Online booking for car service with capacity you control

Take bookings without promising more than you can handle

Online booking gives customers a way to arrange visits outside your reception hours, while your settings control what they can book. The practical problem is not simply collecting more appointments: it is accepting work your shop can actually handle. A customer may choose a straightforward service, but your team still needs enough time and bay capacity to carry it out. Use online booking alongside your calendar, rather than treating it as a separate inbox that someone checks only when the phone goes quiet.

Junto brings bookings and the calendar into the same app as check-in, work orders and the mechanic's phone view. Your receptionist or service adviser can handle customer arrangements, while your manager decides which work is suitable for online booking. The software works in Georgian and English, on a computer and on a phone. That gives your team a shared place to work, but you still need clear responsibility for checking requests and keeping the shop's availability realistic.

Choose the booking mode that matches your workflow

Your booking mode determines whether a customer selects a free appointment, asks your team to agree on one or calls before arranging a visit. A shop chooses its booking mode: instant (the customer picks a free time), request (the customer sends up to three preferred windows and staff confirm a time) or phone (the page shows a call button). Make this decision around how your staff assess incoming work, rather than assuming every enquiry should become an immediate appointment.

Choose instant booking when you can confidently define the service before the car arrives, request mode when staff need to agree on a suitable visit, and phone mode when a conversation should come first. Start by opening app.junto.ge/settings/booking in the staff app and choosing the approach that matches your current operation. Do not select instant booking just to reduce calls if your service descriptions, timing or capacity still need checking. A controlled request process is more useful than a quick booking your team cannot honour.

• Instant: let the customer select a free time for checked services.
• Request: review the customer's preferred windows before confirming.
• Phone: direct the customer to call before arranging the visit.

Check services and capacity before enabling instant booking

Instant booking sells only services whose price and duration the shop has checked, after the shop confirms its hours and bay count. Review those details with the people who schedule and perform the work. A familiar service name does not mean every vehicle needs the same appointment: imported used cars, unclear maintenance history or LPG/CNG conversions may require a conversation first. Keep uncertain work out of instant booking until you can describe what the booked service covers and allow an appropriate duration.

A shop limits how many cars online bookings may bring at once; other bays stay for phone calls and walk-ins. Holidays and short days block or shorten online booking. Set that limit around your actual workflow, not simply the number of bays you own. Think about the work already in progress and the space you want to preserve for customers who call. Capacity settings help prevent overcommitting, but they do not replace keeping the calendar and your real workshop commitments aligned.

• Check the price and duration of each service offered for instant booking.
• Confirm opening hours and the shop's bay count.
• Decide how many cars online bookings may bring at once.
• Account for holidays and shorter working days.
• Assign someone to review availability when workshop plans change.

Give booking requests a clear staff owner

Request mode needs a staff member to turn the customer's preferred windows into a confirmed appointment. Assign that responsibility to your receptionist or service adviser, and agree who covers it when that person is busy or away. Use Junto's staff roles when organising access, without assuming every employee should manage booking settings. Your manager should own the booking policy; the person handling requests should understand current workshop capacity and know when to ask a mechanic about the work before agreeing on a time.

In request mode staff confirm a suggested time, suggest another or decline with a reason; unanswered requests escalate after 30 minutes and expire, and a shop that keeps ignoring them is paused back to phone mode. Treat a preferred window as a request, not a promise to the customer. Check whether the visit is suitable, then respond clearly rather than leaving the customer uncertain. If your team cannot reliably handle incoming requests, use phone mode while you establish a workable routine.

Let customers book where they find your shop

Every Junto shop has its own page at <shop>.junto.ge with its services and prices, branches, opening hours, reviews and booking. Use that address when you want to send a customer directly to your own shop rather than asking them to search again. Keep the details useful for someone deciding whether to visit: clear service information and accurate hours help customers choose the right next step. For a shop with several branches, check that the customer understands which location they intend to visit.

Customers who have not chosen a workshop can find your business through the service directory, so review your listing from the perspective of someone comparing available visits. junto.ge/services lists Junto car services with prices, addresses, opening hours, reviews and the next free time; owners can filter by service and book online or call, depending on the shop. Make sure the service information you publish gives those customers a clear basis for choosing your shop and arranging an appropriate appointment.

Booking from the website needs SMS for the confirmation code; bookings from the Junto app use the owner's verified phone. From the customer's side, the next step depends on your mode: select an available time, send preferred windows or call your shop. Explain that distinction if someone asks whether submitting a request means their appointment is confirmed. Whether they find you through your shop page, junto.ge/services or book through the Junto app, your team should communicate the agreed visit clearly.

Connect the appointment to the rest of the service visit

A booking sets up the visit; Junto's other tools support the work once the customer arrives. Your team can check in the car with photos and a signature, then use work orders with labour and part lines. Mechanics have a view on their phones. If inspection reveals additional work, send the customer an SMS approval link so they can see each line and its price before work starts. Do not treat an appointment for one service as approval for everything the car may need.

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. Check that page before choosing a plan around a particular workflow, rather than assuming every connected feature is included. Beyond booking, Junto supports invoices and payments, SMS reminders, reports and reviews. Use those connections to keep the visit organised, while keeping your booking settings focused on the services and capacity you can confidently offer.

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