What does phone coverage cost for an independent repair shop?

Phone answering starts at $29/month billed annually. Pro adds the on-call schedule. Compare billing models in the answering service cost guide .

Can she answer whether a vehicle is ready for pickup?

No. She takes the question for the writer with the repair order noted and never says a car is ready.

Does a drop-off appointment promise a repair that day?

The appointment reserves the intake time you configured. Penny can record the customer’s desired pickup time, while the service writer controls estimates and completion commitments.

Who approves work after the inspection?

Your service writer follows your authorization process. Penny routes the customer’s estimate questions and records the repair-order reference; booking a visit or asking for a status does not approve extra work.

Can she handle a car arriving on a tow truck?

Set your tow-in receiving hours and contact policy. Penny captures the vehicle, tow-provider information the caller knows, and receiving request. Your advisor handles exceptions and any transport commitment.

How are warranty and recall calls handled?

Penny collects the provider or recall-notice details and routes them to your advisor. She uses your approved service scope and does not promise coverage or that your shop can perform a manufacturer’s recall repair.

Can she book a pre-purchase inspection?

Yes, in the inspection openings your shop provides. Penny collects the year, make, model, mileage, and whether the vehicle is at a dealer or with a private seller. She records when it can be brought in and the buyer’s callback number; your shop confirms any access or timing exception.

What happens when a driver calls with a safety concern?

Penny records the concern and marks it urgent for your advisor to discuss transport. She does not declare grinding brakes or a steering problem safe to drive. Injury, fire, or immediate danger gets a 911 instruction before shop intake.

AI receptionist for auto shops

Drop-offs book with the vehicle and symptom attached through Penny’s automotive answering service.

The phone rings while your service writer is explaining an estimate at the counter. Penny takes “is my car ready?” as a message for the writer with the repair order noted. New callers can book a drop-off with the vehicle and reported symptom attached.

A question she asks

Penny asks for the year, make, model and the symptom in the driver’s words before offering a drop-off.

Try Penny free

14 days of Pro, including 100 phone minutes and 300 website conversations. No credit card.

Or call her from your phone: (630) 324-4620

The demo line

Hear how a caller changes an appointment during the conversation

The live demo uses Summit Heating, a fictional HVAC business. Listen to her intake here; test your own trade’s rules in your Penny account.

(630) 324-4620

In your account, call with a repair-order reference and check that the question reaches the writer with it attached.
On your own test line, describe a brake concern and check that it reaches your advisor without a driving-safety assurance.
Ask your configured Penny to move a drop-off appointment she booked and listen to the new date read back.

With your desk

Finish the estimate conversation while Penny answers the phone

Your desk handles

Explaining inspection findings and obtaining repair authorization
Comebacks, disputed invoices, and warranty decisions
Parts sourcing and work sent to a specialist
The pickup conversation about work completed and work deferred

Penny handles

Taking status questions for the writer with the repair order noted
Answering overflow while your writers are at the counter
Booking diagnostic and maintenance drop-offs in your open intake slots
Recording a new symptom or requested pickup time for the writer
Answering questions about supported makes from your service list

Your desk keeps the calls that need someone who knows the account. Penny keeps the ones that ring while that person is busy.

A call, written out

An estimate question reaches the writer with the repair order

Repair-status call: Penny explains what awaiting authorization means, takes the estimate question for the writer with the repair order, and never says the car is ready.

pennyassistant.com/dashboard/inbox

Inbound call · Copper Finch Motor Works

Answered by Penny · transcript

Penny
Copper Finch Motor Works, this is Penny. What can I help with?
Cressida (caller)
I’m checking on my Camry. The writer said it was awaiting authorization. What does that mean, and is it ready?
Penny
Awaiting authorization means the estimate needs your approval before the shop goes ahead with the work.
A fact from the knowledge pack, used on the call.
Cressida (caller)
Right, I have the estimate open. I want to talk about the second item.
Penny
I can’t see where a car is in the shop, so I’ll get your question to the service writer. What name is the repair order under, and do you have the number?
Cressida (caller)
Cressida Bellamy. RO 4821.
Penny
Thank you. What year is the Camry, and what’s the best number for the writer to call?
Cressida (caller)
It’s a 2019. The number is 312-555-0142.
Penny
I’ve noted RO 4821, your 2019 Toyota Camry, and your question about the second item on the estimate. Your writer will call you back at 312-555-0142.
Cressida (caller)
Thanks.

In the log

Name

Cressida Bellamy

Vehicle

2019 Toyota Camry

Repair order

RO 4821 · given by the caller

Disposition

Estimate question · callback requested

Sent to your service writer

Every line she said is in your log with the fields she captured beside it.

Before her first call

The difference between awaiting authorization and ready for pickup

From the auto repair knowledge pack

Vehicle identity: year, make, model, mileage, and the repair-order reference.
Service-writer vocabulary: diagnostic visit, estimate authorization, repair order, and pickup.
Symptoms in the driver’s words, with the driving-safety decision left to the technician.
Warning-light descriptions in the driver’s words.
Maintenance requests matched to the shop’s services and the manufacturer’s schedule.
Warranty, service-contract, and recall questions routed to the responsible provider.
Drop-off appointments, tow-in arrangements, key handling, and advisor callbacks.

Penny, on a call

Awaiting authorization means the estimate needs your approval before the shop goes ahead with the work.

The topics in the list are why she can say this.

On your website

Tomorrow’s early drop-off starts with tonight’s website question

copperfinchmotorworks.com

Copper Finch Motor Works

Services
Hours
About
Contact

Penny

Chat with Copper Finch Motor Works

Visitor

can I leave my Subaru before you open for its scheduled service?

What Penny does

Checks your approved early-drop policy, asks for the year and model, and offers a maintenance intake slot. She reads the time back before she books it, and you get the email.

Write a message

The chat follows the same rules as the phone line, so a visitor gets the answer a caller would.

Your numbers

Try your repair-order value in the missed-call calculation

Change the three numbers to yours. The default job value comes from a named source, dated.

Missed calls a weekAverage auto repair job value$Share of those callers you expect to book%

Default job value $500, from AAA — average car repair bill ($500–$600 range) (as of 2017-04-04). Change it to yours.

Potential job revenue

If you miss 6 calls a week and book 50% of them at $500 a job, those jobs would represent about

$6,495/month

This is estimated gross revenue, not measured lost revenue or profit. Some missed callers may still book with you. Change the assumptions to match your call records.

Penny starts at $29 a month, billed annually. At this job value, one booked job brings in enough revenue for the annual Starter subscription. Allow for extra usage charges and subtract job costs when estimating profit.

The result is your own arithmetic from the three numbers above.

Where it lands

Calendar appointments carry the vehicle details into your workflow

Google Calendar
Outlook
Zapier

Connect Zapier or signed webhooks to send the captured details to the tools your office uses.

Questions

Repair shops ask about pickup promises and work authorization

Send setup or plan questions to support@pennyassistant.com.

Google Calendar and Outlook hold configured intake appointments. Zapier or signed webhooks pass captured vehicle fields into your chosen workflow. Penny does not read your shop system; a status question reaches the writer as a message with the repair order noted.

Other lines of work

See how the other trades your customers call collect their first details

Towing

A fact about the setup

Penny reads back the road and direction together, then attaches the vehicle and destination to your dispatcher’s request.

Locksmith

A question she asks

For a parking-lot lockout, Penny asks for the entrance and a cross-street so the technician has more than the shopping-center name.

Contractors

A question she asks

“Is this a permit job, and who’s pulling it?” Penny asks before she books the walk-through.

Penny bills a monthly price with minutes included; when you choose to keep answering past them, 60 more minutes are added at a time at the plan’s rate. The answering service cost guide sets it beside per-minute human services, and the plans are on the pricing page.

Give Penny a call before you forward yours.

Try the HVAC demo, then set up Penny for your business. Your account starts with 14 days of Pro, including 100 phone minutes and 300 website conversations; Free keeps your website chat after the trial.

Try Penny free Call Penny: (630) 324-4620

14 days of Pro, including 100 phone minutes and 300 website conversations. No credit card.