The booking desk on a Monday
Your service desk has a list of vehicles due for service or MOT in the next month, drawn from your fleet system. For each one, someone calls the driver, who is on a site and cannot talk, then calls back, then calls the garage to see if the day works, then calls the driver again. Some drivers do not answer at all. Some agree a day and do not turn up, and the garage calls to ask where the van is.
Multiply that by thousands of vehicles across dozens of clients and the desk is always behind.
Why service booking eats the desk's week
The work is a three-way negotiation between the driver, the garage and the client's rules, and most of it is done by phone.
- Due dates are by time or mileage, and mileage is only known when someone reports it.
- Drivers are out working and hard to reach during the day.
- Each client has rules: approved garages, whether a courtesy vehicle is needed, which days vehicles can be off the road.
- Garages in your network take bookings by phone or email, with their own availability.
- Missed appointments are discovered when the garage rings, not before.
The cost of phone-based booking
Vehicles running overdue, which is exactly what your clients pay you to prevent. A service desk that needs more people every time you win a client. Garages frustrated by no-shows. And clients who see overdue lists in their monthly report and start to wonder what they are paying for.
The scheduler we build
- Due dates are forecast for each vehicle from its service schedule, MOT date and mileage, with mileage taken from telematics, fuel card odometer entries or driver submissions.
- When a vehicle enters its booking window, the driver receives a text with a link offering days and times at approved garages near their home or base, following that client's rules.
- The driver picks a slot. The booking is sent to the garage through its booking system where it has one, or by email with a confirm link, and the driver is told once the garage confirms.
- Reminders go to the driver the day before, and the garage confirms attendance or no-show through the same link.
- Drivers who do not respond are escalated to your desk, then to their manager at the client, on a schedule you set per client.
- Each client can see their vehicles due, booked, completed and overdue.
| Step | Who used to do it | Who does it now |
|---|---|---|
| Spot vehicles coming due | Desk, from a report | Scheduler, from forecast |
| Agree a slot with the driver | Desk, by phone | Driver, from a text link |
| Confirm with the garage | Desk, by phone | Garage, from a booking or link |
| Chase non-responders | Desk, when remembered | Scheduler, then desk, then client |
Where the desk still matters
Some bookings need a person: a driver who needs a courtesy vehicle, a specialist vehicle only one garage can handle, a client that wants vehicles serviced in batches at their depot, or a mobile technician who comes to site. The scheduler hands these to the desk with the details already gathered, so the desk spends its time on the difficult bookings rather than the routine ones.
A service desk that keeps up
Most routine bookings are made by drivers in a couple of taps, at a time that suits them, often in the evening. The desk works a list of exceptions. Garages get confirmed bookings and early warning of no-shows. And when you win a new client, their vehicles join the same process instead of needing another person on the phones.
Is this your service desk?
- Most service and MOT bookings are made by phone.
- Drivers are hard to reach during the working day.
- Garages ring to report drivers who did not turn up.
- Each client's booking rules are kept in people's heads.
- Clients see overdue vehicles in their reports every month.