How to create a booking system for a car workshop

Job types with set durations, one calendar per mechanic or hoist and confirmation by your own team.

Guides by business type

A workshop with online bookings spends less time on the phone and can plan its hoists and mechanics better. 4appointments gives you a public booking page and a calendar for each provider. It doesn’t manage parts, vehicle records or invoices, and it sends no messages to clients, so the workshop confirms each request itself.

Create your job types as services with name, duration and price, such as an inspection, an oil change, a suspension repair or wheel alignment. Correct durations keep the day from overlapping, and the pause field leaves time after each booking for the next car to be moved in.

Decide what a calendar represents. The tool has no hoists or bays as bookable resources, but you can create one provider per mechanic, or one per hoist, each with their own weekly schedule. It’s a workaround: the provider is simply the name that carries a calendar. Use “Anyone available” if clients shouldn’t have to choose.

Share the public link on your listing, on your website and in your messages. Clients choose a job type and a free time without an account. The form takes a name, an optional email address and a free note, with no fields for the number plate or vehicle, and the note isn’t shown in the panel calendar, so ask for the car’s details when you confirm.

Each request arrives as pending and holds the slot. Confirm or reject it in the bookings section and tell the customer yourself, by phone or text; pending requests nobody handles are cancelled quietly about an hour after their time ends. For regular checks, staff can create a recurring series when making a booking: weekly, every two weeks or every 30 days. Customers can cancel or reschedule with their management link, which you send by hand for bookings you create yourself.

What to remember

  • ✓Job types with set durations and prices as services
  • ✓One provider per mechanic or per hoist, as a workaround
  • ✓No vehicle fields: collect the details when you confirm

Common questions

Can I handle parts orders through the same system?+

No. 4appointments schedules appointments only. It doesn’t manage parts, stock or invoices, so keep those in your workshop software.

Will clients see a price estimate when booking?+

Yes, each service has a price that appears on the page. If extra work turns up during the inspection, the final price is agreed with the customer at the workshop.

More guides to read

Running a car workshop?

Organise your mechanics’ calendars, share one booking link and confirm each request yourself. The first 12 months are free, with no card; see the pricing page for the plans.

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