SideQuest for auto parts distributors on QuickBooks Online
If you sell parts to repair shops, fleet maintenance, dealer warranty desks, or auto-body shops, inbound orders come in fast and in three formats. A repair shop service writer emails the line items with the OEM part numbers their estimating software spit out. A fleet customer attaches a PDF generated by their CMMS with their own internal part numbers. A dealer warranty desk sends a structured PO with VIN, claim number, and the OEM PNs they need pulled. SideQuest reads all three out of Gmail, resolves OEM-to-aftermarket and supersession part numbers via your cross-reference table, and builds the draft Estimate in QuickBooks Online while the customer's still on the phone.
What changes for you
Order entry stops being the bottleneck on same-day delivery
Repair shop service writers need parts now. The minute their email hits your inbox, SideQuest parses, matches, and builds the draft Estimate. Your counterperson confirms one click instead of typing six lines. Will-call pickup or hot-shot delivery starts seconds earlier per order.
OEM and aftermarket cross-references resolve automatically
Repair estimating software spits out OEM part numbers. Your QuickBooks catalog uses your aftermarket SKUs. Upload the cross-reference table once and SideQuest applies the OEM-to-aftermarket map on every PO. The matcher auto-learns new cross-refs from CSR corrections, so coverage compounds as you process more orders.
Supersession chains stay tracked
Manufacturers supersede part numbers. The buyer types the obsolete PN their old catalog still lists. Your QuickBooks catalog uses the current supersession SKU. The cross-reference table handles the redirect, with an optional note on the draft so your CSR knows the buyer hasn't updated their catalog yet.
Why this fits auto parts
Catalog quirk: brand-prefixed SKUs
Auto part numbers carry a brand prefix that customers sometimes include, sometimes drop. "AC-Delco 12345" vs "12345 ACDelco" vs just "12345" all need to land on the same SKU. The matcher normalizes prefixes and reads the brand cue alongside the PN. Auto-learn picks up brand-stripping patterns on first review.
Customer mix: net terms shops, COD walk-ins, fleet contracts
Repair shops typically run net-15 or net-30 against a credit limit. Walk-in customers pay at the counter. Fleet maintenance accounts run on contract pricing with monthly billing. SideQuest's Customer Risk Gate reads QuickBooks Customer.Balance and overdue Invoices, flags shops past credit terms before the draft goes out, and leaves the COD walk-up flow alone.
VIN and claim-number metadata flows to the Estimate
Dealer warranty desks include the VIN and the warranty claim number on every PO. SideQuest pulls those into the Estimate's memo or custom fields (depending on how you've configured QBO), so they're searchable when the warranty department audits.
What this doesn't do
SideQuest doesn't replace your point-of-sale, your will-call counter system, your dispatch board, or your fitment-lookup tool. We're the layer that reads inbound customer orders and creates the draft Estimate in QuickBooks. Your existing counter and delivery flows continue to run on whatever they run on today. We kill the typing delay between an email landing and the Estimate being ready to pick.
Start free
Free tier covers 25 POs per month, no credit card. Solo at $29/month covers 150 POs and unlocks the OEM cross-reference upload plus auto-submit. Setup runs about 30 minutes via the install prompt with Claude Desktop.
Start free See pricingFAQ
Does SideQuest handle OEM vs aftermarket cross-references?
Yes via the customer cross-reference table. Upload your OEM-to-aftermarket map per customer (or globally) and the matcher resolves a buyer who types the OEM number to your aftermarket SKU automatically. The cross-reference auto-learns from your CSR's manual corrections, so the second time a buyer uses an OEM number, it lands on the right SKU without help.
What about supersession chains? Old PN to new PN.
Same mechanism. The cross-reference table maps the old part number to the current supersession SKU. The buyer's order for the obsolete PN resolves to your active SKU on every parse, and SideQuest can surface a note on the draft so your CSR knows the buyer used the legacy number.
Can SideQuest handle the rapid same-day orders from repair shops?
Yes. The parse takes seconds. The latency between an inbound email and a populated draft Estimate in QuickBooks is single-digit seconds in normal conditions. Same-day repair shop orders go from email to draft to submit faster than a CSR can find the right tab. We don't manage your will-call counter or delivery dispatch — your existing tools do that — we just kill the typing delay.
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