The auto repair calls you miss under a car, answered.

The shop phone and who answers it

In a small repair shop, the person who answers the phone is also the person writing up tickets, pulling parts and walking customers through what was found. When two of those happen at once, the phone loses.

Morning is the worst. Cars arrive for drop-off between 7 and 9, people call to say they are running late, and a few more call to ask whether the shop can look at a noise today. Lunch and 5 pm are next, when customers check whether their car is done.

Three kinds of calls a shop gets

The new problem. "My brake pedal feels soft" or "the check engine light came on." This caller is deciding where to go, and will go to whoever picks up.

The status call. "Is my car ready?" Often a customer already in your system who just wants a yes or a time. Dozens of these a week stop a shop from working.

The estimate call. "What did you find, and what will it cost?" This is the owner's call. Nobody else should guess.

How Nora handles each

Calls you don't pick up go to Nora, the phone assistant we set up for your shop. She answers in your shop's name, in English or Spanish, working from the facts you approve: hours, address, the makes you service and the jobs you do not take.

1. New problems. She asks the make, year, mileage and what the car is doing, then offers a drop-off time on your calendar or leaves a clean note.
2. Status calls. She takes the name and vehicle, and the call lands on that customer's card with a ping to you. If you give her a status, such as "waiting on parts," she can say so; otherwise she says the shop will call back.
3. Estimate questions. She does not guess at diagnoses or costs. She tells the caller the owner approves estimates and takes the number for a callback.
4. Urgent ones. A car stranded on the roadside or a brake complaint can be flagged and pinged to you right away.

Drop-off requests

Many callers want to know when they can leave the car. Nora offers the drop-off windows you open and books them. The customer gets a confirmation with the address, the time and the line "leave keys in the box if early," if that is your habit.

A booked drop-off helps the bays too. You know which cars are coming before they arrive, so the morning is less of a scramble.

Start with the log

Look at last week's unanswered calls. Mark how many came between 7 and 9 am and between 4 and 6 pm. Then call your own shop while a car is on the lift and listen to what a customer hears.

The free report shows how your shop looks online next to the others nearby, and the 15-minute review covers what answering the phone for you would look like.

Questions owners ask