ShopCentral Builds Momentum with Direct-Hit®, Intuit QuickBooks® Online, 1stMILE, and Enhanced Service Status Hub Delivering a Smarter Workflow for Repair Shops
WESTLAKE, Texas, Aug. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ShopCentral, Solera's cloud-based shop management platform, continues its rapid evolution with a series of major enhancements designed to help auto repair businesses operate more efficiently, streamline daily workflows, improve financial visibility, and deliver a better customer experience.
Over the past several releases, ShopCentral has introduced powerful new capabilities, including integrations with Identifix Direct-Hit, Intuit QuickBooks Online, and 1stMILE payments, along with a redesigned Service Status Hub, expanded reporting, and numerous enhancements to repair order and technician workflows. Together, these innovations are transforming how repair shops manage their operations while reinforcing ShopCentral's commitment to reducing administrative burden, increasing productivity, enhancing transparency for vehicle owners, and keeping vehicles moving through the bay faster.
"As a shop owner, I'm always looking for ways to spend less time managing paperwork and more time serving customers. ShopCentral keeps everything organized in one place, and the latest enhancements have made it even easier to track repairs, communicate with customers, and stay on top of day-to-day operations. It's become an important part of how I run my business," said Thomas McCray, Owner of McCray Auto Service.
One of the most significant additions is the new Direct-Hit integration, which enables subscribed users to access Direct-Hit right from a repair order or vehicle record. Vehicle information is automatically passed to Direct-Hit, giving technicians and service advisors faster access to diagnostic and repair information without leaving their workflow.
ShopCentral has also expanded its ecosystem with its QuickBooks Online integration, allowing shops to synchronize vendor invoices, accounts receivable transactions, and cash activity. By eliminating manual data entry and creating a seamless connection between operational and accounting workflows, repair businesses can spend less time on bookkeeping and more time serving customers.
Another step forward is the introduction of 1stMILE integrated payments, enabling shops to process in-store and remote customer payments directly within ShopCentral. Payment activity is automatically reflected in repair orders, while text-to-pay and email payment options provide greater convenience for vehicle owners. Additional reporting capabilities help shop operators easily track transactions and reconcile payments.
While these enhancements help shops operate more efficiently, ShopCentral is also investing in greater transparency and engagement for vehicle owners. The redesigned Service Status Hub gives customers a single place to stay informed throughout their repair journey. Customers can monitor repair progress through an enhanced Repair Status view, approve recommended services, and access digital vehicle inspection results with ease. The experience also provides clear visibility into key repair milestones, shop and service advisor contact information, and inspection photos and videos. In addition, customers can review a straightforward summary of urgent, recommended, and completed vehicle conditions, helping them make informed decisions while enabling shops to maintain transparent communication throughout the repair process.
Beyond these advancements, ShopCentral has delivered substantial workflow optimization across the platform. Recent enhancements include:
- Faster repair order creation with a new customer and vehicle "Super Search" experience.
- Expanded worklist functionality with customizable views, enhanced search capabilities, parts receiving workflows, labor tracking, status visibility, and recently viewed repair orders.
- Streamlined approval processes with improved approval tracking and clearer customer communication.
- Drag-and-drop repair order organization and collapsible operations that simplify large estimates and repair orders.
- Enhanced recommendations powered by both mileage and time-based OEM maintenance schedules.
- Improved digital inspection workflows, including the ability to capture multiple photos without repeatedly reopening a device camera.
- New reporting tools such as Declined Services reporting and 1stMILE transaction tracking to help shops uncover additional revenue opportunities and improve follow-up efforts.
- Expanded support for fleet operations, multi-location organizations, and ability to support state-specific invoice compliance requirements.
These continuous innovations reflect the growing demand for cloud-based shop management technology that helps independent repair facilities, multi-location operators, and fleet service providers run more efficiently while providing a modern customer experience.
"The pace of innovation on ShopCentral has been tremendous," said Scott Thorley, Vice President of Sales, ShopCentral, at Solera. "In just the last few months, we've delivered meaningful integrations with Direct-Hit, QuickBooks Online, and 1stMILE, while simultaneously enhancing the everyday workflows that shop owners, service advisors, and technicians rely on. Every release is focused on helping our customers save time, improve profitability, and provide a seamless experience from vehicle intake through final payment. The response from the market has been incredibly encouraging, and we're just getting started."
As ShopCentral continues to grow, the platform remains focused on bringing together shop management, diagnostics, accounting, payments, customer communication, and operational reporting into a single connected experience that helps repair businesses thrive in an increasingly digital environment. With new functionality being introduced on a regular release cadence, ShopCentral is rapidly becoming one of the industry's most comprehensive cloud-based shop management solutions.
Learn more: identifix.com/shopcentral
About ShopCentral
ShopCentral is a cloud-based shop management platform from Solera designed to help automotive repair businesses streamline operations, improve technician productivity, enhance customer communication, and drive profitability. By combining repair order management, digital inspections, integrated payments, accounting connectivity, reporting, and workflow automation into a single solution, ShopCentral helps shops spend less time managing processes and more time serving customers.
About Solera
Solera is a global leader in vehicle lifecycle management software, data, and services. Operating in more than 120 countries and serving over 280,000 customers, Solera provides the digital infrastructure that powers critical operations across the automotive ecosystem, serving manufacturers, dealerships, insurers, repairers, recyclers, parts and fleet operators worldwide.
At its core, Solera is built on a proprietary automotive data foundation and a cloud-based AI infrastructure designed to operate at industry scale. By embedding intelligence directly into workflows and continuously innovating across its platform, Solera enables customers to move faster, reduce complexity, and deliver better outcomes. By serving the full vehicle lifecycle, Solera creates unique synergies across its network, helping customers unlock greater value, improve performance, and succeed in an increasingly complex and connected industry. Solera is home to many leading brands in the automotive and vehicle ecosystem, including Identifix, Audatex, DealerSocket, Omnitracs, LoJack, Spireon, eDriving, cap hpi, Autodata, and others.
For more information, visit www.solera.com.
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