In a motor repair shop, the money side of the job fails the same way the floor side fails: when the quote, the work, and the invoice live in three places. Someone retypes RFQ lines into QuickBooks. Someone else adds freight or rush labor on a sticky note. Receivables sit in a spreadsheet nobody trusts after the last partial payment. Sales commissions get calculated later from memory or a stack of closed tickets. By the time the customer asks what they were quoted versus billed, the office is reconstructing the story instead of reading it.
IQMotorBase keeps quoting, invoicing, receivables, and job-level sales commission data on the same Job Write-Up path as intake and the work order. Formal RFQs start from that job, stay linked to the job number, and convert into invoices from completed work orders and approved quote lines, without re-keying what was already agreed. When you enable QuickBooks Online, that same commercial path can sync customers, invoices, payments, and vendor POs into QBO the moment a job hits your chosen closed status. This page walks that path for shops done babysitting disconnected estimate and billing tools. For the full system, see motor repair shop management software.
Quotes (RFQs): started from the Job Write-Up, not a blank estimate pad
Every repair in IQMotorBase starts as a Job Write-Up with its own job number. That record holds intake, inspection notes, preliminary and final quotes in the pipeline, customer send, job-level attachments, sales commission data, and shop actions such as print, generate work order, and generate Tag QR. Quotes are not a separate product bolted on later. A formal RFQ is started from the Job Write-Up so the quote stays linked to the same job number the floor will use when the work order is cut.
That link matters when purchasing asks which job a bearing is for, or when a customer calls about revision two of an estimate. The office does not hunt for a quote number that never matched a job ticket. The RFQ is editable after it is created, scope changes, parts swaps, labor adjustments, without inventing a second “real” estimate elsewhere. Status is tracked on the quote itself, so you see where each RFQ sits in the pipeline instead of inferring status from email threads.
Line items can pull directly from the shop’s parts catalog. The catalog carries SKU, unit of measure, on-hand count, reserved count, and optional bin or aisle location. When you build a quote from catalog parts, you see live stock posture, not last month’s printed inventory sheet. Available to promise is on-hand minus reserved, the number that matters when two jobs want the same sleeve bearing. How reservation locks on approval and how shortfalls open a vendor PO from the quote screen is on motor repair inventory software; the quoting point here is simpler: the estimate is built from the same parts book the stockroom uses, with availability visible while you price the job.
Preliminary and final quotes both live on the Job Write-Up pipeline. Shops that send a rough number after inspection and a tighter number after teardown are not maintaining two customer files. Customer send sits on the same record, so the RFQ that left the shop is tied to that job number. When the primary final quote becomes floor work, the work order is created from that quote, motor details, customer, scope, and line items carry through, numbering aligned to the job. That handoff is covered on work order software for motor repair shops; for invoicing, billing later starts from the same approved lines, not a retyped summary of what the technician “probably” did.
Quote to invoice: completed work orders and approved lines, not a second bill
Invoices in IQMotorBase are generated from completed work orders and approved quote line items. Amounts match what was agreed on the quote path, there is no manual re-entry of every labor and parts line into a separate billing tool. That fixes the common rewind-shop fight: the customer approved a number, the floor shipped the motor, and the invoice matches neither document because someone rebuilt it under deadline.
The sequence is mechanical. The job carries preliminary and final quotes. The work order comes from the job’s primary final quote, so scope and lines are already the agreed basis. When you generate the invoice from that completed work order and those approved quote lines, the bill inherits the commercial agreement instead of approximating it. Inventory consumption on shipment follows the quote-backed path on the work-order side; invoicing does not need a second pass to invent parts used just to post a receivable.
Extra charges and adjustments can still be added after the fact when reality differs from the quote, freight, rush, additional labor at assembly, a parts substitution the customer approved. Those adjustments link to accounts receivable with the rest of the invoice. You are not parking “extras” in a side notebook that never posts, or opening a blank invoice and hoping every add-on is remembered. Quote agreed, work done, bill issued, AR open, same job story.
Shops that already run a dedicated accounting package are not forced to rip it out on day one. An API can sync customers, work orders, and quotes with external Shop Management System, accounting, or ERP tools, one operational source of truth while the shop keeps apps the team already uses. The claim here is narrower: inside IQMotorBase, approved quote lines through completed work order to invoice do not require re-keying commercial detail that already lives on the job.
Accounts receivable and payment tracking on the same job path
Once the invoice exists, the shop still has to collect. IQMotorBase includes payment tracking and aging reports for follow-up on past-due accounts. That sounds basic until you have watched a shop chase money from a folder of printed invoices and a bank deposit list that never quite reconciles to open jobs. Here the receivable stays connected to the invoice that came from the completed work order and approved quote lines, so when collections asks “what job is this?” the answer is the same job number the floor used.
Aging reports are the practical tool for the office manager who starts the week by asking which accounts are late. Instead of exporting AR to a spreadsheet and sorting by hand, the aging view surfaces past-due balances for follow-up. Payment history sits with that tracking so a partial payment last month is not tribal knowledge held by one person who remembers the phone call. Online payment links are part of payment tracking: the shop can send a link rather than waiting on a check that “is in the mail” every Friday.
None of this replaces your judgment about credit terms. It replaces treating invoicing as a dead end after the motor ships. The customer registry already holds billing details and full job history; invoice and payment activity belong in that same commercial picture. When a repeat customer’s motor comes back, you can see whether the last job paid cleanly before you extend the same terms again, quoted, billed, and collected on one job number.
For shops still splitting estimate software, job tickets, and an AR spreadsheet, the failure mode is predictable: quotes win the work, work orders move the motor, and billing is a third system rebuilt after the fact. IQMotorBase’s AR features cover day-to-day collection on jobs that already live in the product. Floor mechanics behind the completed work order are on the work order software page; reserved stock and shortfalls that break quote accuracy before you invoice are on inventory software.
QuickBooks Online: shop floor to books without re-keying
IQMotorBase includes a built-in QuickBooks Online (QBO) integration. Connect your company under Settings → Accounts, choose which work-order status counts as “job closed,” and turn sync on. When a job reaches that status, or when you save invoices, payments, customers, and vendor purchase orders, IQMotorBase can push the matching records into QuickBooks Online.
That is the opposite of the old habit: export a PDF, open QBO in another tab, and type customer names, line items, and payment amounts again. Sync is one-way from IQMotorBase into QBO so the shop system stays the operational source of truth while accounting still lives where your bookkeeper expects it.
For inventory reservations that feed quote accuracy before you invoice, see motor repair inventory software. Floor status that drives “job closed” is covered on work order software for motor repair shops.
Sales commissions at the job level
The Job Write-Up carries sales commission data on the same continuous record as intake, quotes, and shop actions. Commissions are tracked at the job level, not as a disconnected spreadsheet rebuilt from closed invoices at month-end. When the office looks at a job, commission information sits with the commercial path that produced the quote and the invoice, so you are not reverse-engineering who owned the sale from email or from a handwritten note on the traveler.
[NEEDS INPUT: how commission percentage, splits, or rules are configured in-product, Section 1 confirms job-level sales commission data on the Job Write-Up but does not document the configuration UI, rate tables, or payout calculation mechanics.] Until that detail is confirmed, treat commissions as present on the job record and part of the quoting/invoicing story, not as a fully specified commission engine claim.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a quote turn into an invoice without retyping line items?
- Yes. Invoices are generated from completed work orders and approved quote line items, so amounts match what was agreed. Extra charges or adjustments can be added after the fact and still link into accounts receivable, no rebuilding the bill from a paper quote or a separate spreadsheet.
- Do quote line items show whether parts are actually available?
- Quote lines can pull from the shop’s parts catalog, which tracks SKU, unit of measure, on-hand, and reserved counts. Available-to-promise (on-hand minus reserved) is visible when you build the quote. Shortfalls can start a vendor purchase order from the quote screen instead of guessing stock elsewhere.
- How do payments and past-due accounts show up?
- Payment tracking includes online payment links and payment history. Aging reports surface past-due accounts for follow-up without exporting AR to a spreadsheet. Invoices stay on the same job path as the quote and work order.
- Does IQMotorBase sync invoices to QuickBooks Online?
- Yes. Connect QuickBooks Online under Settings → Accounts. When a job reaches the closed status you choose, customers, invoices, payments, and vendor purchase orders sync to QBO so the office does not retype RFQ lines or payments into accounting.
Book a demo
There is no self-serve signup on a published rate card. Pricing is custom, monthly, yearly, or one-time, matched to how your shop runs quotes, work orders, and collections. Use the form on this page to book a demo and get pricing. If you want the broader product map first, read motor repair shop management software, then come back to how RFQs, invoices, and AR sit on the same job number.