Auto repair & maintenance
Books and taxes for brake and muffler shops.
Fast brake jobs, custom exhaust work, lifetime pad warranties, and a counter that never stops ringing. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
November came in at $12,000. Three lifetime-warranty brake pad jobs went out at no charge for parts, so I kept that labor separate from paid work.
- Shopmonkey payoutsRepair orders
- Walker exhaust orderParts and materials
- Advance Auto commercialParts and materials
- Square card feesCard fees
- Radio spot, local stationMarketing
Why your books are different
Brake and muffler shop books go wrong on volume, not on one big job.
You run more tickets a day than a general repair shop, most of them quick, and that speed hides its own problems: lifetime pad warranties nobody tracks, custom exhaust bent to fit a car with no part number, and a counter person who quotes a price the books never see again.
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1
Lifetime pad warranties earn nothing new
A brake pad sold with a lifetime warranty means free replacement labor for as long as the customer owns the car. That labor still costs you a bay and a technician, but it earns no new sale, and folded into ordinary labor it quietly drags margin down.
What we doFlags no-charge warranty pad jobs separately, so you can see how much labor goes to honoring warranties versus paid work. -
2
Custom exhaust bending isn't a parts sale
A custom-bent exhaust for an older truck or a project car is mostly labor and pipe stock, not a boxed part with a price tag. Booked like a routine muffler swap, the job's real labor cost disappears into a parts number that doesn't fit it.
What we doKeeps custom fabrication labor on its own line, separate from boxed parts, so pricing reflects the bending time, not just the pipe. -
3
Pipe and hanger stock skews a slow month
Mufflers, resonators, pipe stock, and hangers get bought in bulk from a jobber like Walker or Bosal ahead of the jobs that use them. Expensed the day they arrive, one restocking order makes a slow week look like a loss.
What we doKeeps exhaust and brake parts in one steady line tied to what jobs actually used, and flags a stock-up as inventory, not that week's cost. -
4
High ticket volume hides which bay pays
Running ten or more cars a day across brakes and exhaust, a quick counter quote can undercharge labor without anyone noticing until months of thin margins add up.
What we doKeeps labor and parts visible bay by bay in the monthly number, so a pricing slip shows up before it becomes a habit. -
5
Core charges on remanufactured calipers get lost
A remanufactured brake caliper carries a core charge that refunds once the old one ships back. Booked as a flat parts cost, the refund gets missed and the real price of the job looks higher than it was.
What we doNets the core charge and its refund against the same job, so the swap shows its real cost.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a brake and muffler shop.
Set up once for high-volume brake and exhaust work, you never pick a category, an accountant checks every one.
Money in
- Brake jobsPads, rotors, and calipers, run through the counter card reader.
- Exhaust and muffler workBoxed mufflers and custom-bent pipe, kept apart to see what fabrication brings in.
- Financed repairsSunbit or Snap Finance payouts, with the fee booked apart from the sale.
- Fleet accountsDelivery and local business vehicles billed net 30.
Money out
- Brake and exhaust partsAdvance Auto commercial, Walker, and Bosal purchases.
- Tech wages and commissionFlat-rate pay kept apart from straight hourly wages.
- Warranty laborNo-charge redo work on lifetime pad and muffler warranties.
- EquipmentLifts, brake lathes, and pipe benders, logged so they get written off right.
- Shop suppliesBrake cleaner, rags, and disposal fees, kept apart from parts.
- MarketingRadio spots, coupon mailers, and Google local services ads.
What we watch for you
- Warranty labor share
How much shop time goes to free redo work, watched so it stays a small slice of the month.
- Average ticket
What a car actually spends per visit, tracked so a busy counter doesn't hide a pricing slip.
- Parts margin
What's kept on brake and exhaust parts after the supplier bill each month.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things brake and muffler shop owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
Four of those cars came back on lifetime pad warranties. That labor is real, but it earned nothing new, so I kept it separate from the week's paid work.
Yes. I keep fabrication labor on its own line, so you can see what bending pipe for an odd car actually pays versus a boxed muffler swap.
Almost always, yes, if he works your hours and your counter. That one's above my pay grade for the details, so the accountant is looking at it.
The tax side
The tax side of a brake and muffler shop.
Most of what goes wrong here is warranty labor that looks like a loss and pipe stock filed the wrong way.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Brake lathes and pipe bendersShop equipment like brake lathes, lifts, and pipe benders can usually be written off the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property bought after January 19, 2025.
- Pipe and pad stock as inventoryMufflers, pads, and pipe bought ahead of the jobs that use them are inventory, and the cost only counts against income once a job actually uses them, not the day they arrived.
- Flat-rate tech classificationA technician who works your schedule and uses your lifts is usually an employee, even paid by the flat-rate hour on quick brake jobs. Getting this wrong gets expensive, so Gus flags it before it becomes routine.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operator shops can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, and it comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions brake and muffler shops miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Brake cleaner and shop rags
- Pipe bender maintenance
- Brake lathe recertification
- ASE certification fees
- Uniform rental service
- Garagekeepers insurance
- Waste fluid disposal fees
- Radio and coupon marketing
- Shop towel service
- Tow referral fees
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A brake and muffler shop's year, kept every month.
Ticket volume runs steady most weeks. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for towing and fabrication vendors is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April isn't a surprise.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January and matched what the shop actually made.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer road trip brake and exhaust work changed the number this year.
- October
Before winter checks
Cold weather brings more brake and exhaust noise complaints. Before the rush, Gus looks at equipment worth buying and moves worth making before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for brake and muffler shops. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions brake and muffler shop owners ask first.
How does Gus handle lifetime brake pad warranties?
He tracks the labor on a free warranty redo separately from paid work, so a busy week of warranty jobs doesn't make your books look worse than the shop actually did.
Do custom exhaust jobs get priced differently in the books?
Yes. Fabrication labor for a custom-bent pipe stays on its own line, apart from boxed mufflers, so you can see what the bending time is actually worth.
Can Gus handle financed brake jobs?
Yes. He books the full repair order as money in and the financing company's cut as a fee, so your sales aren't understated and the fee still counts against your taxes.
We run a lot of cars a day. Is that harder for Gus to track?
No. He works from your bank statement and shop management export, sorting high volume the same steady way, whether it's five cars a day or twenty.
My books are behind from doing them myself. Is that a problem?
No. Send the bank statements you have. Gus sorts them, the accountant checks them, and most owners know where they stand inside a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever