Every car on your customer list has dates you can predict: an MOT that falls due once a year, a service that comes round with time and mileage, and the advisories your technician spotted last visit. Reminders turn those dates into bookings. They are the cheapest marketing a garage can do, because you are not finding new customers, you are making sure the ones you already have come back to you rather than to whoever got in touch first. This guide covers which reminders are worth sending, when to send them, what to say, how to stay on the right side of the permission rules, and how to tell whether they are filling your bays.
Why reminders fill the diary
Most drivers do not keep track of their MOT date, and very few remember when their car is due a service. They find out when a letter arrives, when a warning light comes on, or when a reminder lands on their phone. The garage that sends that reminder is the one most likely to get the booking.
Reminders also make your diary more predictable. You can see from your own records how many MOTs fall due next month. If reminders go out steadily, that work arrives steadily, instead of in a rush of last-minute calls from customers whose MOT ran out yesterday.
And they are good service. A short, accurate reminder from the garage that looks after the car feels like being looked after, not sold to. That is the difference between a customer who returns every year and one who shops around on price.
The reminders worth sending
There are five types worth having in place. Each has a different job.
- MOT reminders, before the due date, to win the test and often a service with it.
- Overdue MOT chases, after the due date, for the customers who missed the first reminder.
- Service reminders, when the next service falls due by time or mileage.
- Advisory and declined work follow-ups, for items your technician flagged that the customer chose not to do yet.
- Booking reminders, shortly before an appointment, so the car actually turns up.
The first two are the foundation. If you only set up one thing this month, make it MOT reminders that go out every day without anyone needing to remember.
Timing: when to send each one
MOT reminders
GOV.UK says a driver can get an MOT up to a month (minus a day) before it runs out and keep the same renewal date. That is the most useful fact to build your timing around. A reminder that lands before that window opens gives the customer time to plan, and lets you tell them truthfully that booking early will not cost them any days on their certificate.
How far ahead to send depends on how far ahead your diary books up. If you are usually full a fortnight out, the reminder needs to arrive well before that, or the customer will ring, find no slot before the expiry date and go elsewhere. If you can usually fit an MOT in within a day or two, you can send later. Look at your own diary, pick a lead time, and adjust it after a couple of months if customers are still ringing too late.
Cars coming up to their first MOT deserve a mention too. GOV.UK says a vehicle must have an MOT by the third anniversary of its registration. If you service a car that is still within that period, make sure its details and the owner’s contact details are on your system, so the first MOT reminder comes from you.
Overdue MOT chases
Some customers will miss the first reminder. A short chase a few days after the expiry date catches the ones who forgot, sold the car or booked elsewhere. Keep the tone helpful rather than alarming: the car may already be booked in somewhere, or off the road.
Service reminders
Service timing comes from the vehicle: its service schedule, the mileage the customer does and what you saw last time. A low-mileage car may be due on time before it is due on miles. Note the expected next service on the job when the car leaves, so whoever sends reminders knows when to get in touch.
Booking reminders
The aim is for the reminder to arrive close enough to the appointment that the customer has not forgotten again, but early enough that they can rearrange if they need to, which gives you a chance to fill the slot. The afternoon before a morning booking suits many garages. If a lot of your customers drop off before work, a reminder the evening before is more useful than one an hour before.
Choosing the channel: email or SMS
Email costs nothing to send, has room for detail and can carry your logo, address and a link to book online. Its weakness is that it competes with everything else in an inbox, and some will land in junk.
SMS is short and tends to be seen. It suits time-sensitive messages such as booking reminders and a final MOT nudge. Texts cost money to send, so it is worth using them where they earn their keep.
Many garages use email for MOT and service reminders and SMS for booking reminders. Whatever you choose, it only works if the contact details are right. Check the customer’s mobile number and email address at every check-in, not just the first one. A reminder sent to an old number is a reminder that never arrived.
What a good reminder says
A reminder has one job: get the customer to book. Keep it short and give them everything they need to act.
- Who it is from. Your garage name, first.
- Which car. The registration, and the make and model if there is room. Customers with two cars need to know which one you mean.
- What is due and when. The date the MOT runs out, or the service that is due.
- How to book. Your phone number, and your online booking link if you have one.
- One clear action. “Call us or book online” is enough. Do not add three offers and a newsletter.
A text might read:
Hi Sam, it’s Smith’s Garage. The MOT on your Focus, reg AB12 CDE, is due on 14 March. Call us or book online at the link below to get it booked in.
Swap in your own garage name, number and booking link, and keep it about that length.
An email can add your opening hours, a line about what the MOT includes and anything worth checking before the test, such as bulbs, wipers and tyres. It should still lead with the car and the date.
Avoid scare tactics and legal warnings. Customers know an MOT matters. A reminder that sounds like a fine notice gets ignored, or worse, gets you marked as junk.
Permission and opt-outs
Before you send reminders, make sure you have permission to contact customers and give them a simple way to opt out.
The ICO’s guidance on electronic mail marketing, which covers emails and texts, says you should only send marketing to individuals who have specifically consented, or to existing customers who bought, or negotiated to buy, a similar service from you and were given a simple way to opt out when you collected their details and in every message since. The ICO notes that this guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check the current version before relying on it, and take advice if you are unsure whether a particular message counts as marketing.
In practice:
- Ask customers at check-in how they would like to be contacted, and record it.
- Tell them they can ask you to stop at any time, and include a way to do that in your messages.
- When someone asks you to stop, stop, and note it on their record.
- Do not buy contact lists or message people who have never been your customer.
Following up service work and advisories
The work your technician found and the customer did not approve is the warmest lead you have. They already know the car needs it, and they already trust you enough to have left it with you.
Advisories come from two places: your own health checks and the MOT. Your vehicle health check records what was graded advisory or urgent and what the customer declined. The DVSA MOT history shows advisories from tests done anywhere. Our guide to vehicle health checks customers approve covers how to record findings so they are easy to follow up.
Time the follow-up to the item. Tyres close to the limit or brakes that were borderline justify a reminder within weeks. Something to watch, such as a small oil mist or a slightly worn bush, can wait until the next service is due. The message should say what was found, when, and that you can book it in. It should not read like a sales push.
This is a job that slips without a routine. Set aside the same slot each week, such as Monday morning, to go through the last week’s declined work and decide who needs a follow-up and when.
Cutting no-shows with booking reminders
A car that does not turn up leaves a technician without work and a slot that is hard to fill at short notice. Most no-shows are simply forgotten bookings, which is exactly what a reminder fixes.
Put your phone number in every booking reminder so customers who cannot make it ring you rather than just not appearing. Keep a short list of customers who wanted an earlier slot, so that when someone cancels you have someone to call. And make sure every booking has a mobile number, because a booking reminder by text can only go to a customer whose mobile you have.
Measuring whether it works
You do not need a complicated report to know whether reminders are earning their keep. Pick a few things and look at them once a month.
- MOT bookings per month. Is the number steady or rising as reminders bed in?
- Reminded customers who booked. Take the list of MOT reminders sent last month and check how many of those cars are now booked or done.
- Late callers. Count customers who ring after their MOT has already run out. If that number is high, your lead time may be too short.
- No-shows. Keep a simple tally each week, and compare before and after you start booking reminders.
- Bounces and wrong numbers. Each one is a contact detail to fix at the next visit.
Change one thing at a time, such as the lead time or the wording, and give it a month before judging it.
Checklist
- Check every customer has a current mobile number and email address
- Record how each customer wants to be contacted and offer a way to opt out
- Switch on automated MOT reminders and choose a lead time that suits your diary
- Turn on an overdue MOT chase for customers who miss the first reminder
- Write a short reminder: garage name, reg, due date, how to book
- Note the next service due on each job before the car leaves
- Set a weekly slot to follow up declined and advisory work
- Send booking reminders before every appointment, with your phone number in them
- Keep a list of customers who want an earlier slot to fill cancellations
- Review MOT bookings, late callers and no-shows once a month
How AutoChain handles reminders
AutoChain’s MOT reminder software keeps each vehicle’s MOT due date up to date from DVSA data and checks every day for reminders that are due. Reminders are branded with your garage name and go by email, or by SMS with the SMS add-on, at the lead time you choose, anywhere from 1 to 365 days before the due date. If the MOT is already booked or done, the reminder is skipped. If the MOT expires without a booking, an overdue chase email can follow after a grace period you set. The Reminders page lists upcoming, sent and cancelled reminders.
Service, advisory and general reminders are not automated. You send them as one-off emails from the customer record, so you decide who gets one and when, which suits the weekly follow-up routine above.
SMS booking reminders go to the customer’s mobile before every booking, anywhere from 1 to 168 hours ahead, with your garage name, the reg, the date and time, and your phone number. You can edit the wording, and they use credits from the SMS add-on. After the work is paid for, Customer Intelligence can send a short satisfaction survey, so you hear how the visit went before the next reminder goes out.