Client notifications
Garage+ lets your clients know by email, on your behalf, at key moments: when an appointment is booked, the day before the appointment, and when the vehicle is ready. Text messages are not offered for now.
What your clients receive
Section titled “What your clients receive”| Notification | When | How |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment confirmation | When the appointment is created, then again if its start time changes (“appointment moved”) | Automatic. A calendar invitation (.ics file) is attached: the client adds it to their calendar in one click. |
| Day-before reminder | The day before the appointment, at 6 pm (garage time) | Automatic. |
| Vehicle ready | When you click Notify the client: vehicle ready | Sent immediately, from the work order page. |
| Quote sent | When you click Send by email on a quote | Sent as soon as the quote PDF, attached to the email, has passed the antivirus scan (see Quotes). With the Let the client accept online box, it also carries the acceptance link; if that link can no longer be used when the email leaves (already used, cancelled or expired), the quote is still sent, without the link, and the Messages and notifications page says so (“a quote is then sent without the link”). |
| Workshop document sent | When you email a signed document or the repair order | Sent as soon as the attached PDF has passed the antivirus scan (see Workshop documents and signature). |
| Invoice, credit note or proforma sent | When you send an invoice, a credit note or a proforma to a contact of the client (and up to two contacts in copy) | Each recipient gets their own email, with the original of the invoice or credit note (the PDF stored once when it was issued, never redone) or the current proforma (“not an invoice”). Sent as soon as the PDF has passed the antivirus scan. No amount in the email. |
| Signature link | When you request a remote signature | Sent immediately; the link is valid until the end of a quote’s validity day, 7 days for other documents (see Sign remotely). |
Each email gives the day and time in the garage’s time zone, the vehicle (model and registration), the subject of the work order if there is one, and the garage’s contact details. It is sent in your garage’s name; if the client replies, their reply goes to the garage’s email address (see Garage details). Appointment and vehicle-ready texts are written by Garage+; you can only add a short signature. When sending a document (quote, invoice, credit note, proforma, workshop document), the subject and message are edited in the send dialog and follow your email templates.
The two automatic notifications can be turned off one by one in Settings > Garage. A deleted appointment cancels its planned notifications, without any message to the client.
Who is notified
Section titled “Who is notified”The recipient is the depositor of the work order (the person who dropped off the vehicle), otherwise the main contact of the vehicle’s holder. It is determined when the email is planned, then checked again when it is sent: if the depositor changed or the vehicle was sold in the meantime, the email goes to the current recipient.
An email is only sent if that contact:
- has an email address;
- has agreed to emails (Accepts emails box on their record);
- has not opted out (see below).
The quote sent, the workshop document sent, the invoice, credit note or proforma sent and the signature link are exceptions: they are emails the client asked for. They go to the contact you choose among those of the document’s client, even if that contact has not agreed to emails or has opted out; only a valid address is needed. An opt-out made afterwards does not cancel these pending emails.
Otherwise, the notification is recorded as Not sent, with its reason (for example “the contact has not agreed to emails”), so that you know why the client was not notified.
The email is written in the client language (French or English), chosen on the client’s record, whatever the display language of the person who created the appointment.
- Automatic notifications are only sent between 9 am and 8 pm (garage time): this is the courtesy window. An email planned outside it, for example for an appointment booked at 10 pm, is sent the next day at 9 am.
- The reminder is sent at 6 pm the day before. It is not planned for a same-day appointment, nor when 6 pm the day before has already passed: the confirmation is enough.
- A confirmation that could not be sent before the appointment started is no longer sent (“the appointment had started”).
- Moving an appointment (changing its start time) sends a new confirmation, marked “appointment moved”, and replaces the planned reminder. Changing only the end, the workers or the resource does not notify the client.
- Vehicle ready is sent immediately, at any time: you are the one who triggers it.
Vehicle ready
Section titled “Vehicle ready”On the page of a completed or invoiced work order, the Notifications section offers the Notify the client: vehicle ready button. Under the button, Garage+ shows who will receive the email (their name and their partly masked address, for example “c•••@example.com”), or why the client cannot be notified; the button is then disabled.
After a click, the message “The client will be notified.” appears. A second click within 2 minutes is refused (“The client was just notified”): this avoids sending the same email twice by mistake.
Tracking notifications
Section titled “Tracking notifications”The Messages and notifications page logs every send of the garage, with filters. The Notifications section of the work order page and that of the client’s page list the notifications, from the most recent to the oldest, with their kind, their status, their date (in the garage’s time zone) and, if applicable, their reason.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Scheduled | The email will be sent at the time shown (“Planned for…”). |
| Sending | The email is being sent. |
| Sent | The email was handed over to the sending service. |
| Delivered | The client’s mail service accepted the email. |
| Bounced | The client’s mail service refused it (address that does not exist or is invalid, full mailbox, blocking). Check the address with the client. |
| Failed | Sending did not succeed (sending service unavailable after several attempts, connection lost during sending; for a quote, PDF unavailable: deleted, quarantined or not scanned). |
| Cancelled | The appointment was deleted or moved, the client opted out of emails, or the quote was replaced by a new version before sending. |
| Not sent | The email was not sent: the reason is shown (no consent, opt-out, no address, sending turned off in the settings, quota reached…). |
Send again appears on the latest appointment confirmation or the latest vehicle ready that was not sent, failed or bounced, once the cause is fixed (consent given, address added…). Sending again creates a new notification; the old one stays in the history.
- A confirmation can only be sent again for an upcoming appointment, and only if confirmations are turned on in the settings: otherwise the resend is refused with a message asking you to turn them back on.
- A confirmation sent again follows the courtesy window: requested in the evening, it is sent the next day at 9 am, and Garage+ shows the planned sending time.
- A vehicle ready is sent again immediately, as long as the work order is completed or invoiced.
- The day-before reminder cannot be sent again.
- A quote sent is not sent again from this list: click Send by email again in the Quote card (the work order’s Documents section). Likewise, a workshop document is sent again from the file’s page, and a signature link is requested again (a new link replaces the old one).
The lists update by themselves when an email is sent or its status changes.
Retention: notifications are erased 90 days after their last change (the confirmation of an upcoming appointment is kept until the appointment). The content of the emails is never kept: Garage+ only keeps the kind, the status, the dates and the address used.
Opt-out
Section titled “Opt-out”A client can refuse to receive your emails in three ways:
- you tick Opted out of emails on their contact, on the client’s page;
- the client clicks the opt-out link at the bottom of every email: a page opens, in the client language, with your garage’s name and a Confirm button. Some mail services also show, at the top of the email, a button to stop receiving messages from the sender: it has the same effect;
- their mail service reports it (request to stop receiving the messages, or email marked as spam).
The opt-out overrides consent: no email is sent to that contact any more, except a quote, a workshop document or a signature link you send them at their request, and those that were planned will not be sent (they become Cancelled, or Not sent with the reason “the contact has opted out of emails”). The client’s page shows who made the opt-out and when (“Opt-out requested by the recipient (email link)”, “Opt-out reported by the mail service”). If the client asks you for the emails again, untick the opt-out on their record.
Logo, signature and quota
Section titled “Logo, signature and quota”- Logo: the garage logo, if it is saved in the settings, appears at the top of the emails. Some mail services hide images until the client chooses to show them: the email stays readable without the logo.
- Signature: a short text (300 characters at most, without formatting) added at the end of the emails, for example your opening hours. It is set in Settings > Garage, with a character counter.
- Quota: the number of emails sent each month is limited (100 per month in the free version, 1,000 with the subscription, unless Vehitis has set a specific quota). Only emails actually sent count, not those that were not sent. Settings > Garage shows the emails sent this month, with a warning at 80% of the quota and then when it is reached: notifications are then recorded as Not sent (“monthly notification quota reached”) until the following month. Contact Vehitis to raise it.
Who can do what
Section titled “Who can do what”| Action | Permission needed |
|---|---|
| See the notifications of a work order | View work orders |
| See the notifications of a client, and the name and masked address of the recipient | View clients |
| Notify the client: vehicle ready, Send again | Notify clients (the Reception role, for example; not the Technician role) |
| Send by email a quote | Notify clients and Issue and send quotes, record the customer’s response (see Quotes) |
| Automatic appointment notifications | Follow from creating or moving an appointment (Create, move and delete appointments) |
| Turn notifications off, signature, see quota usage | Manage settings |
The Technician role sees the notifications, but can neither notify the client nor send again. A role that can only view work orders sees the notifications without the recipient’s name or address. During a support session, Vehitis can neither notify nor send again. See Roles and permissions.