Example P&L for an Auto Repair Shop
What a statement-built P&L looks like for a two-bay independent shop: parts against revenue, payroll as the anchor, and a bottom line a lender or premium auditor can trace.
- This example shows a two-bay shop banking $44,572.42 to $49,245.90 a month across card batches, one fleet account on ACH, and deposited cash.
- Parts run $47,104.33 for the quarter, about a third of revenue, and hold that share each month, which says the work mix stayed steady. The ratio, not the dollar amount, is the number to watch.
- Payroll is the second anchor at $42,184.82, about 30 percent of revenue. Parts and payroll together consume just under two thirds of every dollar in the door.
- In cash terms the shop keeps roughly two thirds of revenue after parts, which is the statement-level version of making money twice per ticket: markup on parts, hourly rate on labor.
- Net income is $27,976.50, just under 20 percent of revenue, before the owner's $9,000.00 of quarterly transfers, which sit below the statement as draws.
- The numbers are fictional, but the channels, the supplier rhythm, and the judgment calls are what real shop statements look like once categorized and reconciled.
Below is a complete example profit and loss statement for a fictional two-bay independent shop, Two Pines Auto Repair LLC, covering April through June 2026. A repair shop's economics live in the split between parts, bought and marked up, and labor, sold by the hour, and the bank statement sees both sides: card settlements and fleet ACH coming in, parts suppliers and the payroll service going out. Every total on this page is computed from the lines, so the document foots the way a delivered report must.
Shops get asked for financials at familiar moments: an equipment loan for a lift or an alignment machine, a lease renewal, a workers' comp premium audit. All of those readers start from the same pair of documents, a P&L plus the statements it ties to, and the reading notes below walk through what each of them checks in this entry's own numbers.
| INCOME | April | May | June | Total |
| Card settlements | $38,612.42 | $41,023.75 | $42,875.90 | $122,512.07 |
| Fleet account (ACH) | $5,120.00 | $4,685.00 | $5,450.00 | $15,255.00 |
| Deposited cash | $840.00 | $615.00 | $920.00 | $2,375.00 |
| Total income | $44,572.42 | $46,323.75 | $49,245.90 | $140,142.07 |
| EXPENSES | April | May | June | Total |
| Parts | $14,863.17 | $15,922.40 | $16,318.76 | $47,104.33 |
| Payroll | $13,845.62 | $13,917.30 | $14,421.90 | $42,184.82 |
| Rent and utilities | $4,120.00 | $4,083.15 | $4,194.72 | $12,397.87 |
| Equipment and tools | $1,724.00 | $2,155.00 | $1,682.00 | $5,561.00 |
| Shop supplies and disposal | $684.12 | $749.35 | $712.08 | $2,145.55 |
| Insurance | $924.00 | $924.00 | $924.00 | $2,772.00 |
| Total expenses | $36,160.91 | $37,751.20 | $38,253.46 | $112,165.57 |
| NET PROFIT | $8,411.51 | $8,572.55 | $10,992.44 | $27,976.50 |
- Owner transfers $9,000.00: A recurring $3,000.00 monthly transfer to the owner is a draw: equity movement, listed here so it stays visible without distorting profit.
- Equipment loan principal $1,316.10: Principal on the alignment-machine note is debt repayment, not an operating cost; the small interest portion rides in the equipment line.
Line notes
- Card settlements: Daily batches from the counter terminal under the processor's name. The shop's main channel.
- Fleet account (ACH): One commercial fleet paying on terms. A recurring name, categorized once.
- Deposited cash: Cash tickets count when deposited. Weekly deposits build the revenue record card batches alone understate.
- Parts: Weekly debits to parts suppliers and dealer parts. Recurring supplier names are recognized, not queued as questions.
- Payroll: Two techs and part-time counter help through a payroll service. The line a workers' comp premium auditor reconciles.
- Rent and utilities: Bays are expensive: rent plus three-phase power, compressed air, and heat.
- Equipment and tools: The tool truck's weekly visit plus a May transmission jack. Whether tool-truck credit is shop equipment or a tech's personal account is a one-time question.
- Shop supplies and disposal: Fluids, consumables, oil recycling, tire disposal. Per-job costs that never make an invoice line.
Parts against revenue, the shop's one ratio
Revenue totals $140,142.07 for the quarter and parts $47,104.33, about a third, and the monthly ratio barely moves: roughly 33 percent in April, 34 in May, 33 in June. A stable ratio means a stable work mix. A month heavy in engine and transmission jobs would push it up; a month of diagnostics, brakes, and alignments would pull it down, and neither is better in itself, but drift with an unchanged mix means something specific is leaking, such as matrix pricing not applied or supplier increases not passed through.
One timing caveat belongs next to that ratio: net-30 supplier accounts mean a month's parts often clear the bank the following month, so a single month can mislead. Read across the quarter, as here, the ratio stabilizes into the real number, which is why the columns matter more than any one of them.
Payroll, the fixed anchor, and the bottom line
Payroll runs $42,184.82 for the quarter, about 30 percent of revenue, and it is largely fixed in the short run: tech pay arrives whether the bays are full or not. That is why the June column is the healthiest, revenue rose to $49,245.90 while payroll grew only modestly with some overtime. The reverse pattern, revenue dipping while payroll holds, shows up immediately in the bottom line, and two or three such months in a row is the earliest honest signal that the bay schedule or headcount needs attention.
After parts, payroll, rent, and the rest, the quarter nets $27,976.50, just under 20 percent of revenue, before the owner's draws. In cash terms the gross margin, revenue minus parts, is $93,037.74, roughly two thirds of revenue, the labor-heavy end of the range the industry guide describes. The recurring $3,000.00 owner transfer stays below the statement; buried in expenses it would have shaved three points off a margin a lender is trying to read.
What the premium auditor and the equipment lender check
A workers' comp premium auditor reconciles the wages actually paid against the estimate the premium was based on. On this page the payroll line already ties to the payroll-service debits on the statements, which turns the annual audit from a document hunt into a short meeting. The auditor will also ask about payments to uninsured subcontractors, which is why sublet vendors get labeled deliberately during review.
An equipment lender financing the next lift or scan tool reads for revenue stability and whether the numbers tie out. Three months at $44,572.42 to $49,245.90 with a recurring fleet account answers the first; reconciliation to the penny answers the second before it is asked. The excluded section matters here too: the $1,316.10 of loan principal stays off the expense side, since only interest is a cost, and a lender who spots principal booked as expense will re-check everything else.
Use this format yourself
The free auto repair shop P&L template is this exact layout as a spreadsheet with the categories pre-loaded. For the full walk-through of categories, judgment calls, and what lenders ask a auto repair shop for, read the auto repair shop P&L guide. And to see a statement-built report with working charts and reconciliation detail, the full sample report is a complete delivered order for a different fictional business.
Common questions
It shifts it by a month, since cash basis records the payment when it leaves the bank. Consistent months still show the true economics, and reading the parts-to-revenue ratio across a quarter rather than a single month absorbs the timing.
Those payouts are revenue deposits like any card settlement: a recurring pattern under the financer's name, categorized once. This example's shop happens not to offer financing, so its channels are cards, fleet ACH, and cash.
Paying down debt is not an operating cost; only interest is. Booking principal as expense understates profit, and it is one of the first things an experienced reader checks. The free auto-repair template below keeps the split for you.
Upload the PDFs and get a management-use profit & loss in minutes, with every statement reconciled to the penny. $79 for a quarter, $249 for a full year in monthly columns. Full refund if we can't reconcile.
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Written by a licensed CPA. This guide is general information, not tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice, and does not create a professional relationship. Lender requirements and bank websites change; confirm specifics with your lender and financial institution.