iMessage for auto repair shops

Repair shops lose more money to approval delays than to anything else. You find the real problem at 10am, you call, it goes to voicemail, and the car occupies a bay until 4pm when they finally ring back. Texting collapses that to twenty minutes.

Photos are the killer feature here

A photo of a worn brake pad next to a new one does more for approval — and for trust — than any amount of explanation on the phone. On iMessage it arrives at full resolution; over MMS it arrives compressed and unconvincing. This is one of the few cases where bubble colour genuinely changes the outcome.

export const shop = {
  approval: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.shop}: had a look at the ${c.vehicle}. ${c.finding} ` +
    `Photo attached. Repair is ${c.price}, about ${c.duration}. ` +
    `Reply YES to go ahead or call us on ${c.phone}.`,
 
  ready: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.vehicle} is ready, ${c.firstName}. Total ${c.total}. ` +
    `We're open until ${c.closingTime} today.`,
 
  serviceDue: (c: Ctx) =>
    `Hi ${c.firstName} — ${c.shop} here. The ${c.vehicle} is about due ` +
    `for its ${c.serviceType}. Want us to book you in? ${c.link}`,
};

The service-due reminder is your repeat business

You know the mileage, the service history and roughly when the next one is due. A reminder at the right moment is genuinely useful information, not marketing — which is exactly why it works. It is also the message that stops customers drifting to whoever is closest when they finally remember.

Practical notes

• Always name the vehicle, not the invoice number. 'The Corolla' means something; 'RO-4471' does not.
• Give a price and a duration in the same message. Both questions come next otherwise.
• Offer the phone number as an alternative. Some customers want to talk, and pushing them into text is worse service.
• Someone has to be watching replies during shop hours — two-way texting.