The three pricing models (and who each favours)
1. Per-user pricing
You pay for each login. Common in systems built on business platforms — for example, Garage Hive runs on Microsoft Business Central, so buyers should ask how Microsoft's per-user licensing applies to their team on top of the listed from-£145/month price. Per-user works for tiny teams and gets expensive as everyone needs access; the failure mode is rationing logins to save money, which quietly breaks the workflow the software was meant to fix.
2. Tiered plans
One price per feature bundle, usually with unlimited users — TechMan's published Lite/Advanced/Pro structure is the well-known UK example. Tiers favour garages whose needs happen to match a tier boundary. The failure mode is the "one missing feature" problem: the thing you want (EVHC, online booking, customer portal) sits in the next tier up, and the jump costs more than the feature. Price the tier that has your must-haves, not the entry tier.
3. Flat-rate, everything included
One price, all features, unlimited users — the model Clarity-GMS uses at £149 + VAT/month. Flat pricing favours garages that want the whole toolkit (booking, DVI, reminders, website, accounting sync) without re-negotiating every time they grow. The thing to check is coverage: "everything included" only helps if the everything is genuinely good — which is what feature comparisons and demos are for.
What moves the price
- Users. The multiplier under per-user models; irrelevant under flat or unlimited-user tiers. Count everyone who'd ever log in, including from home.
- Branches/sites. Multi-site is often a separate tier or per-site charge. Ask early if you have (or plan) a second site.
- SMS & messaging volume. Per-message charges or bundles on top of the subscription are common. A reminder-heavy MOT station should estimate realistic volume.
- Integrations. Accounting sync, parts ordering and technical data can be included, chargeable, or tier-gated. List what you actually use.
- Onboarding & training. Ranges from free and done-for-you to chargeable days. Ask who does the work.
- Data migration. Moving customers, vehicles and reminder dates from your old system — free with some vendors (including Clarity-GMS), quoted work with others.
Want a price with nothing hiding behind it?
Clarity-GMS is £149 + VAT/month flat: every feature, unlimited users, free migration, no setup fee, rolling monthly. That's the whole pricing page.
The hidden costs of a poor (or missing) system
The subscription is the visible cost. The invisible costs sit in the admin a weak setup forces on you every day — and for most garages they dwarf the software bill:
Conceptual illustration of common admin time sinks reported by garages — not measured research data. Your mix will differ.
- Missed bookings: every unanswered call during a busy spell is a booking your competitor's website took.
- Unsent reminders: each forgotten MOT reminder risks losing that vehicle's annual cycle — test, retest, and the work found during the test.
- Double entry: re-typing every invoice into accounts is hours a month of skilled time spent transcribing — and watch for the softer version of it, where the GMS invoices in its own ledger and then exports to Xero or Sage for VAT. That's still the same job handled twice; a live API sync does it once.
- Lost follow-up: quotes that were never chased convert at exactly zero percent.
A worked example (hypothetical)
Take a hypothetical four-person garage — owner, service advisor, two techs — where everyone needs access. The numbers below are round figures to show how the structures behave, not quotes from any vendor:
- Per-user at £60/user/month: 4 users = £240/month. Adding a Saturday receptionist makes it £300.
- Tiered at £180 entry / £320 with the features you want: the realistic price is £320, because online booking and digital inspections were in the upper tier.
- Flat at £149 + VAT/month: £149 with all four users, and still £149 with the Saturday receptionist.
Then add the one-off column: a £0 vs £500 vs four-figure difference in setup, training and migration can outweigh a year of monthly differences. Get both columns in writing from every vendor.
How Clarity-GMS prices (so you can compare us properly)
- £149 + VAT/month flat — every feature included, no tiers
- Free multi-seat — every staff member gets their own login, across sites, on their own devices
- Accounts app connected at all times — live Xero/QuickBooks API sync, not invoice-then-export
- No setup fee; onboarding and branding done for you
- Free done-for-you migration of your customer records
- Rolling monthly contract — cancel anytime
Current pricing is always on our pricing page — the same test we tell you to apply to everyone else.
The pricing checklist: questions that get you a true figure
- What's the all-in monthly cost for my team size, with the features I've listed?
- Which of my must-have features are extra, tier-gated or per-use?
- What are the one-off costs — setup, training, data migration — in writing?
- How is SMS/WhatsApp/email messaging charged, at my realistic volume?
- What's the contract term, notice period, and any price-rise clause?
- What happens to the price if I add a user, a bay or a site?
- If I leave, what does it cost to get my data out?
Armed with those answers from two or three vendors — pick your shortlist with our buyer's guide — the value comparison usually makes itself.
Frequently asked questions
Third-party pricing references are based on vendors' public websites and listings as of July 2026 and may have changed — confirm current pricing, inclusions and contract terms directly with each vendor before budgeting.
