My Garage CRM vs TechMan: An Honest 2026 Comparison

Both My Garage CRM and TechMan are UK garage management systems built for independent workshops and MOT centres. They cover the same core ground, bookings, job cards, invoicing, customer records, but they take different approaches to pricing, evaluation and scope.

TechMan is a well-established, service-focused platform known for its vehicle health checks, Autodata and Haynes Pro technical integrations, and workshop performance reporting. It is usually evaluated through a guided demo, and its published tiers sit in the mid-to-upper price range. My Garage CRM is a lower-cost, transparent alternative with a genuine 28-day free trial, DVLA and MOT tooling built in, and an added car-sales module for garages that also buy and sell vehicles. The right choice comes down to your budget, whether you want to try before you buy, and whether you sell cars as well as service them.

Before comparing any two systems on features, it helps to be clear on what actually moves the needle for a UK independent garage. These are the criteria we have used to structure this comparison.

A side-by-side of the areas UK workshops ask about most. Confirm TechMan's current feature set on their site, as products evolve.

Monthly list prices for each tier. My Garage CRM publishes its pricing openly and includes a 28-day free trial; TechMan is typically quoted through a demo.

Orange bars: My Garage CRM. Blue bars: TechMan (third-party sourced, verify).

On like-for-like tiers, My Garage CRM sits below TechMan's published pricing, and the gap widens once you factor in that My Garage CRM lets you trial the full system free for 28 days rather than committing after a sales demo. For a single-site independent garage, the difference across a year is typically several hundred pounds, money that stays in the business. That said, price is only decisive if the feature fit is right, which is why the sections below matter more than the headline number.

Software is a multi-year commitment, so the fairer comparison is total cost of ownership, not the first monthly invoice. Here is a typical mid-tier example over three years for a single-site garage.

Based on published mid-tier monthly pricing over 36 months. Excludes setup and migration, which vary by supplier.

On these mid-tier figures, a single-site garage would spend roughly £1800 less with My Garage CRM over three years, before you account for the 28-day free trial that lets you avoid paying at all while you evaluate. For a small business those savings can cover other tools, a part-time hire's hours, or simply improve margin. The caveat, as always, is fit: paying a little more for an integration your workshop genuinely depends on can be the right call. Use the total number as a tie-breaker once the feature fit is clear, not as the sole deciding factor.

Bookings, diary and job management

Both systems replace paper diaries with a digital booking calendar, job cards and status tracking. My Garage CRM lets reception book a job, attach the vehicle and customer, and move it through the workshop with clear stages, while technicians see what is assigned to them. TechMan offers the same core flow with a strong emphasis on workshop performance monitoring, logging technician arrival and departure times and efficiency. If detailed technician time analytics are central to how you run the floor, that is a genuine TechMan strength worth weighing.

MOTs, reminders and DVLA lookup

MOT work is the backbone of most UK independents, so this matters. My Garage CRM includes an MOT checker, automated MOT reminders and DVLA registration lookup that autofills make, model, year, fuel and MOT expiry across the add-customer, add-job and add-estimate forms, cutting keying time and errors. TechMan also provides DVSA vehicle enquiry and MOT tooling. This is close to parity; the practical question is how much manual data entry each removes for your reception team.

Invoicing, estimates and payments

My Garage CRM carries a full estimate-to-invoice flow with a template designer, so quotes convert cleanly into invoices and your branding stays consistent. TechMan handles invoicing with Xero integration for garages already running Xero. If your accountant is wedded to Xero, that native link is a point in TechMan's favour; if not, My Garage CRM's built-in invoicing keeps everything in one place without a second subscription.

Parts, stock and purchase orders

Both platforms manage parts, stock levels and purchase orders. TechMan leans on supplier integrations such as Euro Car Parts and technical data from Autodata and Haynes Pro, which is valuable for fast, accurate labour times and parts lookups. My Garage CRM covers parts, products and purchase orders within the same system; if deep third-party technical-data integration is a must-have, TechMan currently has the edge here.

Customer management and communication

My Garage CRM keeps a full customer record with service history, plus outbound calls and call history built in, so follow-ups and retention campaigns live alongside the job data. TechMan focuses on in-system customer updates and a customer portal. Garages that want to actively call and win back lapsed customers tend to prefer having that outreach in the same tool.

Car sales, staff and multi-site

This is the clearest divergence. My Garage CRM includes a car sales and stock module with photo storage and shareable listings, a staff module with role-based access and rotas, and multi-site support, so a business that services and sells vehicles runs both from one login. TechMan is built specifically for service and repair rather than vehicle retail, so a garage with a forecourt would need a separate dealer system alongside it. If you only ever service cars, that difference will not matter; if you sell them too, it is decisive.

The software is only half the decision. How you get set up, how you get help, and how you would leave all matter as much as the feature list.

Getting started

TechMan typically onboards new garages with a guided implementation, data migration support and one-to-one training, which suits owners who want a structured hand-hold from day one. My Garage CRM is designed to be self-serve: you can sign up, start the 28-day free trial and import your records without waiting for a scheduled call, then reach out if you want help. If your team is comfortable with software, self-serve gets you live faster; if you would rather be walked through every step, a demo-led onboarding has its appeal.

Day-to-day support

Both are UK-based products, so support understands MOT rules, DVSA processes and how a British workshop actually runs, which matters more than it sounds when a generic overseas CRM does not know what an MOT advisory is. When you evaluate either, ask specifically about support hours, response times and whether help is included in your tier or charged extra.

Contracts and your data

Check the minimum term on any plan before you sign. A short or no-lock-in term keeps the supplier honest and lets you leave if the fit is wrong. Just as important, confirm you can export your customer and vehicle records at any time. With My Garage CRM your data stays yours and remains exportable, and because there is a genuine free trial you never have to commit before you have proven the fit with real jobs.

Neither system wins everywhere. Here is an honest read on relative strength by area.

Orange: My Garage CRM leads. Blue: TechMan leads. Indicative, based on public information.

TechMan is a capable, established system, and plenty of garages are happy on it. But there are a few recurring reasons owners start looking around, and it is worth being honest about them.

None of these make TechMan a poor product; they are simply cases where a different balance of price, scope and evaluation style fits better. If none of them apply to you, staying put may well be the right answer, and this comparison should help you confirm that too.

Moving systems sounds daunting, but the practical path is straightforward.

Because My Garage CRM gives you a real free trial, you can validate the fit with your own data before you cancel anything, which removes most of the risk that stops garages from moving. If you would like, we can add a dedicated step-by-step migration guide page next.

Choose TechMan if your priority is deep technical-data integration (Autodata, Haynes Pro), video vehicle health checks and granular technician-efficiency reporting, and you are happy to buy through a demo. Choose My Garage CRM if you want transparent lower pricing, the ability to trial the full system free for 28 days, DVLA and MOT tooling as standard, and one platform that also covers car sales, staff rotas and customer outreach. For a large share of UK independents, especially those watching monthly cost or selling as well as servicing, My Garage CRM is the more complete-value option, but the fair answer is that it depends on your workshop, and the free trial is the fastest way to know for certain.

This comparison was compiled on 13 July 2026 using publicly available information about both products, including TechMan's own website and independent UK garage-software reviews, alongside first-hand knowledge of My Garage CRM. Software changes often, so pricing and features can move; where TechMan details are quoted, treat them as a starting point and confirm the current position on techmangms.com. We have tried to be fair about where TechMan leads as well as where My Garage CRM does, because a comparison that only flatters one side is not much use to a garage owner making a real decision. If you spot anything that looks out of date, let us know and we will correct it.