When shopping for an accounting firm that knows the auto repair shop industry, the value matters. That means that after you find a high-quality accounting and tax service, you need to see if the cost aligns with your budget. If you’re looking at CSI, you may know about our pricing, but how does pricing for auto repair shops compare?
Auto repair shops’ monthly fees typically come out a little higher than our average clients’ – but that’s because their situation is typically a little different. Let’s talk about it!
CSI Accounting & Payroll started off specializing in the automotive industry over 60 years ago. We’ve since expanded to serve other industries, with each having different experiences that affect the amount of work required. In this article, I’ll answer:
- For the monthly accounting fee, how do auto repair shops compare to other CSI clients?
- Why do auto repair shops pay more on average?
- Why should repair shops choose CSI?
Monthly Accounting Fee: Repair Shops vs. Others
At CSI, we like to talk about our average fee so prospective clients know where they might land.
Out of our entire client base, our average monthly fee comes out to about $800 per month and typically ranges from $600 to $1,500+ per month.
For the auto repair industry only, the average fee is about $1,000 per month (as of December 2025).
Why is there a difference? I’ll answer that in the next section.
Why Repair Shops Pay More
We don’t charge an extra “auto repair shop fee”, but auto repair shops tend to have more accounting activity and more complexity, which are the two main factors that our monthly fee is based on.
What’s “accounting activity”? Think of this as the volume of work. Auto repair shops tend to have a lot of moving pieces for your accountant to keep track of.
What about “complexity”? That’s just the word we use to describe the difficulty of the work. Auto repair shops have parts that are subject to sales tax, which we manage for you. Plus, many shops have multiple locations, which typically means making separate P&L Statements.
Why Repair Shops Still Choose CSI
You may think, “If I’m going to pay more, why would I choose CSI? Surely I can find something cheaper.”
Well, you get what you pay for. With higher levels of accounting activity and more complexity, auto repair shops often need our support more than other industries. That’s why auto repair shops make up such a large chunk of our client base.
Our big-name competitors offer notoriously poor customer service and generally can’t offer much (if any) advice, especially if it goes beyond generic – such as anything pertaining to the auto repair industry.
Meanwhile, CSI offers the best-quality customer service and specializes in automotive repair industry advice. Profit margins, ratios… we speak your language. Don’t believe us? Check out our free Matrix Pricing Templates for parts and labor here:
Estimate Your Monthly Fee!
Now that you know how auto repair shops’ monthly fees compare to other CSI clients, why they pay more on average, and why they still choose to work with us, are you ready to check out our monthly accounting services?
To see if we can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:
Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, estimate what your monthly fee might be by clicking the image below:
