Invoicing and payments for car service: know who owes what

Keep approved work, payments and debts connected

Connected invoicing and payment records help you distinguish what the customer approved, what they have paid and what they still owe. These are different questions, especially when a repair changes after inspection or the customer makes a part payment. For your service adviser, the practical starting point is the approved work order rather than a separate handwritten total. For you as a manager, the benefit is a clearer handover between the people discussing the repair, preparing the invoice and receiving payment.

An invoice is created from the order's approved lines with one button and prints on A4; payments can be cash, card or bank transfer, part payments and debts are tracked. This keeps the invoice tied to the work the customer accepted rather than to an earlier estimate or an informal conversation. Before creating it, have your team check that the labour and part lines describe the agreed work clearly. A clear order gives the person explaining the bill a concrete reference.

• Check which labour and part lines the customer approved.
• Create the invoice from those approved lines.
• Record payments and check the remaining debt.
• Resolve the payment or record the debt before handover.

Move from the work order to the invoice

Your staff starts with the work order, checks the approved lines and creates the invoice with one button. Junto work orders contain labour and part lines, so the preparation happens before invoicing rather than through rebuilding the bill at collection. If inspection reveals extra work, Junto lets you send it to the customer for approval by SMS link. Ask the adviser to finish that approval conversation before preparing the invoice, so proposed work is not confused with work the customer has accepted.

The customer sees each suggested work line with its price before work starts, then receives an invoice based on the approved lines. That connection is useful when you need to explain why the final bill differs from the customer's original request. An imported used car, for example, may arrive with an uncertain service history and need further discussion after check-in. Explain the findings and seek approval rather than treating additional work as an automatic addition. You can print the resulting invoice on A4.

Handle part payments and unpaid handovers clearly

Part payments and recorded debts let your team keep an unfinished payment separate from a finished repair. A car being ready does not mean its invoice has been paid, and a payment received does not necessarily settle the whole amount. When you accept a part payment, check what remains owed before discussing collection with the customer. Agree within your team who handles that conversation, so the mechanic, service adviser and person receiving payment do not give the customer different answers.

An unpaid car cannot be handed over without the debt being recorded. Treat that requirement as a handover checkpoint, not as a substitute for explaining the balance to the customer. Before releasing the car, your staff should check the invoice, payments already received and any amount still owed. If payment remains outstanding, make sure the debt is recorded and the customer understands it. This helps the next colleague dealing with the order work from the recorded position rather than a verbal promise.

Let the customer pay by card from the ready SMS

Customers can pay by card from the car-ready SMS when your shop has online payments switched on. With online payments switched on, the "car is ready" SMS carries a link to pay by card through the shop's own bank merchant account (Bank of Georgia gateway); a 1.00 ₾ test payment confirms the setup. Junto does not hold the money. This gives you a payment option connected to the collection message, while keeping the shop's own bank merchant account central to the setup.

For the customer, the sequence is straightforward: the shop sends the ready message, and the customer uses its link to pay by card. Your adviser should explain this option without implying that opening the message is the same as completing payment. Before handover, check the recorded payment position as you would with another payment method. In Tbilisi traffic, a customer may arrange collection separately from the repair discussion, so it helps to explain the payment route before they reach the desk.

• Check the shop's bank merchant account setup.
• Complete the test payment that confirms the setup.
• Explain the ready-message payment link to the customer.
• Check the payment position before handing over the car.

Give each shop role a clear responsibility

Your adviser, payment-handling staff and manager each need a clear responsibility in the invoicing process. The adviser can check that the order reflects customer approval and explain the invoice. Whoever receives payment should check the amount received and what remains owed. Your manager can review the overall position and follow up on outstanding balances. Junto supports staff roles, but your operating procedure should still name who checks each stage rather than assuming that everyone looking at an order owns the same task.

Today's revenue and what is owed show on the dashboard. Use those figures as a starting point for your daily review, keeping revenue and outstanding amounts distinct in the discussion. Junto also connects this process with bookings, car check-in with photos and a signature, work orders, and the mechanic's view on a phone. Those parts support the wider repair workflow; they do not replace approval or payment checks. The app works on a computer and on a phone, in Georgian and English.

Check module availability and prepare your team

Check the pricing page and your payment setup before deciding how to introduce this workflow at your shop. Some features are modules; the pricing page shows which plan includes them, and an owner can request a module that is not in the plan from inside the app. Do not assume a particular plan includes every payment-related capability without checking. For online card payments, also account for the shop's own bank merchant account and the test payment needed to confirm setup.

Start with a team walkthrough of a typical order: approved labour and parts, invoice creation, payment and handover. Include a part-payment example so staff practise checking the remaining debt rather than only the amount received. Agree on clear descriptions for work and parts, and decide who explains changes to customers. Review the process when responsibilities change or another branch starts using it. The aim is a consistent record from approval to collection, not simply a faster way to print a bill.

Questions and answers