Paper job cards work right up until you need to find one. Here is what changes when the same job lives on a screen, and exactly how the move goes.
None of this is about being untidy. It is what happens to paper in a working garage.
You are not typing five years of history back in. You bring the customers and the cars, and start today's work on a screen.
An address book, a card index, the back of the diary, whatever you keep them in. Type the ones who still come in, not every name you have ever had. Most garages get the active list done in an afternoon.
Download the template and paste your list into it. Customer name, business name, phone, email and address, then the registration, make, model, year, fuel, MOT date and mileage for each vehicle. Anything you have not got, leave blank.
Upload it and the server works out what it would do, then shows you. New customer, matched to one already in Pistonlog, or unclear. Nothing is written yet. Anything unclear stops the import rather than guessing which record you meant.
When the preview looks right, commit. It all goes in as one lot, so you never end up half imported. If it turns out wrong you have 24 hours to roll the whole thing back.
The old cards stay in the cabinet. Everything from today goes on a jobcard instead. Give it a few months and you will not open that cabinet again, but nothing forces you to throw it out.
Everything you already write down, written down once, where you can get at it.
The things garage owners actually ask, answered straight.
Set up an account, run a couple of real jobs through it, and only bring your customers across once you know it suits your garage.