Garage estimate approvalGet approval before the expensive part.

Why the estimate comes first

A customer hears a number at the counter and remembers a different one a week later. The estimate is the record of what was agreed before the expensive work started.

It matters most for a compressor, a clutch or a set of tyres: jobs where the parts bill is large enough to argue about after delivery.

What to put on it

An estimate the customer can read is built from the same lines as the job:

• Each part and each piece of labour, with its quantity and price
• The tax treatment the garage's registration requires
• The total, and what it does not include
• How long the price holds
• The vehicle and the complaint it was priced for

Send it, or record the answer

Send the estimate as a link. The customer sees the work, the amount and the tax, and approves or declines without signing in.

If the customer answers in person or on the phone, record that answer at the desk. The job keeps the decision either way.

When the lines change

An estimate is a promise about a specific set of lines. If the diagnosis adds a part, revise the lines and send a new link. The old link stops being the current answer.

Do not treat a verbal maybe as approval. Wait for a clear yes before the bay starts the expensive work.

When the customer says no

Record the decline, then decide: do the smaller approved work, or cancel the visit. Either way the car's history shows what was offered and what the customer chose.

In Garage Master

An estimate is made from the job's own lines and taxed by the same calculator as the final bill, so the approval total and the invoice total cannot drift apart. The customer link works for seven days and is replaced when a new estimate is sent.