Job card
Job cards per visit: service, repair, body and paint, detailing, inspection
Each visit gets one job card with the vehicle, the customer and the kind of work. It also holds the service advisor, the lead technician, the bay and the promised time. Check-in, estimate, tasks, holds, invoice and delivery all hang off it, and every step is noted on it.
PlansEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Work is written on a paper slip that is lost, smudged or filled in differently by each advisor.
- Nobody can say who promised the car for 5 pm, who is working on it, or in which bay.
- The customer's complaint changes between the desk and the technician.
- When something goes wrong later, there is no record of what happened on that visit and when.
How it works
- 01
Open Garage > Workshop > Jobs > Job Cards (or the Board) and click New. Pick the vehicle by its plate: the owner becomes the customer, with mobile and email.
- 02
Choose the Kind, the Promised time, the Service Advisor (you, to start with), and the Lead Technician and Bay if you know them. Mark the star for Urgent.
- 03
Write what the customer says in their own words, for example "noise from the front when braking".
- 04
Save. The job card gets its number, such as JC/2026/00042, and sits in the New stage.
- 05
Check the vehicle in, build the estimate and get the customer's decision. The work then goes on from the same job card to invoice and delivery.
Everything it does
Kinds of job card
- Service, Repair, Body / Paint, Detailing, Inspection, Other
- Storage, only when the branch has vehicle storage switched on
What a job card holds
- Number (JC/year/ and five digits), branch, customer with mobile, phone and email
- Vehicle, model and plate; the vehicle cannot change once the work has moved past Checked In
- Service Advisor, Lead Technician, Bay, Promised, Checked In and Delivered times, Urgent
- Customer Says (the complaint) and Internal Notes
- Tabs: Work (the estimate), Tasks, Check-in, Photos, Damage, Movements, Holds, Rework, Storage; Growth adds Inspections, Declined Before and Parts
- Approval (Nothing to Approve, Waiting for the Customer, Partly Approved, Approved) and Billing (Nothing to Invoice, To Invoice, Invoiced, Paid)
Stages to start with
- New, Checked In, Inspection, Waiting for Approval, Waiting for Parts, In Progress, Quality Check, Ready for Delivery, Delivered, Cancelled
- Delivered and Cancelled are folded on the board
- Rename them, add more of a kind (a second In Progress called "Paint booth"), for every branch or one
Buttons on the job card
- Check In, Ask to Approve, Customer's Decision, Create Invoice, Deliver, Print
- Vehicle Out and Vehicle Back, Put on Hold and Resume, Send Back, Came Back, Share Job Page
- Move Anyway for workshop managers; Cancel for advisors while there is no invoice
Record of the visit
- Every step is noted on the job card with who and when: checked in, decisions, alerts, holds, moves, delivery
- Changes to the stage, advisor, technician, bay, promised time and amounts are tracked
- Job cards are not deleted: an open one with no invoice is cancelled, and its holds end
Who uses it
Where you use it
- Web: Garage > Workshop > Jobs > Board, Job Cards and My Job Cards
- The SmartMy Garage app: Job Cards for advisors, Board for others, New job card from the "+". Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet.
- Customer page: the job page by a private link, and Job cards when the customer signs in
- Not on paper: the printed job card is made from the job card (see the printed job card page)
What you control
Settings
- Stages: names, order, folded on the board, for every branch or one (Garage > Configuration > Workshop > Stages)
- Bays: name and kind (General Repair, Wash / Detailing, Body / Paint, Alignment / Tyres, Inspection)
- Services and parts with their prices, taxes and standard hours (Garage > Configuration > Services and Vehicles > Services and Parts)
Messages and alerts
- Vehicle Checked In, Estimate Ready, Ready for Pickup, Vehicle Delivered: to the customer as the job card moves. They go at once by WhatsApp, else SMS, else email, and in the app for customers who sign in
- Each branch switches each message on or off and picks its channels in Garage Messages
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Can one job card hold service and body work together?
Yes. The kind says what the visit is mainly for; the estimate can hold any services and parts. Use the bay and tasks to split the work on the floor.
Can we rename the stages?
Yes. Rename them, add stages of the same kind, reorder or fold them. The rules follow the kind of stage, not its name, so keep one stage of each kind you use.
Can a job card be deleted?
No. An advisor cancels an open job card that has no invoice. Its history stays.
Does the customer need an account?
No. The customer opens their job page by a private link sent in the messages. Signing in is optional and shows all their job cards.
Which plan has it?
Every plan, from Starter.
Related
Related features.
Job card board by stage, with list and calendarEvery plan
See every car in the shop on one board, a column per stage. Each card shows the plate, the customer, the promised time and labels for approval, alerts, holds, vehicles out and reworks. Switch to a list, a calendar, a pivot or a chart.
Check-in with odometer, fuel or battery, photos, belongings, consent and signatureEvery plan
Record how each car arrived before anyone touches it. Take the odometer, the fuel or battery level, a dashboard photo and the walk-around photos your branch asks for. Note what was left inside, test drive consent and what to do about work found, and get the customer's signature.
Estimates approved or declined line by lineEvery plan
Build the estimate from your services and parts, priced and taxed. The customer approves or declines each line in person, by phone, by message, or on their job page with a typed signature. Each line keeps how it was decided, when, and who recorded it.
Stage checks before in progress, ready and deliveredEvery plan
A job card moves on only when the work allows it. The car is checked in before work, work is approved before In Progress, tasks are done before Ready, and the invoice is confirmed before Delivered. When there is a good reason, a workshop manager moves it anyway and writes why.
Tasks per mechanic with Start, Pause and Done timersEvery plan
Each approved service becomes a task for a technician, planned from its standard hours. Technicians press Start, Pause and Done on the web or their phone, one timer at a time. You see each person's tasks, the workload and the hours worked against the hours planned.
The customer's job page by a private link, no loginEvery plan
Every job card has its own page for the customer, opened from a link in their messages with no password. They see the status, the estimate, the photos, the damage, the readings and their invoices. It comes with every plan.
Want to see it on your own job cards? Book a demo and we walk you through it with your workshop's work.