Why does my auto repair shop miss so many phone calls?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
An auto repair shop misses calls because the phone rings at the counter while the techs are under cars and the service advisor is already with a customer or on the other line. The busiest calling times, morning drop-off, lunch and just after five, are when nobody is free. The fix is something that answers when the counter can't.
When do the calls get missed?
They get missed in the same few windows every day. First thing, when customers are handing over keys. At lunch, when drivers call from work and the counter is eating. Late afternoon, when cars are being picked up. And after closing, when the shop is dark.
A driver with a grinding noise who reaches voicemail seldom leaves a message. They call the next shop on the list. You never learn the call happened, which is why owners underestimate how many there are.
How can a shop cover the phone?
There are four ordinary ways to cover the phone, and each one has a cost. Pick by how many calls your shop misses and at what hours.
- Stagger lunches and make one named person responsible for the phone each hour. Free, and it breaks on the first busy day.
- Hire a second person for the counter. The right answer if the counter is overloaded all day, not only on the phone.
- Use an answering service. A person answers and takes a message, and someone at the shop still has to call back.
- Use an AI receptionist. It answers every call at once, at any hour, and can book the car in.
What should the caller get when nobody is free?
A caller should get an answer, a next step and a time. That means someone or something picks up, finds out what the car is doing, and either books it in or tells them when they'll hear back. A promise of a call back with no time attached is where jobs go missing.
How does Margin cover an auto shop's phone?
Mia, Margin's AI receptionist, answers every call or only the ones your counter doesn't get to. She answers questions, books the car onto the portal calendar and tells your office. When a caller asks for a person, she tells your team and steps aside.
She doesn't guess. Whether a car is ready, or what a repair will cost, goes to your team as a short list of people to call back, with the conversation attached. Callers who hang up get a text within a minute once carriers approve your texting number.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for auto shopsSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
How many calls does an auto repair shop miss?
It varies too much from shop to shop for any single figure to be honest. Count your own: compare the incoming calls on your auto repair shop's phone bill with the calls somebody picked up, by hour, for one ordinary week.
Do customers leave voicemails for auto shops?
Some do, mainly existing customers checking on a car. A new caller comparing auto shops has no reason to wait for a call back when the next shop might answer, so treat every voicemail greeting as a job at risk.
Should the techs answer the phone at an auto shop?
Not as a habit. A tech who stops mid-job to take a call loses time on the car, and the caller gets someone with greasy hands and no schedule in front of them. An auto shop runs better with the phone owned by one role.