Repair tickets are big — which makes the math brutal. An $800 job paid by card quietly costs the shop about $24. A few of those a day and your processor out-earns your parts margin.
It's the same story along Cooper Street and around the entertainment district: the card reader takes its cut before you count a dollar of revenue. Most owners treat it like weather — annoying, unavoidable. It isn't. Here's the actual math for a Arlington auto repair shop, and the setup that makes the fee line $0.
| Setup | Typical all-in cost | On $45,000/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Flat-rate reader (Square, Clover Go, Toast) | 2.9%–3.5%+ | −$1,305 to −$1,575/mo |
| Traditional processor + monthly fees | 2.3%–3.0% + fees | −$1,035 to −$1,350/mo |
| Pacta dual pricing | $0 to you | $0 — you keep 100% |
"All-in" is the number that matters: the advertised rate plus per-transaction dimes, monthly statement fees, PCI compliance fees, and batch fees. Pull one statement and divide total fees by total volume — that's your real rate, and it's almost always higher than the number you signed up for.
Dual pricing means your register shows a cash price and a card price — the small card fee is disclosed to the customer at checkout instead of coming out of your margin. You've seen it at every gas station in Texas your whole life. The price is posted, it prints on the receipt, and your regulars adjust within a couple of weeks — because they see the same thing everywhere else.
Yes. Dual pricing — posting a cash price and a card price — is legal in all 50 states, including Texas. It's a different animal from credit-card surcharging, which involves card-brand registration and percentage caps and is restricted in some states. Dual pricing is the gas-station model: two posted prices, customer picks, everything disclosed up front and printed on the receipt. That distinction is why it works everywhere.
Surcharging adds a fee on top of the listed price for credit cards — capped, regulated, banned in a few states, and it reads as a penalty. Cash discounting takes money off the listed price for cash. Dual pricing posts both prices side by side from the start — the most transparent version, the one customers already understand, and the one Pacta runs. No surprises at the counter, no gotcha on the receipt.
At ~3%, an $800 repair paid by card costs you about $24 — a $2,000 job costs $60. A few big tickets a day and your processor out-earns your parts margin.
Yes — repair customers are used to seeing card fees disclosed, and many pay large invoices by check or ACH anyway once they see the cash price. Either way you keep 100%.
The Dejavoo QD4 is a countertop terminal with tap/chip/swipe; mobile options exist for shops that invoice in the lot. Ask Jacob what fits your flow.
Dual pricing shows the cash price on every invoice — fleet and commercial customers often just pay it, which means zero fees on your biggest tickets.