Day-of tools
Car show check in is where everything happens at once. Scan gate passes and collect entry fees as cars arrive, register walk-ups with kiosk registration on a tablet, and print a windshield card for every car, each carrying its own voting QR code. The gate keeps moving, pre-registered cars and walk-ups sit in one list, and nothing falls through the cracks.
Scan gate passes as the cars roll in
Every confirmation email carries a personal gate pass, a QR code with a short typed code as backup. Your gate volunteer opens one page on any phone and scans passes with the camera, right in the page. Each scan returns a full-screen verdict in letters readable across a car hood: green for paid, amber for collect with a one-tap mark-paid, blue for already checked in. Drive-ups get typed in as the fee changes hands, cards at the gate run through a QR to your own checkout, and a crew link puts volunteers to work with no logins at all. A live arrived counter keeps the whole morning honest.
Kiosk registration for walk-ups without tying up a laptop
Set a tablet on the registration table in kiosk mode and let people sign themselves up. A staff unlock code keeps it locked to the sign-up screen, and the kiosk resets itself when it sits idle, so no one wanders into your settings between cars and car show check in never jams up at the gate.
Print a windshield card for every car in one go
Each entry gets a plain black and white windshield card you can print on any office printer. It shows the car number and carries that car’s voting QR code, so spectators know exactly what to scan. No color ink and no special stock, just a card ready to set on the dash.
Check in and hand out cards from the same list
Staff work from one entry list all day. Check a car in, print its card, and it is ready to display. Pre-registered cars and walk-ups end up in the same place, so nothing falls through the cracks when the gate gets busy and two lines form at once.
Email every registrant at once
Rain call, schedule change, parking instructions: write a subject and a message, check the live recipient count, confirm, and send to everyone registered for your show. Included free like everything else. The list automatically leaves out cancelled registrations and anyone who opted out, every email carries its own one-click unsubscribe, and you keep a history of everything sent. Only owner and admin roles can send, so a volunteer with kiosk access cannot email your whole field.
A private script for whoever calls the awards
The awards script has its own unguessable link you can copy or email straight to the person holding the microphone. Winners in reading order, Best of Show last, no staff login and no fumbling with a laptop at the podium. Whoever MCs your show opens a link on their phone and reads.
Take cards at the kiosk, with or without a reader
Day-of walk-ups can pay by card at the kiosk through your own hosted checkout, so you do not need any hardware at all. If you would rather tap, pair a Square Terminal and walk-ups tap to pay right at the gate while the registration reconciles itself against the entry. Cash still works exactly as it always did, marked as paid and landing in the same entry list.
Bring your spreadsheet, retype nothing
The reason most clubs stay where they are is that they already have a hundred and eighty entrants in a spreadsheet. Upload it as a CSV and every row becomes a confirmed entry with a car number. It reads the column headers people actually use, ignores the ones it does not recognise, and keeps the car numbers already in your sheet, handing out the next free number where a row is blank. Nothing is emailed, so importing two hundred people does not fire two hundred confirmations at folks who signed up months ago somewhere else. And it is all or nothing: if a row is wrong, nothing imports and the errors name the spreadsheet row numbers, so you fix it in Excel and upload again rather than untangling a half-finished mess.
Car show check-in questions, answered
How does car show check in work on show day?
Staff work from one entry list all day. Pre-registered cars are already there, and walk-ups get added on the spot with kiosk registration. Check a car in, print its windshield card, and it is ready to display. Both kinds of entry sit in the same list, so the gate keeps moving.
What is kiosk registration and do I need extra hardware?
Kiosk registration turns an ordinary tablet into a self-service sign-up station. Set it on the registration table in kiosk mode and people add themselves. A staff unlock code keeps it locked to the sign-up screen, and it resets when idle. Any tablet with a browser works, so no special hardware.
Do I need a color printer for the windshield cards?
No. Windshield cards print in plain black and white on any office printer, on regular paper. Each card shows the car number and that car's voting QR code. There is no color ink or special stock to buy, so you can print a stack at the table as cars roll in.
What is the QR code on each windshield card for?
It is that car's voting link. Spectators scan the QR on the windshield card, enter the car number to confirm, and cast their vote from the phone in their pocket. Because the codes live on the cards at the show, voting stays on site, at the event, in front of the actual cars.
Can I email all my registrants about a rain date?
Yes. The email registrants screen sends to everyone registered for your show, with a live recipient count and a confirmation step before anything goes out. Cancelled registrations and opt-outs are excluded automatically, and unsubscribe handling is built into every message.
How does the person announcing awards get the winners list?
Send them the awards script link. It is private and unguessable, it needs no login, and it lists the winners in reading order with Best of Show last, so the MC can work straight off their phone.
Can people pay by card at the gate?
Yes, two ways. The kiosk can take a card through your own hosted checkout with no hardware at all, or you can pair a Square Terminal and let walk-ups tap to pay. Either way the payment reconciles against that car's entry and the money lands in your own account.
I already have my entrants in a spreadsheet. Do I have to retype them?
No. Save the sheet as a CSV and upload it, and each row becomes a confirmed entry with a car number. Existing car numbers are kept and blanks get the next free one. Nothing is emailed to the people you import, and if any row has a problem nothing imports at all, with the errors naming the row numbers so you can fix and re-upload.
