to focus on more pressing tasks.

The integration of Timetastic, a popular staff leave planner, was also announced during the keynote address. If an employee books annual leave on Timetastic, it is now automatically shown as ‘unavailable time’ on Garage Hive, ensuring a more streamlined approach to resource planning.

Garage Hive has also revamped its Castrol oil lookup feature. The updated interface offers greater detail and is now mobile-friendly, displaying product availability and stock levels more intuitively. This improvement ensures that garages can better manage their oil inventory, streamlining operations and improving service efficiency.

“We’re excited to introduce these new updates,” said Ray. “We’re continuing to give garages the tools they need to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction. By integrating cutting-edge technology and user feedback, we’re ensuring that our community-driven platform continues to evolve and meet the ever-changing needs of the industry.”