AI agent for garages: from appointment to vehicle ready
In a garage, the service advisors are at the counter while the phone rings. This guide follows one repair from the first request to the maintenance reminder and shows what Rex, Orvel's agent for garages and auto repair, prepares and follows up, and what always stays in your team's hands.
The problem: the shop overflows, the customer forgets
Winter tires must be fitted between December 1 and March 15: everyone calls at the same time in November, and the shop overflows without an appointment list or reminders. The rest of the year it is the opposite: maintenance reminders rely on mileage and date, the customer forgets, and the shop loses repeat visits for lack of follow-up.
You also need to keep a record of the estimate, the date and the customer's authorization, quickly find a vehicle's history, and know who has stored tires and where. An agent that maintains these records frees the advisors for what requires their expertise.
The eight-stage journey
Rex tracks each vehicle file through a funnel in which every stage triggers a task or a prepared message.
- Request: first contact to understand the request and offer an appointment.
- Appointment booked: confirmation by text, with the vehicle's make, model and year.
- Vehicle received: the vehicle is in the shop and the advisor takes over.
- Estimate sent: the written estimate prepared by your advisor goes to the customer.
- Estimate approved: the customer's agreement is recorded with the date and method.
- In repair: any added work requires a new agreement.
- Ready: the customer is notified, and the warranty and parts to return are reminded.
- Maintenance reminder: an invitation goes out based on the planned date or mileage.
Template messages
A text confirms the appointment with the date and time and invites the customer to reply to reschedule. The estimate email states that the written estimate details the work, the parts and the total cost, that nothing starts without the customer's agreement and that they may ask for the replaced parts when authorizing the work.
If extra work might be added, a text says the details and cost will be sent before anything is touched. When the vehicle is ready, a text lets the customer know they can come by during opening hours. A few days later, an email asks for their feedback. Rex writes from your templates, never on its own initiative about the mechanics.
Follow-ups: when and how
One day after the appointment is booked, it is confirmed and the vehicle details are requested. Two days after an estimate is sent, a follow-up goes out: has the customer had time to look at it? No work starts without their agreement. With no answer after seven days, the file is brought up so your team can call back or close it.
At the ready stage, the customer is notified right away and feedback is requested three days later. The maintenance reminder triggers after 150 days of inactivity at the reminder stage. For tires, a seasonal email invites customers to book, and bookings follow the shop's capacity. Commercial reminders go only to customers who have consented, with STOP or an unsubscribe link.
What Rex never does
Rex never makes a mechanical diagnosis. It confirms no repair price without your estimate. It never adds work: if unplanned work comes up, your advisor obtains the authorization, and Rex records the approval along with the conversation.
It hands over for a complaint or a safety case. When a customer calls back about a problem after a repair, Rex opens the file and passes it to your advisor, who judges whether the warranty applies. The agent prepares and follows up; your team decides and approves.
Measure what matters
Five indicators are enough: the week's appointments, the estimate approval rate (approved estimates divided by estimates sent, over a period), pending estimates, returns after a reminder (customers who booked within 30 days of a maintenance reminder) and the number of customers with stored tires.
These measures describe how the shop is running; they promise no result and mostly help you see where files stall.
A well-run journey avoids oversights, price misunderstandings and customers lost for lack of follow-up. Rex prepares and reminds; your garage diagnoses, estimates and decides.
General information, not legal advice. Check with your professional order or the official source.
Questions
Can Rex tell me what is wrong with my car?
No. Rex makes no mechanical diagnosis. It books the appointment and passes your request to the advisor, who assesses the vehicle.
Can Rex give a price over the phone?
It confirms no repair price without your advisor's estimate. It sends the written estimate your team prepared and collects the customer's approval.
What happens if the customer complains?
Rex hands over. A complaint or a safety case goes to a human on your team, along with the file.
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