Free AI Tools That Find Your Auto Shop’s Missing Money [E246]

Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve

Why does QuickBooks show $40,000 in parts when your shop software shows $30,000? Would you notice if someone took $20 a day? And if AI companies are offering shop owners up to $2 million for their internal data, what’s sitting in yours?

Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis & Associates, walks through the free AI tools his firm uses with clients. He starts with the guardrails: begin with free versions, never give an AI agent the power to move money, and protect sensitive data. Then come the results. A parts mismatch his team budgeted two to three hours for took three minutes and turned out to be a $6,000 transmission billed in October. A client missing $1,400 out of roughly $400,000 in sales got an answer in 20 seconds, when the AI matched the amount to an unpaid internal ticket. A year ago, that search took six to eight hours.

Hunt then turns to the data shops already own: parts that cause comebacks, declined work, and how often customers visit. If they usually come twice a year and your rolling 12 months show 1.5, that gap says something about the months ahead. At 2.5 visits, you may be running hot and need about 20% more new customers to hold sales flat. He also explains why paid platforms like WickedFile and Shop Hero Dashboard still earn their cost.

Whether you’ve never opened a chatbot or use one daily, this episode gives you three practical ways to put your numbers to work this week.

Thanks to our partner, Promotive

Promotive has over 40 years of recruiting and automotive experience. If you need qualified technicians and service advisors and want to offload the heavy lifting, visit info.gopromotive.com/hunt

Thanks to our partner, WickedFile

Turn chaos into clarity with WickedFile, the AI for auto repair shops. Transform invoices into insights, protect cash flow, and stop losing parts, cores, or credits to maximize your bottom line. visit https://info.wickedfile.com/

Thanks to our partner, Overdryve AI

Overdryve is your AI-powered marketing operating system. It predicts slow weeks before they happen, automatically launches revenue-driving campaigns, tracks ROI down to the dollar, and optimizes performance in real time. Demo the Marketing Intelligence Platform at https://getoverdryve.ai/

Paar Melis and Associates – Accountants Specializing in Automotive Repair

Visit us Online: www.paarmelis.com

Email Hunt: podcast@paarmelis.com

Get the FREE 2026 Auto Shop Benchmark Report: https://hubs.ly/Q04j-grh0

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