The TCA just premiered TCA ShopCheck, a free repair shop health check that scores your business out of 100 in about 2 minutes. It went live at the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo in Las Vegas, and starting today it is open to every independent phone and computer repair shop in North America.

By Rob Link, Founder & CEO, Tech Care Association · August 19, 2026 · 5 min read

Key Takeaways

• TCA ShopCheck is a free repair shop health check that scores your business out of 100 across five dimensions in about 2 minutes at techcareassociation.org/shopcheck.
• Your Shop Health Score comes first. No signup required. Email is optional and only saves your baseline and sends the full report.
• The tool premiered at the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo in Las Vegas, where the TCA booth ran the TCA ShopCheck AWPE Challenge.
• This is phase one. TCA ShopCheck will keep evolving, and it is the first step toward validation and, eventually, certification for independent repair shops.

What's in this post

1. What the Repair Shop Health Check Measures
2. Why the TCA Built a Free Repair Shop Diagnostic
3. What Happened on the Show Floor
4. Your First Score Is a Baseline
5. This Is Phase One
6. Common Questions About TCA ShopCheck

We are writing this from booth 835 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where the TCA just premiered TCA ShopCheck, a free repair shop health check that scores your business out of 100 in about 2 minutes. Day one of the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo is behind us. Day two is underway. And starting today, the tool is live for every independent phone and computer repair shop in North America.

What the Repair Shop Health Check Measures

TCA ShopCheck asks one question per screen, works on any phone, and takes about 2 minutes. It checks what customers see online automatically, so part of the work is done before you start. You answer a few behind-the-counter questions. At the end you get a Shop Health Score out of 100, with a grade, your strengths, and your three best next moves, across five dimensions:

Behind the score is a scoring system built by repair industry people, weighing advanced metrics across all five dimensions. We keep the recipe to ourselves so nobody can game it. You just get the read, straight.

One ask: answer as honestly as you can. We built TCA ShopCheck to help you, and it can only measure what you tell it.

Why the TCA Built a Free Repair Shop Diagnostic

Most shop owners are excellent technicians. Very few ever get an objective read on the business side of the shop. Advice articles tell you to improve. A repair shop health check measures where you actually stand and gives you a number to beat.

Take one example. A missed call is not a small thing. When your phone rings out, that customer moves to the next shop on the list. Get the Job measures exactly that. Not theory. The stuff that decides whether a cracked screen becomes your ticket or someone else's.

Plenty of people will tell you to sell more, or sell something else. Fine, but that is not a silver bullet, and sometimes it is just horse s#!t. Those pitches usually push you to sell whatever they happen to offer, to line their pockets, not yours. The best operation is a well run operation, not one that just sells more stuff.

And let's be clear about one more thing. TCA ShopCheck is not a lead generation tool for us. It is a 100% free tool for you. The TCA is a nonprofit trade association. Our whole job is to help this industry grow, and this tool is a huge step in that direction. We plan to keep making it better for all of you.

What Happened on the Show Floor

The TCA booth ran the TCA ShopCheck AWPE Challenge. Beat 75 out of 100 and win a Repair It First shirt. Beat 60 and win a free month of TCA membership. Winners claimed prizes right at the booth, first come, first served, and the challenge board stayed busy from open to close.

Shops lined up, ran their numbers on their phones, and compared notes. Watching owners react to their scores told us we built the right thing. We will share more from the floor soon.

Vegas was not our first camera-in-hand show this summer, either. At Mobile Disrupt in Miami we filmed Second Life Sessions, a 19-episode interview series with the people building the second life of electronics, hosted by Emily Blethen. The episodes are rolling out now. Watch the interviews on YouTube, and read the full story behind the series. Same mission as TCA ShopCheck, different lens: put the spotlight on the people doing great things in this industry, and give the rest of us something to learn from.

Your First Score Is a Baseline

Do not worry about a low score. Nobody sees it but you. Your first score is a starting line, saved and ready to beat.

The report email arrives within minutes and breaks down all five dimensions, your strengths, and your three best next moves, so you can see exactly where the points went. Fix something, run your repair shop health check again, and watch the number move. That is the whole game. Get your baseline today at techcareassociation.org/shopcheck.

And when your report points at something to work on, the TCA blog is where to dig in. It is a tremendous free resource for the industry, covering getting found online, answering phones, pricing, parts quality, right to repair, and the state of the repair market. Start with the Summer 2026 Skill-Up for sharpening bench skills, or Operators in Motion if you are thinking about growing into ITAD, refurbishment, or resale.

This Is Phase One

TCA ShopCheck, our free repair shop health check, will keep evolving in the months ahead, with more help built in for shops that want to raise their score. Stay tuned.

It is also the first step toward something bigger. The TCA is building toward a validation program for independent repair shops, and eventually a certification. A way for a shop to prove it runs a healthy, trustworthy business, and a way for customers to find shops that do. More trust means more opportunity for this whole community, and more work flowing into legitimate, hard working repair shops. TCA ShopCheck is where that starts.

BETTER SHOPS. MORE REPAIR. A STRONGER INDUSTRY.

Common Questions About TCA ShopCheck

What is TCA ShopCheck?

TCA ShopCheck is a free repair shop health check for phone and computer repair businesses from the Tech Care Association, a nonprofit trade association. It produces a Shop Health Score out of 100 across five dimensions in about 2 minutes at techcareassociation.org/shopcheck.

What does the score measure?

The score covers five dimensions of repair shop health: Get Found, Get Chosen, Get the Job, Run It Well, and Grow. A scoring system built by repair industry people weighs advanced metrics across all five, and your report includes your strengths and your three best next moves.

How long does it take?

About 2 minutes. It asks one question per screen and works on any phone. It also checks what customers see online automatically.

Does it cost anything?

No. TCA ShopCheck is 100% free. It is not a lead generation tool. The TCA is a nonprofit trade association and built it to help repair shops grow.

Do I have to give my email?

No. Your score comes first, no signup required. Email is optional and only needed to receive the full emailed report and save your baseline score. Individual answers and results are never sold or shared with third parties for marketing.

Can I retake it?

Yes. Your first score is a baseline. Make improvements, run TCA ShopCheck again, and a fresh report shows how your score has changed.

More from the TCA Blog

• Meet the 19 People Building the Second Life of Electronics
• The Summer 2026 Skill-Up: 8 Tech Repair Creators Posting Gold Right Now
• Operators in Motion: How Tech Repair Shops Grow Into ITAD, Refurbishment, and Resale Businesses

Rob Link is the founder of the TCA. The TCA is independent of carriers, manufacturers, and insurance companies, which is exactly why it can build a shop diagnostic that answers to nobody but the shops.