What is repair approval: the customer's authorisation, given in writing, by phone or through a digital link, for a workshop to carry out specified chargeable work on their vehicle at a stated price, recorded against the repair order before the work starts.
Repair approval is the moment a customer says yes to specific work at a specific price, and the workshop records that yes against the repair order. It covers the original booked work, which is normally approved at check-in, and any identified work found during inspection, which needs its own approval before a technician touches it.
It matters for two reasons. Legally, chargeable work without authorisation is a dispute waiting to happen, and consumer law in the UK, Ireland and most US states expects an estimate and a recorded consent. Commercially, approval is where identified work turns into sold hours or into declined work, and the gap between the two is the largest controllable number in an aftersales department. It is also called repair authorisation or work authorisation; in North America repair authorization and customer sign-off. Online approval and remote approval describe the same consent given through a link rather than at the counter.
How repair approval works
- At booking. The customer approves the service or the diagnosis at the stated price when the repair order is opened, usually by signature at the desk or a tick on a check-in tablet.
- After inspection. The technician's health check produces identified work: amber and red items with measurements and media. The service advisor prices them and presents them.
- The ask. By phone, by a link with the report and a video, or at the counter. The customer approves some lines, defers others, declines the rest.
- The record. Each decision is logged on the repair order with who approved it, when, and how. A verbal yes is noted with the time and the name of the person who took it; a link approval carries its own timestamp; a signature is scanned or held electronically.
- The work. Only approved lines are dispatched. Deferred lines carry a follow-up date. Declined lines stay on the record so the next visit starts with history.
Remote and online repair approval
The old form of approval was a phone call, and the old failure was the unanswered phone. The car sits on the ramp, the technician moves to another job, the customer calls back at four and the car stays overnight. Online approval sends the customer the identified work as a link: the grades, the prices, a photo or video of each item, and a button per line. The customer answers from wherever they are, the answer is timestamped, and the technician is back on the car within the hour.
The record is also better. A recorded phone call is rare; a link approval is a log entry with the customer's decision, the time, and the version of the quote they saw. When a customer later says they never agreed to the discs, the log settles it.
Repair approval example: a diesel estate with an oil leak
An estate is booked for a service. The technician finds oil weeping from the rocker cover gasket, a rear tyre at 2 mm and a weak battery on the tester. The advisor prices all three and sends the report at 9:30 with a video of the leak and a photo of the tyre gauge.
The customer approves the gasket and the tyre at 9:50 and declines the battery, writing "will get it done at work". The advisor dispatches the two approved lines, logs the battery as declined with the customer's note, and the car is finished by 2 pm. On the next visit, six months later, the declined battery is in the history and the advisor opens with it. Nothing on this repair order was done without a recorded yes, and nothing identified was lost.
What repair approval does not cover
- It is not an open cheque. An approval is for the lines and prices shown. Work that grows beyond it, a seized bolt or a second worn part found on strip-down, needs a further approval and an amended repair order.
- "Do whatever it needs" is not an approval. It has to be turned into priced lines and confirmed, or it will be argued about at collection.
- Deferral is not approval. A deferred line is a promise to ask again, not permission to proceed.
The common mistakes: starting work on a red item because it is "obviously" needed, then explaining at the desk; taking a verbal yes without noting who gave it and when; presenting five items as one total so the customer declines all of them; and never chasing deferred lines, so the approval rate looks fine while the deferred book quietly grows.
Who owns the approval record
The approval lives on the repair order in the DMS, with the link log or the scanned signature attached. The advisor owns each ask and its record. The service manager owns the numbers that come out of it: approval rate on identified work, deferred work outstanding, and declined work by reason, read alongside hours per repair order and upsell rate. How to make the approval step routine rather than heroic is covered in building video into the aftersales workflow.
Video belongs in this step because the customer is approving work on something they have not seen. With Venta Video the technician records a short clip of the part on a phone, and the customer receives it as a branded page over SMS, WhatsApp or email with approve, book or pay buttons, so the explanation and the authorisation are one message and the approval is timestamped. See how service teams use it on the automotive aftersales page.
