Repair shops
Brakes inspected, a second fault found: approval arrives ahead of a blocked bay, and a record a regulator asks for exists.
Estimates and approvals
A vehicle sits on a hoist because nobody reached its owner. An approval is asked for, obtained and recorded.
7 days, 20 answered calls, no card
The task it takes over
A car is up on a hoist, a technician found something else, and a work order stops dead: somebody has to reach an owner before work continues. Three unanswered calls later, a bay is blocked by a vehicle going nowhere, and a billable day melts away.
This add-on circulates an estimate YOU wrote until whoever pays agrees. It sends an approved version, lays out options, asks for an authorized ceiling, and records an answer: who approved, on what, against which version, on what date, at what time.
In Québec that detail is a rule rather than paperwork fussiness. Québec's consumer protection office requires a written estimate above a threshold it sets, and work beyond an original estimate needs customer authorization; such authorization may be verbal, yet it must be recorded. This add-on makes recording automatic.
Step by step
- To start
An estimate comes from a shop
You write an estimate, as you do today. Zenvox calculates no repair price and replaces no written estimate: it takes a version you approve.
- Reach
A payer, beyond a driver
A payer might be a driver, a parent, an employer or an insurer. A request goes to a right person, with supporting documents attached to a work order.
- Decide
Approval, refusal, or a ceiling
An answer is recorded as given: full approval, refusal, one chosen option, or an authorized ceiling above which a shop must call back.
- Afterwards
Updates go out on their own
A part is on order, a vehicle is ready: an update leaves without an advisor picking up a handset. Anything outside an expected answer is raised to a team.
An add-on, not a base capability
An Automotive base identifies a customer, a vehicle and a request, books service or diagnosis, and answers on work status a shop already declared, or asks a shop for an update. It reads status; it does not circulate an estimate.
Two limits come from a catalogue and hold. No native pricing: a repair price stays what your own estimate says. No implicit payment: authorizing work is separate from collecting money, and payment requests belong to a different module. Take fleet coordination and this add-on is included for those same vehicles — you do not buy it twice.
What this changes for your business
Body shops
Insurer, deductible, original or equivalent parts: several decision-makers on one file. Each approval attaches to a version it targets.
Mobile mechanics
On site, standing at a vehicle, approval is requested remotely and recorded on a spot, with no drive back to a shop for a signature.
What it receives
- A written estimate produced by a shop, with its lines and options
- Supporting documents: photos, diagnostic readout, work order number
- Payer identity plus a usable way to reach them
- Work status exactly as a shop declares it
What it produces
- An approved version, sent to a payer and kept as a reference
- An approval, refusal or ceiling, recorded with its date and time
- Updates sent as a file moves along
- Exceptions raised: payer unreachable, refusal, or an amount above a ceiling
You write an estimate and you decide to resume work. Zenvox does not diagnose a noise or a dashboard light, gives no firm price on work still to diagnose, and declares no vehicle ready unless a shop said so.
What is metered, and what comes from elsewhere
This add-on carries an allowance of tracked orders plus a volume of document pages.
- Repair orders tracked per month, reset at each period
- Supporting document pages filed against those orders
- Inbound calls stay metered on a base, separately
- A same allowance is included in fleet coordination for those vehicles
Electronic signature or document delivery by an outside provider stays billed by that provider, outside this add-on.
With your shop software
A status below is technical qualification. With no qualified software, an approval file lives in Zenvox and an estimate stays yours.
- ShopmonkeyTo qualifyPublic documentation exists; exact write operations, commercial plan and advanced shop constraints are untested.Shopmonkey
- Provider portals and operations softwareTo qualifyA generic category: a named product plus a data owner are needed ahead of writing anything.My software is not in the list
Questions about this add-on
Does Zenvox price the repair?
No. You write the estimate, as you do today: Zenvox calculates no repair price and replaces no written estimate, it takes the version you approve.
Does a verbal authorization count?
It counts when it is recorded. Québec's consumer protection office requires a written estimate above a threshold it sets, and work beyond that estimate needs customer authorization; such authorization may be verbal, yet it must be recorded. The add-on records who approved, on what, against which version, on what date, at what time.
Does the request go to the driver or to the payer?
To the payer, who might be the driver, a parent, an employer or an insurer. Supporting documents are attached to the work order, and an unreachable payer is raised as an exception.
Does authorizing work trigger a payment?
No. Authorizing work is separate from collecting money: payment requests belong to a different module. The add-on records the approval, the refusal, or the authorized ceiling above which the shop must call back.
If I take fleet coordination, do I pay for this add-on as well?
No. For those same vehicles this add-on is included in fleet coordination: the same allowance comes with it and nothing is billed twice.
Where to next
Go back to your shop, or read a neighbouring add-on.
Estimates and approvals