Car count
The number of vehicles a shop services in a period, counted as repair orders closed or as vehicles checked in. Divided by the number of bays it is the figure that says how hard the building is working.
Car count per bay = vehicles serviced in the period ÷ bays in use
What counts is the shop's rule to fix: a vehicle checked in, or a repair order closed, and whether a comeback at zero is a car. The rule matters less than keeping it the same, because the figure is only read against itself.
The period is set by the trade. A quick lube reads car count by the day. Among the 2025 NOLN Operator Survey's respondents, 40.6% service 20 to 39 vehicles a day, which is why a lube shop's count is daily and a repair shop's is weekly. A general repair shop, whose tickets run hours, reads it by the week and per bay.
No benchmark is given here. The only figures on this page are NOLN's survey distribution, which describes its respondents and not your shop.
Car count is the denominator of average repair order; the two together are the shop's sales. The quick lube page has the rest of the survey's distribution.
Sources (1)
- Counting Cars · National Oil and Lube News · read November 4, 2026