Torque DMS vs Tekmetric: Which is Right for Your Shop?
Date Published
Tekmetric is a well-regarded, well-designed shop management platform trusted by over 15,000 shops, founded by Sunil Patel, an 11-year repair shop owner — real industry credibility, not just venture-backed software built by outsiders. It has a strong reputation and over 70 integrations, including Carfax, Worldpac, and Sirius XM.
What Tekmetric genuinely does well
- Founder credibility — built by someone who actually ran a repair shop for over a decade, which shows in the workflow design
- Over 70 integrations, a genuinely large ecosystem covering parts suppliers, marketing, and payments
- Native iOS and Android apps, polished and modern, frequently cited by users as a strength over older competitors
- Built-in payment processing including buy-now-pay-later and capital financing, which goes further than many UK competitors offer
- Trusted by 15,000+ shops — a genuinely large, well-established customer base
Where the comparison actually differs
The honest, central issue is market fit, not feature quality: Tekmetric is built primarily for the US independent repair shop market. It does not natively cover UK-specific needs — PCP/HP finance, AutoTrader integration, GSF Car Parts, HaynesPro labour times, MOT reminders, or UK VAT/accounting via Xero and Sage. A UK garage could likely make Tekmetric work with workarounds, but it was not designed around UK workflows the way Torque DMS is.
On cost: Tekmetric does not publish pricing, and any UK buyer would need to factor in currency conversion and ask explicitly whether UK-specific integrations are even on the roadmap. Torque DMS charges no subscription fee at all, funded instead by optional partner commission.
Honest bottom line
For a US-based independent shop, Tekmetric is genuinely one of the better-reviewed platforms available and deserves to be on a US buyer's shortlist. For a UK garage or dealer, the market-fit gap — no native PCP/HP, AutoTrader, or UK supplier integrations — is usually the deciding factor before price or features even come into the conversation.