Your estimator receives the vehicle details, reported damage, location and insurance claim contacts. Your receptionist prepares the assessment appointment and records any need for a replacement vehicle, without announcing insurance coverage or quoting repair costs before the vehicle is assessed.
$55 CAD / month · 50 Standard calls · 1 local number
The file reaches the estimator with the vehicle, the incident, where the damage is, whether it drives, the insurer and the claim number. The visit is booked, and nobody promised coverage or a release date.
Monday, 11 a.m. A driver calls after being hit from behind in a parking lot. Her vehicle still drives. She opened a claim with her insurer the day before.
ReceptionistCarrosserie Saint-Denis, good morning. Let me take your name and a callback number, then we look at your file.
CustomerSophie Bergeron, 514 555-0117. Someone hit me from behind, the bumper is caved in.
ReceptionistDoes the vehicle still drive safely, and are the tail lights working? Do you have a claim number with your insurer?
CustomerIt drives, the lights work. The claim is 8842-77. Will this be covered?
ReceptionistThat one is your insurer's call, not mine. What I can do is book your estimate for Thursday at 10. Can you confirm exactly where the damage is, and does the vehicle still drive normally? I'll note that along with your claim number for the estimator, who prices it on site — you get the written estimate before anything starts.
No insurer on the file: the person calling is also the person approving. She captures the vehicle, the damage and the urgency, and books the estimate. Pricing comes from the estimator, and approval is given on a written estimate.
Claim number, insurer, assigned adjuster, replacement vehicle. She captures those and attaches them to the file, so your estimator does not have to ask again and the exchanges with the insurer start from a complete record.
The vehicle is stuck at the scene or in a tow yard. She captures the exact location, the state of the vehicle and who has it right now, flags the request as urgent and alerts you — the order of safety first, location second comes from the towing preset.
The bumper comes off and the shop finds more. She tells the driver that the announced date and amount are on hold until a supplement is priced and approved, and she does not offer a new date until that approval is in.
The moves she makes on calls from drivers, insurers and tow operators, from opening a file through to a booked estimate, then what stays with the estimator. Every line is a call your line gets.
She takes the name and callback number, then the vehicle and a description of the reported incident.
The caller is often shaken; identification comes ahead of everything else, so nothing is lost if the call ends abruptly.
She asks whether the vehicle still drives safely and whether the lights work, before qualifying the rest of the request.
Whether the vehicle can move decides the rest: a file on wheels does not follow the same path as an immobilised vehicle.
She captures the insurer, the assigned adjuster and the claim number when there is one, so the estimator does not have to ask again.
A complete insurance file from the first call avoids a second call just to recover what could have been recorded right away.
She checks whether a file already exists for that vehicle before opening a second one for the same incident.
A driver calling back to add a detail adds to their file rather than starting a new one.
She captures the exact location and the state of the vehicle for a collision that leaves it stuck at the scene or in a tow yard, flags the request urgent and alerts you.
The order of safety first, location second comes from the preset used for vehicles that will not move.
She recognises an insurer or tow-operator call by its vocabulary — claim number, adjuster, vehicle to deliver — and captures the reference, the location and the timing asked for before alerting you.
A partner call follows a different route from a driver’s call; the vocabulary used reveals it within the first few words.
She tells the driver that the announced date and amount are on hold when hidden damage turns up on teardown, offering no new date until an approval is in.
The sector profile’s recovery rule applies the moment a supplement appears, before any figure is put forward.
She books the estimate visit in the time your shop allows for it, with the photos the estimator wants in front of him.
The visit is booked into a real resource; pricing itself stays the estimator’s call, with the vehicle in front of him.
She records the need for a replacement vehicle on the first call and attaches it to the file.
It is often the driver’s first worry; the booking itself then depends on your agreement with the rental company and on what the insurer authorises.
She answers on the known progress of a file already open, or asks the shop for an update when nothing is current.
The status announced is the one the file actually holds, not a reassuring guess.
Options added separately, when they are useful to you.
She carries your shop’s evaluation and its supporting documents through to the payer’s approval, tracking refusals and options.
Estimates and approvals option: the heart of a collision file, where every supporting document stays attached to its version. Estimates and approvals
She records approval of a supplement found on teardown before the work resumes.
Included in Estimates and approvals: an approval given on the first evaluation does not cover damage discovered afterwards. Estimates and approvals
She sends the payment request from your provider for the deductible settled when the vehicle is released, and follows its real status.
Deposits and payments option: back-and-forth to collect it at the counter shrinks, and the reminder stops on receipt. Deposits and payments
She attaches driver and insurer emails to the collision file, without confirming coverage over that channel.
Optional AI email inbox: exchanges follow the file, but the coverage decision stays the insurer’s.
With Shopmonkey, she locates the customer, vehicle and order documented on the vendor side; the collision-specific part — insurer file, images, supplements — is not covered there by a documented operation.
That is written here rather than implied: no insurer interface has been qualified to date. Shopmonkey
With no interface to your estimating software, she opens the file in Zenvox with the same fields, ready to be picked up from the app.
Nothing is written into a system of record until that write has been validated. Connect your software, or use ours
She answers from the files and calls you are allowed to access. A question about an option only applies once you have switched it on.
The questionWhich callers are requesting a collision assessment?
She retrieves the vehicle, location and stated insurer reference. She confirms neither coverage nor authorization.
Which files are still waiting on the requested photos?
She retrieves what was promised on the first call. She does not follow up a second time on her own.
Which supplements are still waiting on the payer’s approval?
Add-onWith Estimates and approvals: the queue of pending approvals. Without the option, she tracks no repair approval.
What your estimator wants to know on the first call, the photos you ask for, the insurers you work with, your rule for a vehicle that will not move, and what the receptionist may not suggest about coverage.
Name and callback number first. Then the vehicle, the description of the incident, visible damage, whether it drives, the insurer and claim number if there is one, and whether a replacement vehicle is needed.
The estimate visit is placed with the time you allow for it, and the request reaches you complete. The estimator prices the work, the driver and the insurer approve what concerns them, and the release date is announced once it is validated.
A receptionist who answers for you, in both languages, opens a collision file cleanly and books the estimate visit inside the resources you allow. No setup fee, and you keep your number.
She does not state what an insurer will cover, or what a deductible comes to.
This is included in your base plan. She answers using the calls, requests and business information you are allowed to access.
Talk to your receptionistA question you can ask
Which callers are requesting a collision assessment?
She retrieves the vehicle, location and stated insurer reference. She confirms neither coverage nor authorization.
Beyond the base plan. Each one is added on purpose, separately from the base. None is switched on unless you choose it.
You can add a channel so she can continue the conversation with your customers. Any action she takes follows the same rules and the options you have chosen.
Optional customer channel
Attach insurer and customer emails to the collision file; supplements still require approval.
The transactional messages provided by your base plan and your own questions to the receptionist remain included.
Check the actions supported, connection requirements and how to work when your software cannot perform the requested action.
Customers, vehicles, orders and inventory are documented on the vendor side. The collision-specific part — insurer file, images, supplements, statuses — is not covered by a documented operation and remains to be qualified.
Without an interface to your estimating software, the file opens in Zenvox with the same fields and your estimator picks it up from the app. Nothing is written into a master system until that write has been validated.
A body shop does not have one customer per file, it has three. The driver wants to know when the vehicle comes back. The insurer wants a documented file and justified supplements. The estimator wants to see the vehicle before committing to anything. All three call the same line, often on the same day, and each one hangs up unsatisfied when whoever picked up improvised.
Your receptionist is the single front desk for all three. She captures the vehicle and the incident, notes whether it still drives or has to be towed, asks for the insurer and the claim number when there is one, and books the estimate visit with the photos your estimator wants in front of him.
What she does not do matters just as much: she does not rule on fault, she does not say what the insurance will cover, and she does not announce a release date before the estimate is done and the approvals are in. A collision file is settled between authorised people — she prepares their work, she does not do it for them.
The other lines of work in this section run on the same engine, with their own requests and their own rules.
Garages & auto servicesShe sends that question back to the insurer without offering an answer. A coverage dispute is settled between the driver, the insurer and your estimator; she captures the question and passes it to you on the file.
The announced date and amount are on hold as soon as the shop finds more on teardown. With the Estimates and approvals option, the supplement travels through to the payer's approval, and that approval is recorded before work resumes.
She captures the need and attaches it to the file on the first call — it is often the driver's first worry. The booking itself depends on your agreement with the rental company and on what the insurer authorises.
Yes. A partner call is recognised by its vocabulary — claim number, adjuster, vehicle to deliver — and follows a different route than a driver's call: she captures the reference, where the vehicle is and the timing asked for, then alerts you.
No. She describes what the caller reports and books the visit. The evaluation belongs to your estimator, with the vehicle in front of him — and in Quebec the shop's written estimate is governed by the consumer protection office above a threshold set in law.
Start your free trial with your email. Your website can help prepare your business information, but it is optional. Confirm the facts, choose a first task and test your receptionist. You can try options too, starting with the ones you need.
Keep my phone numberBody shops and collision repair
