Customer and vehicle history: know who has arrived the moment the plate is read
The same cars come back to a wash. Recognising them is not the hard part — the timing is: at the gate, or after the job is finished. If the vehicle is not recognised at intake, the history is of no use; the job runs, the customer leaves, and the record is written afterwards. History is worth something at the moment it is asked for, not at the moment it is remembered.
This page sets out what customer and vehicle history should be attached to in car wash software, what it changes in daily work, and what the customer is and is not shown.
What appears on screen
WashPro keeps history against the plate and shows it while the job is being opened. The moment the camera reads the plate, the summary shows:
- How many visits — the number of delivered past jobs; the job being opened is not counted.
- Last visit — the date and the services taken that day.
- Most frequent service — what this plate usually takes.
- Total spend — the amount to date.
The same summary appears in two places: as a one-line reminder while the job is being opened, and as a list in the History section of the job detail. Both read from the same calculation, so the figures on the two screens agree.
Why the plate rather than the customer record
Because on a wash floor the unit is the vehicle. One person's weekly family car and monthly van have separate histories: one takes an inside-and-out wash, the other only an exterior. Collapsed into a single customer card, the question "what was last done to this vehicle" has no answer.
The customer record still exists, and one customer can have several plates. Fleet and household vehicles sit under one customer while each vehicle keeps its own history.
What this changes in daily work
- You know the service without asking. The usual service is on screen, so it is confirmed rather than asked from scratch.
- Fewer arguments about price. What was taken last time and what was paid are both visible.
- Loyalty counting takes care of itself. The count runs on the vehicle's history, so nobody tracks which wash number it is by hand.
- A new vehicle is obvious too. A plate arriving for the first time is shown as a first visit, and staff can treat it differently.
What if the plate cannot be read
The plate can always be typed in by hand, and because history belongs to the plate, a hand-entered plate opens the same record. That route stays open for dirty or damaged plates.
History is where the job's journey through the queue begins: it settles which service is chosen, and the pricing and the handover estimate follow from there.
Does history work without a connection
Yes. Records live in a database on the device, so the history summary is readable with no connection. It syncs between devices once the line returns: a job opened on a tablet shows the same history on the phone.
Can the customer see the history
No. The live tracking page the customer opens from the QR code shows only the current job — its place in the queue, its status and the estimated handover time. Past records and amounts do not appear there.
Try it on your own regulars
WashPro is free for the first seven days. A meaningful test for history is to put a few vehicles you already recognise through the system, then look at what the screen says on their second visit: does the record agree with what the staff remembered.
History begins where the plate is read — the plate reading guide covers opening a job from a photo. Loyalty cards and pricing are set up in the pricing guide, and the full set of criteria worth weighing in car wash software is on the car wash software page.
First 7 days free. The subscription is bought in the app store and can be cancelled at any time.