An inspection is the record of what a technician found on a vehicle. Done on paper it ends in a folder. Done here it ends as a list the customer can respond to item by item, and the items they say yes to become the next estimate.
Templates first
An inspection template is a named checklist — Full vehicle, Brakes, Pre-MOT, Winter check — held under Lists → Inspection templates. Each row is a thing to look at, optionally with a default note for the technician.
Build the templates you actually use once. Every inspection on an order starts from one, or from nothing if you want a one-off list.
Running an inspection
Add an inspection to an order and work down the items. Each one gets a status:
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Not inspected | Not looked at yet. The starting state. |
| Passed | Fine. |
| Needs attention | Will need doing, not urgent. |
| Failed | Needs doing now. |
| N/A | Doesn't apply to this vehicle. |
Every status carries who set it and when, so the record stands up later. Add technician notes, and add photos to any item — the photo is the difference between "your rear pads are low" and an argument.
The inspection itself is draft, then in progress, then completed. Complete it when the technician is done; that stamps who finished it and when, and it is what makes the results sendable.
Warning
Only a completed inspection can be responded to by a customer. An inspection left in progress will show on the portal but its findings are not actionable, which usually reads to the shop as "the customer ignored it".
Sending the results
You do not have to wrap an inspection in an estimate to send it. Send inspection in the order's menu emails the customer a link to the results on their own, which is the right move when the vehicle is in for one thing and you found three others.
The customer sees each item with its status, the technician's notes and the photos. Passed items are there too — the good news is worth as much as the bad news, and it is why the checklist has passed rather than only flagging faults.
The part that makes it worth doing
Flagged findings — the ones marked failed or needs attention — carry two buttons for the customer:
- Request an estimate — they want a price for it.
- Not now — they're deferring it. They can leave a note saying why.
Passed and N/A items are informational; there is nothing to decide.
Their answers come back to you immediately: the order's activity records what they chose, and your team is notified. Nothing is priced and nothing is committed — they have asked a question, not authorized work.
Building the estimate from what they asked for
Back on the order, one action turns every requested finding into a draft service, carrying the finding's title and the technician's notes across, ready for you to price.
Only requested items are taken
Deferred findings are left alone. So are passed items.
Each becomes an unauthorized service
Added to the bottom of the order, marked not authorized, with the technician's note attached as an internal note.
Nothing is created twice
A finding that already produced a service is skipped, so you can run this again after a second round of responses without duplicating the first.
You price it and send it
From here it is an ordinary estimate. See estimates and authorization.
Note
The services it creates are deliberately empty of price. A finding is a symptom; what it costs depends on parts and hours nobody has looked up yet. Requesting an estimate is not approving one.
The shape of the funnel
Worth stating plainly, because it is the reason the feature exists:
Technician inspects
Fifteen items, three flagged, photos on two of them.
Customer triages
Requests one, defers two, at their own pace, without a phone call.
Shop prices what was requested
One service to price instead of a conversation about three.
Customer authorizes
On the estimate, in writing, with a signature.
The two deferred items stay on the record with the date and the customer's own words. That is what to reach for at the next visit.
Troubleshooting
"The customer can't respond to a finding." Either the inspection is not completed, or the item is passed or N/A. Only flagged items on completed inspections are respondable.
"Building services created nothing." No findings are sitting at requested — either the customer deferred everything, or you already built them and each one is linked to its service.
"The photos didn't send." Photos attach to individual inspection items, not to the inspection as a whole. Check the item.
"I want to send just the inspection, not a quote." Use Send inspection in the order menu. It goes on its own.