One Install · Two Ways to Run

Start With DVI-Only Mode, or Run Your Entire Shop

Already locked into an older desktop accounting system? Flip one switch in Settings to run FreeDVI strictly as a paperless Digital Vehicle Inspection & Customer Approval platform—or unlock the full Shop Management System whenever you're ready.

Mode A · Toggle On Anytime

Focused DVI-Only Mode

Perfect for shops that want fast tablet inspections, photo evidence, recall/TSB lookups, and customer smartphone reports without changing how they write invoices today.

🔹 Curbside check-in with mandatory Plate & VIN intake photos + OCR
🔹 Touch-first technician checklists, tire/brake measurements & presets
🔹 Automatic US (NHTSA) & Canada (Transport Canada) recalls + OEM TSBs
🔹 Instant QR / SMS-ready customer report links + offline `.zip` bundles
🔹 Server-enforced: hides and locks all work order, parts & accounting routes

Mode B · Complete Protractor / Tekmetric Alternative

Full Shop Management & Accounting

Everything in DVI-Only Mode, plus a rock-solid Repair Order state machine, Parts Inventory, Matrix Pricing, AR/AP, Banking, Scheduling, and Double-Entry Books.

🔸 Strict RO lifecycle: Draft → Estimate → Approved → In Progress → Complete → Invoiced with lines grouped into folding jobs, job totals, parts status, technician, and hours
🔸 Excel-style lists with resizable/reorderable columns, customizable Columns menu, Car column, and "Not in the shop" filter
🔸 55 starter canned jobs in Settings → Canned Jobs, auto-suggested when matching red/yellow inspection findings
🔸 Parts catalog with cost-range matrix markups, core charges & oil sold by the litre (`4.50 L`)
🔸 Purchase Orders & Special Orders that clear "Waiting on Parts" automatically on receipt
🔸 Full AR/AP, Cash Drawer, Deposit Slips, Square Payouts & Trigger-Enforced Double-Entry Ledger

⚡ Built By a 25-Year Service Manager

Designed for the Reality of a Busy Monday Morning

When 4 customers walk through your door at 7:30 AM with keys on the counter, you don’t have time for 14 clicks or laggy spinners. FreeDVI was built on the shop floor to protect your shop, eliminate customer disputes, and speed up check-in.

📷 Mandatory Plate & VIN Intake Photos

⚡ Quick RO for Fast LOF / Tire Swaps

👥 Household & Fleet Contact Groups

💬 15-Second Customer Question Polling

🛡️

Pre-Existing Damage Protection

Mandatory intake photos capture body scratches, rim scuffs, and windshield chips before your tech touches the car.

⚡

Instant VIN & Plate OCR

Point your phone or tablet camera at the door jamb sticker or license plate to auto-populate year, make, and model.

💼

Multi-Contact Vehicle Roles

Supports Primary Owner, Payor, and Driver so commercial fleet drivers can drop off without messing up company billing.

End-to-End Repair Order Flow

Follow a Vehicle Through Every Step in FreeDVI

Click any stage below to see how a job moves seamlessly from appointment & check-in to inspection, customer phone sign-off, parts ordering, invoicing, and the accounting ledger.

Step 1 of 6 · Service Drive & Bay Calendar

Online Booking, Bay Scheduling & Quick RO

Customers can request appointments online at /book-online. At check-in, advisors record odometer-in, customer concerns, and mandatory Plate/VIN photos—or launch a Quick RO with Excel-style work order lists featuring resizable columns, Columns menu, and 'Not in the shop' filter.

⚡
Sequential RO Numbers: Every job carries its own permanent RO-# from intake to invoice.
⚡
QR Vehicle Tags: Print or scan a vehicle QR code to pull up its entire history in one tap.
⚡
Excel-Style Lists: Drag, resize, and reorder columns with customizable Columns menu, Car column, and quick 'Not in the shop' filter.
⚡
Account Warnings: Instant alert if a customer is on credit hold, over their limit, or has overdue invoices.

🔧 Built For The Bay

Engineered For Greasy Hands & Arm’s-Length Tablets

Real technicians don’t have time for tiny dropdowns or pinch-to-zoom frustrations. FreeDVI puts big tactile condition buttons, instant tire/brake wear presets, and direct NHTSA & Transport Canada recall matches right into the technician’s hands.

🔍 125% to 200% High-Vis Text Scaling

⚠️ Auto Category-Matched Recalls & TSBs

📏 32nds / mm Tire & Brake Presets

📱 No App Store Download Required

⚡

High-Visibility Bay Display Modes

Scales all rem fonts and buttons up to 200% XXX-Large so techs can read inspection items from 6 feet away while under the lift.

⚠️

Direct Category-Matched Recalls

Safety recalls and manufacturer service bulletins appear directly on the matching inspection item (Brakes, Steering, Suspension).

📦

Self-Contained Offline Report Bundles

Export a complete inspection report with high-res photos into a standalone offline .zip bundle that opens in any browser forever.

Conceptual Comparison

How FreeDVI Compares to What's Out There

Cloud SaaS platforms charge $500–$800/month and hold your shop history hostage. Legacy desktop systems feel like 1998 and charge extra for tablet DVI add-ons. FreeDVI gives you modern touch speed AND real double-entry accounting on hardware you own.

Capability / Architecture	FreeDVI (Proprietary Freeware v2.0)	Cloud SaaS DMS ($500–$800/mo)	Legacy Desktop DMS
Monthly Subscription Cost	$0 / month forever (Self-host or optional managed cloud)	$450–$850/mo + per-tablet / texting add-ons	$250–$500/mo + paid third-party DVI integration
Who Owns the Database & Photos?	100% Yours (Local PostgreSQL + local photo archive + 1-click `.zip` export)	Vendor cloud only — lose access if you stop paying	Proprietary local database, hard to export photos
Historical Invoice & Tax Integrity	Frozen at issuance — changing tax rates or part prices never alters past invoices	Often recalculates or requires awkward workarounds	Varies; credit memos rarely track exact historical tax
Built-In Double-Entry Accounting Ledger	Yes — DB Trigger-Enforced (Journal, P&L, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, QBO/Xero CSV)	No — requires expensive QuickBooks bridge & sync fixes	Usually bolt-on or opaque batch posting
US & Canada Dual-Border Native	Yes (NHTSA + Transport Canada VRDB recalls, Provincial GST/HST/QST/PST + CRA Lines 101–109)	US-centric; Canadian multi-tax & TC recalls bolted on	Strong in one country, weak mobile DVI
Measured / Fractional Part Quantities	Exact to 2 decimals (`4.50 L @ $12.00/L = $54.00`) across POs, bills, stock & books	Often rounds or drifts between inventory and accounting	Supported, but clumsy on mobile
Cash Drawer, Deposit Slips & Square Payouts	Built-In (Bills/coins counter, per-cheque deposit slips, NSF handling, Square fee split)	Rarely tracks physical cheque slips or drawer over/short	Manual journal entries required
Shop-Floor Readability & High-Vis Text	125% to 200% (XXX-Large) per-user text scaling + responsive full-width layout	Tiny fixed-size SaaS fonts designed for office laptops	Tiny fixed desktop windows that don't work on tablets

Engineered Without Shortcuts

What Makes FreeDVI Conceptually Bulletproof

Every feature in FreeDVI was designed to eliminate the real-world headaches service advisors, technicians, and bookkeepers run into every week.

🧊

Frozen Invoices & Credit Memos

The moment an invoice is issued, its subtotal, every tax code (`GST`, `HST`, `PST`, `QST`), exemptions, and bill-to address are frozen. Later Credit Memos (`CM-0001`) calculate tax using the exact rates that invoice charged.

⚖️

Database-Enforced Double-Entry Books

PostgreSQL constraint triggers guarantee every journal entry balances (`Debits = Credits`), no entry is ever edited or deleted (corrections are reversing entries), and closed fiscal periods cannot be modified.

🛢️

Oil by the Litre, Cores & Matrix Pricing

Sell measured parts (`4.50 L`, quarts, metres) to two decimal places while keeping whole parts whole. Automatic cost-range matrix markups, automatic Core charge lines, and 1-tap Core Return credits before or after invoicing.

📦

Special Orders That Clear Wait States

Lines are grouped into folding jobs with individual job totals, parts status, assigned technician, and hours. Click "Order this part" on an unreceived part to place the RO in Waiting on Parts; when the shipment is received on a supplier bill, the wait clears automatically.

🧰

55 Starter Canned Jobs Matched to Findings

Includes 55 starter canned jobs in Settings → Canned Jobs (parts, labor hours, fees, package discounts) linked to inspection checklist items. When a tech flags brakes or suspension red/yellow, matching Canned Jobs jump to the top of the advisor's picker.

🏦

Real Cash Drawer, Cheques & Square Payouts

Open and close the cash drawer with a bills-and-coins calculator, bundle cheques onto printable Bank Deposit Slips, handle NSF returned cheques in one click, and record Square payouts with automatic merchant fee splits.

🇨🇦

CRA GST/HST Worksheet & Tax Presets

One-click provincial tax presets for every Canadian province & territory (including Quebec `GST + 9.975% QST` in parts-per-million), recoverable Input Tax Credits on supplier bills, and a printable GST/HST Return Worksheet (Lines 101, 105, 108, 109).

🏭

Built-In Live Simulated Demo Shop

Includes a deterministic GTA shop simulator (`lib/sim/`) that runs on its own database (`shop_demo`)—generating realistic weekday traffic, inspections, approvals, POs, Square payouts, payroll, and balanced books to test or train staff safely.

💾

Nightly Backups & Cloudflare Tunnel

One command (`npm run backup` or the Docker backup sidecar) archives both the PostgreSQL database and all inspection photos nightly. Expose customer report links safely from your shop PC with zero open router ports.

Live MySQL + NHTSA + Transport Canada Demo

Test Our Live VIN Decoder & Dual-Border Recall Engine

Powered by our hosted MySQL database (52,060 vehicle model-years and 114,710 Transport Canada recall applications) plus live NHTSA vPIC & US Recall caching. 🇨🇦 Canadian Recalls: Updated nightly via automated Transport Canada sync (current through October 19, 2026). Decode any 17-character VIN or browse by Year, Make & Model!

Try sample VINs:

Year, Make & Model

2021 Ford F-150

Trim / Body Class

F-Series · Pickup

Engine & Cylinders

3.5L V6 Twin-Turbo

Drive Type

4WD / 4-Wheel Drive

Fuel Type

Gasoline

OEM VIN Recall Tool

Open Ford Recall Tool ↗

Safety Recall Database Match

Matched against Transport Canada VRDB (MySQL) and US NHTSA Recalls API.

🇨🇦 Transport Canada VRDB Database: Updated nightly via automated sync (Recalls current through October 19, 2026).

Keep Your Hard-Earned Margin

How Much Will Your Shop Save With $0 Monthly Fees?

Most shops pay $450–$850/month for cloud shop management plus extra fees for DVI tablets, parts matrices, and accounting bridges. Calculate how much stays in your shop with FreeDVI.

Current Monthly Shop Software (DMS) Bill $550 / mo

Monthly DVI / Tablet / Accounting Bridge Add-Ons $175 / mo

💡 With FreeDVI running on your shop PC or Docker, your software subscription is $0/month—with no per-user, per-tablet, or per-RO fees.

5-Year Shop Savings

$43,500

1-Year Savings

$8,700

10-Year Savings

$87,000

Practical Shop Architecture · Low Overhead

Hardware, Network & System Requirements

FreeDVI is engineered to run on standard shop hardware without requiring expensive enterprise servers. You can run the entire platform on a single shop laptop or desktop, with any tablet, phone, or PC accessing it over your local Wi-Fi.

💻

Shop Server / Laptop

The central node running PostgreSQL, the Node.js application, and local image storage.

✔ OS: Linux (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian), macOS, or Windows 10/11 with WSL2 / Docker
✔ Processor: Dual-core 64-bit x86/ARM CPU (e.g. Intel Core i3+, AMD Ryzen, Apple Silicon)
✔ Memory (RAM): 4 GB minimum (8 GB recommended for 5+ simultaneous technicians)
✔ Storage: 20 GB+ free SSD disk space (plenty for high-res inspection photos and full catalog)

📶

Shop Local Network (Wi-Fi)

Instant responsiveness between bays, advisors, and the front counter with zero cloud latency.

✔ Standard Wi-Fi: 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) or Wi-Fi 6 coverage across the service bays
✔ Subnet: Local IP assignment (e.g. 192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x)
✔ Zero Port Forwarding: Safe internal LAN operation—no open inbound firewall ports required
✔ Bandwidth: Low LAN traffic; photos compress client-side before sending to host

📱

Technician Tablets & Phones

Zero native apps to install—runs in any modern mobile browser with full offline resilience.

✔ Devices: Any iPad (iPadOS 14+), Android tablet, iPhone, Android smartphone, or PC
✔ Browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge with modern HTML5 camera support
✔ Camera: Built-in autofocus camera for odometer, VIN barcode OCR, and tire/brake photo capture
✔ Glove-Friendly: Optimized high-contrast UI with oversized tap targets and audible tones

🌐

Customer Delivery & Remote Access

How vehicle owners review inspection reports and approve recommendations remotely.

✔ Customer Device: Any smartphone with mobile web access (SMS or QR code links)
✔ Cloudflare Tunnel (Optional): Secure outgoing HTTPS tunnel for customer report approval without public IP exposure
✔ Offline Bundles: Generate complete self-contained .zip report archives to email or print anytime
✔ Backup Storage: Optional USB flash drive or NAS for the nightly automated PostgreSQL snapshot

Run It Locally or Let Us Set It Up

Get Started With FreeDVI Today

Run FreeDVI on your own Linux, Windows, or macOS shop computer in minutes with Docker—or join our Early Access & Managed Setup list for hands-on onboarding, cloud hosting, or custom migration help.

Free for registered personal and internal business use. Modification, decompilation, reverse engineering, or redistribution without express written permission is strictly prohibited. View EULA Terms →

Have a Question or Want a Live Walkthrough?

Send a direct note to the developer (saved straight to our local MySQL inbox).

Freeware Access · No Subscription Fees

Register Your Shop for Free Access

Under the FreeDVI license terms, registration of your shop details is required to obtain your authorized access and updates. Completely free for registered personal and internal business use—no monthly charges, zero spam.

Shop Name *

Your Name

Work Email *

Phone (Optional)

Your Role *

Number of Bays *

Region *

Primary Interest

Current Shop Software (Optional)

I have read and agree to the End-User License Agreement (EULA).

Stored securely in our MySQL Waitlist database. Zero spam, no credit card required.

Stop Renting Your Shop's Own Data.
Run a Complete Shop System for $0/Month.

See the Whole Shop at a Glance