How to play
Name your technician, pick a region, and take the first car on the board. Everything after that is trade-offs.
A job, start to finish
- Intake. The customer describes the symptom. Spend half an hour putting it on the lift and you get clues — each one rules something out.
- Diagnose. Pick the code. Wrong answers are drawn from the same system as the real fault, so reading the dash light alone won't carry you.
- Parts & tech. Economy, aftermarket or OEM, and who does the work. Both feed the odds of it coming back.
- Quote. Straight, padded, or a discount.
- Finish. Cash, reputation, and a roll on whether you see that car again.
The things that will catch you out
| Bay hours | The real currency. Every job eats them. Lifts and crew buy you more. |
|---|---|
| Parts lead time | You pay the supplier on order, the customer pays on collection. Economy parts are three days out — the cheap part's real cost is time. |
| Bay capacity | Only so many cars can sit waiting on parts. Fill it and you can't take work that needs ordering. |
| Comebacks | Misdiagnose it or fit a cheap part and the car returns as warranty work. You eat the parts and the hours. |
| Saturday | Rent, payroll and subscriptions settle whether the week went well or not. |
Reputation, and the people behind it
Reputation gates the size of work you're offered. Underneath it, individual customers remember exactly what you charged them and whether the car came back fixed — and they bring the same car back. Look after people and they crowd out strangers on your board. Burn them and they stop calling, which quietly shrinks your own business.
Certifications
Your title is earned. Sit a MechanicRank certification exam at the shop — eight real questions, 75% to pass — and each one you hold cuts comeback risk and earns reputation in that system. Ten of the thirteen makes you a Master Technician.
The market
You're ranked against real shops in whichever region you chose. Every one above you is taking work you'd otherwise get, so climbing the table is how the phone starts ringing.