Two customers, one courtesy car, eight in the morning
You have three courtesy cars. On Monday, one is booked for a customer whose timing belt job was moved from last Friday, because the parts were late. Nobody moved the courtesy car booking in the diary, so it is still down as returning on Friday. Another customer arrives at eight expecting the same car.
Meanwhile the second car came back on Saturday with a quarter tank less fuel and a scrape on the rear bumper. Was the scrape there before? There is a hand-over sheet somewhere, but the damage diagram on it is a rough biro sketch, and the Saturday staff did not look closely.
The third car has been out for nine days with a customer whose car is waiting for a gearbox, and nobody has been in touch with them about when it comes back.
The real problem is the link to the job
A courtesy car is not really a separate booking. It exists because a workshop job exists, and it should start and end with that job. When the job moves because a part is late or extra work is approved, the courtesy car should move with it.
Keeping the cars in their own diary breaks that link. The workshop diary changes all day and the courtesy car diary does not, because nobody remembers to update both. Condition checks suffer for a similar reason: they are done on paper at the busiest moment of the day, at the counter, often by whoever is free.
What the loose diary costs you
| Gap | Result |
|---|---|
| Car booking not moved with the job | Double bookings and an awkward morning at the counter |
| No proper condition record | Damage repaired at your cost because you cannot show when it happened |
| Fuel and mileage not written down | Fuel topped up at your cost, mileage nobody can explain |
| Licence details not checked | A car handed to someone your insurance may not cover |
| No view of long loans | A car tied up for days while the job stalls |
There is a quieter cost too. Courtesy cars are often offered only to customers who ask, because staff are not sure what is free. That affects which work you can take on.
How we tie courtesy cars to the workshop
- When a job is booked and the customer needs a car, the advisor ticks a box and the courtesy car booking is created from the job's dates.
- If the job is moved or extended in your garage management system, the courtesy car booking moves too, and any clash with another booking is flagged straight away.
- At hand-over, a phone or tablet check-out records the driver, the licence details your insurer requires, the fuel level, the mileage and photos of each side of the car.
- The customer signs on screen to agree the condition and your loan terms, and gets a copy by email.
- At return, the same check-in is done, and the photos are shown side by side with the check-out photos so differences are easy to see.
- A simple board shows which cars are out, with whom, for which job, and which loans have run past the job's expected finish.
The licence and insurance checks are set up to match what your insurer asks you to record. We do not decide those rules. We make sure they are asked every time.
A Monday with the cars on the job
The timing belt job slips to Tuesday when the parts arrive late, and the courtesy car booking slips with it. The system shows that this now clashes with another customer's loan, so the advisor rings that customer on Friday afternoon instead of apologising on Monday morning.
The car that came back scraped has a check-out photo from Thursday showing a clean bumper. The conversation with the customer is short and factual. The long loan shows up on the board in amber, and the advisor updates the customer about the gearbox.
- Courtesy car dates follow the job automatically
- Clashes shown before the customer arrives
- Photo condition records at every hand-over
- Long loans visible at a glance
Is your courtesy car diary causing trouble?
- The courtesy cars are in a separate diary from the workshop.
- You have had two customers expecting the same car.
- Damage has been found and nobody could say when it happened.
- Fuel and mileage are not recorded every time.
- A car has been out for longer than anyone realised.