Estimate approval your customers can do from their phone

“Yes, go ahead!” — said over the phone while you're under a car. A week later at the counter: “I never approved that.” Every workshop knows the scene. The fix isn't recording calls; it's moving approval somewhere it stays written down.

How the estimate reaches the customer

From Garageflow you send the estimate by email or SMS. The customer gets a secure link, valid for 30 days. The first time they open it, the estimate is automatically marked as viewed, with a timestamp. You know exactly whether “I haven't had a chance to look” is true.

Code verification, not just a link

A bare link can end up anywhere. So before seeing prices and approving, the customer verifies with a 6-digit code sent to their email or phone, valid for 10 minutes. Their contact details appear masked on screen for privacy. Once verified, they can take their time — access stays open for 24 hours.

You see every step, in real time

An estimate has a clear trail: sent, viewed, approved or declined — each step stamped on its record with date and time. If it's still just ‘sent’ after three days, you know it's time for a call. If it's been ‘viewed’ since Monday with no answer, the customer is still thinking — and you can step in with a clarification instead of a blind chase.

Accept, decline with a reason, or “let's talk”

The customer sees parts, labour, VAT and the total, including items you marked as optional. They can accept, decline with a reason (too expensive, found an alternative, postponing) or request a chat — and you see the full history on the estimate. A decline with a reason is worth more than silence: you know what to change next time.

From approval to job, no surprises

When you convert an approved estimate into a job, prices stay as quoted — not whatever the catalogue says today. You choose which optional items make it into the job, stock is deducted at conversion, and the customer pays exactly what they saw and approved. With their digital sign-off, not your memory.

Declines become data, not just bad news

Because every decline carries a reason, patterns emerge over time: too expensive, postponed, found it elsewhere. And on the Professional plan, the estimate conversion report shows exactly how many estimates you send become jobs — the one percentage that tells you whether the problem is price, presentation or response speed.

A workshop that knows why it loses estimates can win the next ones. One that only ever hears ‘I'll think about it’ has nothing to optimise.

The result: fewer arguments at the counter, more approved estimates — and a written trail for every decision.