In most shops the person answering the phone is also writing estimates, ordering parts and explaining a repair to the customer standing at the counter. Here is an honest look at the three ways to get the phone covered, and how to pick using your own numbers.
An auto repair shop gets three kinds of calls, and they pull in different directions. New customers want to know if you can look at their car and when. Current customers want to know if their car is done. And vendors, parts stores and tow drivers call all day about work already in the building.
The service writer is the only person who can answer most of them, and the service writer is also the person who cannot step away. So calls ring out during the morning drop-off rush, at lunch, and at five o'clock when everybody picks up at once. After closing, a driver with a car that won't start gets voicemail and calls the next shop on the list.
Any fix has to handle two different jobs: catching the new customer before they call someone else, and keeping status calls from eating the counter alive.
This is the best answer when you have the volume for it. A person in the building can look at the bay, check the repair order, tell the customer the car is ready, and book the next appointment in your shop software.
A call center answers in your shop's name and takes a message. Some bill by the minute, some by the call, and some charge extra for nights and holidays, so read the rate sheet closely.
An AI receptionist is software that answers the call, has a spoken conversation, collects the details and sends them to you by text. It is not a phone tree; the caller just talks.
Skip the sales pitches and spend one week counting. Keep a tally sheet by the phone, or pull the call log from your phone provider, and sort every call into four columns:
Now read the sheet. If most missed calls are new work after hours or during rushes, you have a coverage problem, and an answering service or AI receptionist fixes it for far less than a hire. If the phone is mostly status calls, you have a communication problem: text customers an update before they have to ask, and the phone gets quieter on its own. If you are buried in both all day, you probably need a person.
To put a dollar figure on it, take your average repair order from last month's invoices and multiply it by the number of missed new-work calls you believe would have come in. Compare that monthly number to the monthly cost of each option. It is your number, from your shop, and it will tell you more than any industry average.
These are not either-or. A common setup is a service writer on the phones during the day, with calls forwarded to a service or an AI receptionist when the line is busy, unanswered after a few rings, or the shop is closed. Your carrier's conditional call forwarding does this, and your business number stays exactly the same. Whatever you choose, call your own shop from a different phone at 7pm on a Saturday and hear what a customer hears.
CallTwin is the third option. It answers every call 24/7 in English and Spanish, takes the caller's name, number, address and the problem, and texts the job to you. It never quotes prices and never promises when a car will be ready; those answers stay with you. It does not look up repair orders, so a status call reaches you as a message to return. There is more on the CallTwin for auto repair shops page.
Pricing is a $500 one-time setup, the first 14 days free, then $99/month. An optional AI Estimates add-on ($49/month) turns calls into estimates priced from your own price book, which customers can sign and pay a deposit on.
Run the one-week tally first. If the missed calls are new work, sign up for CallTwin or call (856) 204-3643 and we'll set you up on the phone.
No contract. Pay by card, Zelle or Cash App. Not a computer person? Call and we'll sign you up on the phone.