With plenty of customers visiting your business and looking to get repair or service work done, you need an effective way of keeping a record of it.
Want an easy and effective solution to your repair invoicing woes (that’s free)?
Use an auto repair invoice template.
An invoice template is a layout of an invoice with all relevant fields (like customer name, company details, invoice number) pre-populated.
Templates make it easy to fill in details. They also save time, money, and paper (the trees will thank you).
Now you could spend time creating a new template from scratch using programs like Excel, Word, Google Sheets, or Google Docs. But what if you could get a fully customized template with a click of a button... and for free?
These downloadable templates are highly customizable - you can change the font, color, logo, or any extra field you want to.
Invoices are necessary for auto repair businesses because they let the customers know details like:
Here are some more reasons to have an invoice template on hand:
These templates save you a lot of time and trouble keeping track of finances. They also save you the trouble of making complex calculations.
Templates can be highly customized. Add your company’s logo and change the color to match your brand. A nice-looking invoice gives your business a professional look, making you stand out from your competitors.
Invoice templates provide transparency and clarity to you and the customer on charges incurred from repair, labor, and other miscellaneous items.
You can also send an estimate before you start repairs to help your customers know how much they’ll be charged. This helps them choose whether to go forward with the repair or not, saving any confusion and problems down the line.
As a result of better transparency, invoices protect you from lawsuits. It’s always Better Not to Call Saul.
There are three types of auto-repair templates:
An estimate includes information on the problems found in the vehicle. This type of document can be given before, after, or during an inspection highlighting the potential charges a customer would have to pay once repairs are done.
This kind of invoice includes all repair procedures on a vehicle and their respective costs.
These types of invoices detail the labor charges incurred while fixing your vehicle.
Here are the essential details to be added to an auto repair invoice:
Okay, so you want the easy method or the difficult one first?
Oh wait, you can’t talk and let me know. Fine, I’ll give you the easy steps first.
Go to Invoicer.ai and choose your favorite pre-made template.
Customize the invoice to fit your brand. Add your brand color, logo, font, business details, URL, photo banner, etc.
Customize any of the remaining fields and columns.
Also, before you send the invoice to your tenants, double-check on:
Then go ahead and save the template for future use easily.
Now for the difficult, slightly longer, and time-consuming option - doing it all yourself!
Open the platform of your choice from either Word, Excel, Google Docs, or Google Sheets.
Add all the relevant details discussed in the previous section like customer and company details, vehicle details, cost of labor, etc.
Edit the layout and formatting.
Save this template. If you’re creating an invoice for a new customer, copy the file and rename it.
Fill in all the fields.
You should put in a lot of thought while creating the template to make sure it looks professional. Customize it to highlight your brand by changing the font, logo, and color to match the look and feel of your business.
Let your customer know beforehand repairs needed to be done and the estimated costs. This lets the customer know how much they’re expected to pay, and they can make the right choice of whether they want to spend that much or not.
If you don’t discuss these details early on, your customers might get angry if costs went over their budget. And this could lead to all sorts of problems, like bad PR and negative reviews.
Also, if your customers have set a maximum price they’re willing to pay for repairs, make sure you don’t go beyond this amount.
Prepare the invoice before the customer comes. If you do it after the customer arrives, they won’t be happy to spend all that extra time waiting for you to prepare one.
An impatient customer is an unhappy customer.
Your customer should not spend hours scanning your invoice trying to understand what’s on the page. Make the invoice simple and easy to read for the customer’s benefit.
It’s essential to list any policy on refunds, exchanges, terms and conditions so that customer is clear on these details.
If you think that invoice templates are cool, wait till you use an invoice creator.
Here are the ways these online billing tools are better than a template:
Still deciding whether to use an invoicing template or an invoice creator?
Then try them both!
Sign up for 100% FREE 14-day access (no credit card needed!) to our invoicing creator and our vast collection of invoice templates.
