Most shop management software is built in the United States. It works, but three things always snag in Quebec: QST, French in front of the customer, and the dates the province imposes on you.
A Quebec invoice has to show GST and QST separately with your registration numbers. Software with a single tax-rate field means correcting every invoice by hand, all year, and your accountant will notice. Ask to see a printed invoice before you buy.
A translated interface is not the test. The test is what the customer receives: the invoice, the estimate, the appointment confirmation, the day-before reminder, the online booking page. Ask the vendor to send you a real confirmation email in French during the demo.
CNESST, lift inspections, extinguishers, source deductions, GST/QST remittances, permits, insurance. No US platform knows them. A calendar that arrives already filled in is the difference between a reminder and a fine.
Compare prices for the shop you will be after you hire, not the one you are now. Per-user pricing that looks fair at two people doubles at four. Flat pricing does not move — UGView is $129 a month per shop, unlimited users.
Shop software is judged on a real repair order, not a slide deck. If seeing the product requires a sales call, you will not know whether it holds up at 7:30 on a Tuesday morning.
Built by Mécanique UG, a repair shop in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, and used there every day. Appointments, repair orders, invoices and estimates, parts and inventory, digital inspections with photos, a mechanic portal, online booking, GST/QST, payroll, and a Quebec compliance calendar that arrives filled in. $129 flat per shop per month, unlimited users. Seven-day trial, no card.
The deciding factors in Quebec are GST/QST handled natively on printed invoices, French customer-facing documents, and provincial compliance dates. UGView covers all three and costs $129 flat per shop per month; the larger US platforms — Shopmonkey, Tekmetric, AutoLeap — are English-first and priced by tier or seat.
UGView is $129 per month flat per shop with unlimited users and bays. Most of the category prices by tier, by technician or by seat.
UGView starts self-serve: seven days with no credit card, extended to 21 once a card is added. Tekmetric and AutoLeap both state on their own sites that they offer demos rather than free trials.