Mitchell Estimating IT Problems

Slow estimate loading and calculation

When an estimate takes noticeably longer to open or calculate than it used to, the cause is usually a combination of workstation resources and network latency rather than a change in the software. A workstation running low on available memory, or one still working through background updates, can make even a well-optimized cloud tool feel sluggish.

We check workstation specifications first, memory usage, storage type, and how many other applications are running, before assuming anything is wrong with Mitchell's own servers.

Sync delays and stuck uploads

Estimate data, photos, and supplement information all sync between the local workstation and Mitchell's cloud services, and that sync depends heavily on a stable, sufficiently fast internet connection. A sync that appears stuck is more often a connection that dropped briefly and never properly retried than a genuine data problem.

• Confirm the internet connection is stable, not just fast, using a continuous ping test during a sync attempt
• Check whether a firewall or security software is interrupting the connection mid-sync
• Rule out Wi-Fi interference if the workstation connects wirelessly instead of by wired ethernet
• Restart networking equipment on a scheduled basis rather than only when problems appear

Photo attachment failures

Photos that will not attach or that fail partway through an upload almost always come down to upload bandwidth or a local network bottleneck, particularly during busy periods when several estimators are uploading photos for different vehicles at the same time. Wired connections at photo-documentation stations reduce this failure mode significantly compared to relying on Wi-Fi alone.

Our article on collision centre photo upload problems goes into more depth on diagnosing and fixing this specific issue across estimating platforms generally.

Login and session timeout issues

Frequent login prompts or sessions that time out faster than expected can be caused by network instability that interrupts the authentication session, browser cookie or cache issues, or a workstation clock that has drifted out of sync, which some authentication systems are sensitive to. Keeping workstation time synchronized and clearing browser cache periodically resolves a surprising number of these complaints.

Multi-user and multi-location considerations

Shops running Mitchell across multiple estimators or multiple locations need enough local network capacity and internet bandwidth to support simultaneous use without one estimator's activity slowing down another's. A managed switch and access points sized for actual device count, along with QoS settings prioritizing business-critical traffic, keep performance consistent as usage scales up.

Multi-location collision groups should also see our guide to multi-location automotive IT support for standardizing this across more than one shop.

When to contact Mitchell directly instead of us

If a problem affects estimators across different locations and different networks at the same time, or if Mitchell's own status page reports a service disruption, the issue sits with Mitchell's infrastructure rather than anything local. Account access, licensing, feature questions, and application-level bugs also route directly to Mitchell's support team rather than to us, since those fall outside the infrastructure we manage.

For a broader look at estimating performance issues across platforms, see our article on why collision estimating software runs slow, and for the network side specifically, our network and Wi-Fi support page.

Frequently asked questions