For Canadian Auto Shops

Stop letting fees eat your $3,000 transmission jobs.

Auto repair has the highest tickets in retail and one of the smallest margins per job. Every percentage point on processing comes straight out of your bay. Dough kills the credit card processing fee with surcharging — or cuts it deep with IC+ — and reinvests the difference into your shop with a free website, social, or AI assistant. Two to three days to switch. No briefcase, just a coffee and a chat.

Surcharge or IC+ pricing
Clover Flex setup
2–3 day switch
Get Your Quote

See what your shop would save

Send us your last statement and we'll show you exactly what surcharging or IC+ would do to your monthly bill — plus which Boost tier your volume qualifies for.

Auto repair has 4 specific processing problems. Most processors ignore all of them.

Your processor was built for a coffee shop charging $6 a cup. Your shop charges $300 to $5,000. The math doesn't work the same way — and the fees that shave a coffee shop hurt a transmission specialist a lot more.

Big tickets, big fees

A $3,000 transmission job costs you $70 to $90 in processing on a typical processor. That's a brake pad set you just gave away to Visa.

Rates creep up quietly

The big processors slip a few basis points onto your statement every quarter. Most shop owners don't catch it until they're paying 30% more than they signed up for.

Warranty chargebacks

Customer disputes a repair three months later — the chargeback comes out of your account first, then you have 30 days to prove the work was done right.

Nothing back from your processor

Square gets your fees and gives you nothing. Moneris gets your fees and gives you nothing. Most shops have no website or social presence — and their processor sure isn't going to fix that.

Three reasons surcharging works better in your shop than most other businesses.

  1. Your tickets are big enough that the math is dramatic.

    At a coffee shop, surcharging saves a few bucks a day. At an auto shop with $80,000 a month in card volume, it can save you $2,000+ a month — money that lands in your pocket, not on a Visa statement.

  2. Your customers expect to pay full price for car repair.

    Nobody's shocked their $1,200 brake job is $1,200. A 2.4% surcharge line item rarely changes their mind once the car is up on the lift. Most shops we work with see no measurable shift in card vs. cash usage after switching.

  3. If surcharging isn't your style, IC+ still cuts the bill.

    Don't want a customer-facing surcharge? Interchange-plus pricing puts you on true wholesale rates with a 0.20% markup. Same Boost perks. Same two-day switch. Just no line item on the receipt.

Sample savings

$50K/mo shop on Chase, switching to surcharging

Old monthly fees on Chase ~$1,500
Dough surcharge model fees ~$700
Monthly savings ~$800/mo
Annual savings ~$9,600/yr

Real numbers from a customer (Ron's Transmission). Typical Dough customers save 30–60% on monthly processing. Your number depends on your card mix, ticket sizes, and current processor — send your last statement and we'll show you the exact math for your shop.

The terminal that walks out to the customer

Most auto shops settle up at the front counter or hand the keys back at the door. The terminal we recommend is built to do both.

Recommended for Auto Repair
Clover Flex wireless payment terminal

Clover Flex

Wireless. Handheld. Built-in receipt printer. WiFi and 4G. Walks out to the customer at pickup, takes signatures on screen, and prints the receipt before they walk to the door.

  • Tap, chip, swipe, contactless
  • On-screen signature capture
  • Built-in receipt printer
  • WiFi + 4G — works in the lot
  • Free if your shop qualifies

Clover Mini

Compact countertop unit for the front counter. Same Clover features in a smaller footprint.

Clover Station Duo

Full POS setup with a customer-facing display. For shops doing a lot of front-counter retail (parts, accessories).

Newland N910

Wireless handheld backed by Elavon instead of Fiserv. Same capabilities as the Flex, different rails.

Authorize.Net

For shops that invoice fleet or commercial accounts online. Recurring billing and virtual terminal included.

Terminal pricing depends on which contract you sign — month-to-month or four-year term with a free terminal. See all our terminal options →

Ron's Transmission switched from Chase. Saves $9,600 a year now.

"We were with Chase for years. Statements were a mess, fees kept creeping up. Switched to Dough and within a month I was saving real money. Plus they built our website for free."

Ron — Owner, Ron's Transmission

A typical $50K/month shop. Chase was charging him about $1,500 a month. Dough's surcharge model brought that down to roughly $700. He earned the Pro tier of the Boost program — a five-page website, built for him, free.

Ron's numbers

Previous processor Chase
Monthly card volume ~$50,000
Old monthly fees ~$1,500
Dough monthly fees ~$700
Monthly savings ~$800
Annual savings ~$9,600
Boost perk earned 5-page Pro website

The part nobody else in Canada offers.

Most processors collect your fees and disappear. Dough takes the margin you're already paying somebody and reinvests it back into your shop. Volume-gated. Built for auto repair.

Shop website with online booking

Five to seven pages, built for your shop. Service list, location, hours, booking form, before-and-after gallery. Hosted free at the Pro and Premium tiers.

Monthly social content

Posts for Facebook and Instagram every month — graphics and captions written for your shop. Up to 12 posts a month at the Premium tier. No video.

Custom AI assistant for your shop

A GPT trained on your services, hours, and FAQs. Lives on your website. Answers customer questions when you're elbow-deep in a transmission rebuild.

Google review card

Free at every tier. A tap-to-review NFC card for the front counter. Customers tap their phone to it and land directly on your Google review form.

Every shape of auto shop.

If you take a credit card and you turn a wrench, we can probably help.

General repair
Transmission
Body & paint
Tire shops
Brake & exhaust
Quick lube / oil change
Auto detailing
Mobile mechanics

Quick answers, no fluff.

The questions every shop asks before switching. If yours isn't here, call us at (647) 691-9085.

Two to three days from start to installed. You send your last statement, we analyze and quote, you sign the application, your terminal ships pre-programmed, and you're live. You don't have to change your bank account or your bookkeeping software.

Yes — surcharging is legal in every province except Quebec. The surcharge is capped under Visa and Mastercard rules at 2.4% (or your actual cost of acceptance, whichever is lower), it has to be disclosed at the point of sale, and debit cards can never be surcharged. Dough handles your signage and your provincial registration as part of onboarding.

Honest answer: a few people will notice and ask about it. The vast majority don't. Auto repair customers are already paying $300 to $5,000 for service — a 2.4% line item is rarely the part of the bill they fixate on. Most shops we work with see no measurable change in card usage after switching.

If you want to skip the customer-facing surcharge entirely, we'll put you on interchange-plus or dual pricing instead.

The Clover Flex is the lead pick for most shops. It's wireless, has a built-in receipt printer, takes on-screen signatures, and walks out to the customer at pickup. If you want a fixed front-counter setup, the Clover Mini is the smaller alternative.

For shops invoicing fleet or commercial accounts, we add Authorize.Net for online payments and recurring billing. See all terminal options →

Warranty disputes are the most common chargeback type in auto repair. The defence is documentation: signed work orders, before-and-after photos, parts invoices.

Dough doesn't fight chargebacks for you, but we'll coach you through the dispute response process so you have the best shot at winning. Most shops we work with win the majority of warranty disputes when their paperwork is tight.

Two options. Month-to-month with no early termination fees if you pay for your terminal upfront. Or a four-year term with a free or subsidized terminal and standard early termination fees if you leave early. We'll talk through which one fits your shop on the call.

Boost is the part nobody else in Canada offers. Based on your monthly card volume, Dough reinvests its margin back into your shop in the form of a free website, free monthly social media content, a custom AI assistant for your shop, or a Google review card. Tier scales with volume.

A typical $50K per month auto shop qualifies for the Pro tier — that's a five-page website built for you, free. See the full Boost tiers →

In most cases, yes. Dough's terminals work alongside common shop management systems. If you're on a specific platform like Mitchell 1, Shop-Ware, Tekmetric, or AutoLeap, mention it on the call and we'll confirm before you switch — no surprises.

Make more dough from every job in the bay.

Send us your last statement. We'll show you exactly what your shop would save and which Boost tier you'd qualify for. No commitment, no pushy reps, no briefcase.

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