Field notes · For auto repair · · 4 minute read

The phone, answered: Helloforward for auto repair shops

Helloforward is an answering agent for your business line. It is built on AI, it talks like a person, and it does the front-desk work: answers, books, texts back, leaves a note. Here it is on a garage's phone, using an invented shop called Kingsway Auto Service.

A call comes in while you are under a lift

Hannah's 2016 Civic is grinding when she brakes. The shop phone rings, nobody can get to it, and the line does. It books a bay for Thursday 8:30, tells her to leave the car, and texts her the details.

Home, while a call is on. The number, the clock, and the notes waiting under it.
Home, while a call is on. The number, the clock, and the notes waiting under it.
The transcript, a minute later. Pads down to metal, drop-off Thursday, quote before any work. Wes reads it before the car arrives.
The transcript, a minute later. Pads down to metal, drop-off Thursday, quote before any work. Wes reads it before the car arrives.

It sorts the new job from the status call

It answers from what you told it once: hours, makes you work on, walk-ins or not, how long common jobs take. Then it fills in the columns you asked for.

  • “Hey, is the Silverado ready yet?”

    Takes the message and the number so you can text back between jobs, and remembers this caller next time.

  • “Lordco. The caliper for the Mazda is on back order till Monday.”

    Written up as a note, exactly as said.

  • “Se me prendió la luz del motor.”

    Answered in Spanish, diagnostic booked for Wednesday 9:00.

The call log on a desk. Name, number, the vehicle, a summary. Search finds a plate, a name, or anything said.
The call log on a desk. Name, number, the vehicle, a summary. Search finds a plate, a name, or anything said.

Texts, handled the same way

A text to your line gets the same care. Bookings get a confirmation, questions get answers, and when it is you with the answer, you type in the same thread.

Every conversation on the line.
Every conversation on the line.
The Silverado is done. Tony texted Derek himself: upper hose, $214, open till 6.
The Silverado is done. Tony texted Derek himself: upper hose, $214, open till 6.

Ring your own line, and it works for you

The line knows your cell. Call the shop from it and it becomes your assistant: what came in this morning, remind me to call the Civic at three, mark the Silverado done. Texting the line does the same.

Tony, calling his own line. Three calls read back, one reminder set, one job marked done.
Tony, calling his own line. Three calls read back, one reminder set, one job marked done.
The note it made from a call. Where it came from, who it is about, one tap to close it.
The note it made from a call. Where it came from, who it is about, one tap to close it.

An assistant between the jobs

Every business gets an assistant of its own. Ask it in plain words: confirm tomorrow's drop-offs, tell Derek the truck is ready, anything I forgot. It reads the calendar and the call log, so it already knows.

Drop-offs confirmed, Derek told, and one reminder you nearly missed.
Drop-offs confirmed, Derek told, and one reminder you nearly missed.

Two bays, or six

Add your techs or your service writer as team members. Bookings can land with a specific person, each has their own calendar lane and assistant. Ten dollars a month each. Bookings sync with Google Calendar if you use it.

The week, by bay. Wes's brake job in blue, Tony's diagnostic in orange, the tire job dotted until it is confirmed.
The week, by bay. Wes's brake job in blue, Tony's diagnostic in orange, the tire job dotted until it is confirmed.
The team. Who the agent can book for, who signs in, who has an assistant.
The team. Who the agent can book for, who signs in, who has an assistant.

Setting it up

I

Forward your line

Keep the shop number. Forward the calls that go unanswered, so it still rings on the wall first. Or take a new local number.

II

Describe the shop

Hours, makes you work on, whether you do tires, inspections, diagnostics, how long common jobs take. A few minutes, once.

III

Call it yourself

Ring the line, ask to book an oil change, watch it appear on the calendar. Adjust from the app.

Forwarding codes for every Canadian carrier are in this note. Kingsway Auto and everyone in these screens are invented; the screens are the real product.

The next call is taken care of.

Set up in minutes. First month free, no card needed.

Start your free month

Or hear it answer first. It runs a demo plumbing company; yours would answer for your business.

(236) 205-5757 (239) 366-4669

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