Your hands are under a car and the phone has rung four times
An independent shop loses work to the ring nobody could reach, not to the competitor down the road. The useful question about an AI receptionist here is not whether it can answer. It is whether it collects the year, make, model and symptom that decide whether you have the bay, the part and the diagnostic time.
From $99 a month · Robocalls are never billed
Incoming callSean Halloran“It's a 2016 Transit, and the brake light's come on.”
Year, make, model captured · Diagnostic booked · Confirmed
- Year, make, model
- Asked before a slot exists, because it decides whether you can do the job at all
- Diagnostic first
- It books time to look, never a repair price for a fault nobody has seen
- $0
- billed for robocalls and sales calls, on every plan
The call that separates a workshop agent from a voice
Every AI receptionist on this results page books appointments and speaks well. This is the auto repair call where that stops being enough.
The caller says
“There's a knocking noise from the front when I turn. How much to fix it?”
What a generic AI receptionist does
A generic AI receptionist either invents a range to be helpful, which is the worst outcome, or takes a message and promises a callback, which is the second worst. Neither establishes the vehicle. Your customer now has a number in their head that you did not give them, or an expectation of a call you have not agreed to make.
What this one does
It states your diagnostic charge, says plainly that the repair is priced once somebody has driven it, and books the diagnostic. Before it does that it takes the year, make, model, engine and mileage, so you know on the morning whether the job is a bay hour or a day.
AI receptionist for auto repair shops: what is actually configurable
Each of these is something the product does on a real call. Where it refuses to act, the refusal is the design rather than a limitation.
It captures the vehicle, not just the customer
Year, make, model, engine, rough mileage, whether it is drivable and whether any warning lights are on. That is the difference between a booking you can plan around and a name in a diary you have to ring back to understand.
It knows what your bays can take
Vehicles you do not work on, sizes that will not fit, work you send out. Those are settings, and a call that fails one of them is declined on the phone rather than turning into a wasted morning and an awkward conversation.
It handles the parts and the courtesy car question
Whether the part is likely to be in, whether a loan car is available on that date, whether the customer can wait. Those are the three questions that actually determine whether a booked slot gets used, and they are asked before the slot is confirmed.
It never guesses at a repair figure
Your diagnostic fee and your hourly rate are settings it will state. A repair estimate from a description is not, and the refusal is explicit on the call so the customer knows what to expect rather than arriving with a number you never said.
What it asks on a auto repair call
Not a name and a preferred time. Each of these has an operational reason behind it, and every one of them is yours to change.
“Year, make and model — and the engine if they know it?”
Decides whether you can even take it, what the labour time is, and whether the parts are on the shelf.
“What exactly is it doing, and when?”
Cold-start only, under braking, at speed — the qualifier that turns a vague complaint into a diagnostic path.
“Is it drivable, or does it need recovery?”
The difference between a booked drop-off and a tow, which is a different call entirely.
“Is there a warning light on, and what color?”
Red means stop driving. Amber means book it. Callers describe both as “a light came on”.
“Drop off and leave, or wait?”
Waiters need a different slot length and a different bay. Getting it wrong costs you the afternoon.
“Is it under warranty, on a plan, or a fleet vehicle?”
Fleet and warranty work bill differently and sometimes go to a different person entirely.
What it will never do on a auto repair call
You are handing your phone to software that talks to your customers when you cannot. These are the lines it does not cross, and the exact words it uses instead.
It will not tell anyone their car is safe to drive
Grinding brakes, a spongy pedal, a red warning light or a steering vibration — the agent captures it, advises caution and books the visit. It does not say the car will be fine until Thursday, because if it is wrong about that the consequence is not a lost job.
What it actually says
“I can't safely tell you that over the phone. Given what you're describing I'd drive it as little as possible until we've had it in.”
Brake failure and smoke are transfers
A pedal going to the floor, smoke from under the bonnet, or a caller describing a fire risk — those are not appointments. The caller is told to stop driving and the call reaches a human immediately.
What it actually says
“If the pedal's going to the floor, please stop driving it and pull over somewhere safe. Let me get one of the technicians on the phone with you now.”
It quotes labour rates, not repairs
It states your diagnostic charge and your hourly rate, because those are fixed and you gave them to us. It will not price a clutch or a head gasket from a description — the estimate is what your technician produces after the inspection, and a phone number the customer anchors on makes that conversation worse.
What it actually says
“The diagnostic's $120 and the hourly's $145. What the repair comes to really depends on what we find — we'll ring you with a proper estimate before we touch anything.”
The four things it answers from
Configuration rather than something a model has been asked to remember. Change one at eight in the evening and the next call uses the new value.
Diagnostic
$120
Labour rate
$145/hr
Loan cars
2, book ahead
Makes we take
Gas and diesel, no EV
What auto repair shops say before they say yes
In the words they are usually put in. Where the objection is right, it says so.
“My customers ring to ask a price and nothing else.”
Most of them do, and the honest answer is your diagnostic charge plus an explanation. The alternative on offer from a general purpose agent is an invented range, and that number becomes an argument at the counter.
“I'd rather have a real person on the desk.”
So would most shops, and this is not competing with the person on your desk. It is competing with the four rings that happen while that person is out the back and you are under a car, which today reach voicemail.
“It won't understand what customers describe.”
It does not need to diagnose, and it does not try. It records the noise, when it happens, and what the driver was doing, in the caller's own words, and hands it to you. Interpreting that is your job and it is not taken away.
It books into the calendar you already keep
Google, Outlook, Apple, Exchange, CalDAV. An AI receptionist that emails you a summary has built a nicer voicemail; this one creates the appointment and texts the caller.
…and a lot more besides
- Warm transfersWarm transfersAnnounced — who is calling and why, before you take the line.
- Spam never billedSpam never billedRobocalls are spotted, zero-rated, and never become a customer.
- A number per sourceA number per sourceVan, yard sign, Google listing — see which line brings the work.
- Team & on-callTeam & on-callTries you, then a second number, then whoever is on call.
- Run it by textRun it by textReply to a text to move a job, block a morning, clear a day.
- Clear a day, everyone toldClear a day, everyone toldCall off a wet Tuesday; every customer is told and re-offered.
- Never invents an answerNever invents an answerNo price or slot it was not given. It takes a message instead.
- Any trade, no codeAny trade, no codeGoal, questions and guardrails are settings, not a rebuild.
How is this different from a general AI receptionist?
The vehicle. Year, make, model, engine, mileage, drivable or not, and warning lights, asked as a matter of course. A general purpose agent asks for a name and a preferred time, which tells you nothing about whether the day works.
Will it price a repair?
No. It states your diagnostic charge and hourly rate and books the time to look, and it says on the call why it is not quoting the repair.
Can it manage courtesy cars and waiting appointments?
It asks whether the customer needs a loan car or intends to wait, and books the appointment type accordingly, so the slot reflects what the day actually needs.
Does it book into what we already use?
Google, Outlook, Apple or CalDAV, with the rest available through the app catalogue and webhooks. Nobody has to check a second system.
What does it cost?
From $99 a month, flat, with unlimited call flows and a monthly talk time allowance. Robocalls are never billed, and there is a free tier for testing first.
Comparing against a human answering service instead?
That is a different question with a different answer, and it has its own page: the automotive answering service, with a full auto repair call played second by second.
Trades that answer the phone the same way
The same archetype, which is what the product actually branches on. Every trade has one of these pages.