Repair bays and accessory retailers run on tickets that turn a basis-point conversation into a real-dollar conversation. Surcharging moves the credit card cost onto the customer's work order, cleanly disclosed, so the big jobs stop costing you three percent of the invoice.
Figures are directional. Eligibility, ceiling, and actual recovery confirmed from your statement.
A $3,200 brake-and-rotor job at a 2.95% effective rate costs you about $94 to accept. Multiply by repair-order count and the annual bleed gets uncomfortable. Surcharging puts that line on the customer invoice — not your monthly payout summary.
Tire plus install, audio head-unit plus labor, custom wheels with balancing — the margin on the parts is already pinched by distributor pricing. Giving away another 3% to the processor on a $2,400 wheel package is the difference between a profitable ticket and a break-even one.
Deposits on special-order parts, core charges on remanufactured components, and tow-and-diagnose authorizations get keyed or phoned in more than walk-in retail does — and most processors down-grade them to non-qualified rates. We route those transactions so they qualify correctly.
The credit card processing line is printed on the invoice in compliant language, right above the total — same place the customer expects to see tax.
A 60-second phone and counter script for your service writers: how to state it, how to offer debit/ACH as the no-fee alternative, what to say to the one customer in twenty who pushes back.
Special-order deposits and core charges run through a gateway configured to preserve card-present interchange where possible — no more surprise non-qualified fee on parts authorizations.
For fleet accounts and shop-to-shop invoices over a threshold you set, the payment link defaults to ACH. Same-day settlement, zero surcharge, zero merchant fee.
Bluetooth EMV readers for mobile mechanics, road-service calls, and body-shop mobile estimating — card-present rates from a service van.
Visa and Mastercard surcharge notifications, Amex OptBlue eligibility, and Discover registration handled by Apex. You sign one form; we file the rest.
Composite of auto-service operators following surcharge go-live. Actual results depend on credit/debit mix, average repair order, and how much of the book is fleet/ACH-convertible.
Annual credit volume
$2.8M
Surcharge applied
3.0%
Annual recovery (est.)
$84,000
Net cost on credit
≈ 0%
A specialist reconciles it against your processor statement and returns a written program design — eligibility, surcharge ceiling, go-live plan — in 48 hours.