The Six-Field Record: an auto repair lead intake sheet with first replies written

Who this is for

This sheet is for the front desk of an independent shop or a multi-location group, and for the owner who keeps finding web forms in their own inbox days late. It goes with our short video on the Six-Field Record and the longer article on AI lead intake for auto repair.

The problem from the video: new customers slip through because every inquiry lands somewhere different. A web form emails the owner, who forwards it to an advisor, who reads it two days later. Each handoff is a place for it to die.

Two patterns make it worse. Podium's Brett Steele told Repairer Driven News that 36% of collision repair customers try to contact a shop outside regular hours; that article is from 2019 and the speaker sells messaging, so treat it as directional and check your own forms and voicemail. And Hiya's 2026 report says 86% of calls from unknown numbers go unanswered, so when you call a new customer back they may not pick up, which makes a clear first text worth more.

What you need first

• A list of your doors. Phone, voicemail, website form, texting number, Google Business Profile messages, Facebook or Instagram DMs. Write down where each one lands today and who sees it.
• One place for the record. A shared board, your texting tool's inbox or a simple spreadsheet works to start. It doesn't have to be new software.
• An owner for each shift. The person whose name goes in the last field when nobody else has picked it up.

The six fields

Every inquiry gets the same record, whatever door it came through. Keep it to six; a long form drops the customer.

#	Field	Example (demo)	Why it's there
1	Name and callback number	Dana Ruiz, a confirmed mobile number	So the advisor can reach them without re-asking
2	Vehicle	2018 Honda Odyssey, VIN if they have it	So parts and time can be checked before the call
3	What they want, in their own words	"Grinding noise when I brake, can you look this week?"	So nothing gets lost in a summary
4	How urgent	Undriveable, warning light or routine	So urgent ones jump the line
5	Source and time	Web form, 9:12 PM	So you know which door leaks
6	Owner now	Priya, Elm St advisor	So exactly one person is on it

Copy the customer's words exactly in field 3. A rewritten summary ("brake inspection") hides details like "this week" that the customer cares about.

Set the reply clock

Pick two times your front desk can hold, for example a human reply within one business hour for every inquiry and within fifteen minutes for anything marked urgent. Those are examples, not benchmarks. What matters is that every record shows its age, so anyone can see what's past the clock.

Once a day, sort the board by age and ask two questions: which inquiries have no owner, and which are older than the clock? That list does more than a smart tool nobody opens.

What AI can do, and what stays with a person

Fine for AI: - Read a message, form or call transcript and fill the six fields - Flag urgency words like "won't start", "grinding" or "tow" - Spot duplicates, like the same number calling and then sending the form - Draft a first reply for the owner to approve - Say plainly when a field is missing instead of guessing

Stays with a person: - Any price before the car is inspected - Whether the car is safe to drive - Turning down work, with the reason - The first real conversation with an upset customer

You'd think the AI should answer the customer too. But the three things customers ask first (what will it cost, is it safe, can you fix my problem) are exactly the ones a person has to answer.

Three first replies to copy

Replace the names with yours. Each one says who's writing, repeats what the customer asked and gives one next step.

Routine:
Hi Dana, thanks for reaching out to Redline Auto. Priya here. We can look at the brakes this week; what time works best for you?

Urgent:
Hi Dana, Priya at Redline Auto. Grinding brakes are worth checking soon. Can you bring it in today or tomorrow morning? If you're not sure it's safe to drive, call us and we'll talk it through.

After hours:
Thanks for contacting Redline Auto. We're closed for the night, and Priya will reply first thing in the morning. If your car won't start or isn't safe to drive, tell us here and we'll call you as soon as we open.

The urgent reply doesn't decide whether the car is safe. It asks the customer to call so a person can.

Hand it to your shop system

The intake record isn't the repair order. When the appointment is confirmed, the customer and vehicle should go into your shop-management system without retyping. Tekmetric lists 70+ integrations and offers API access by application, so ask any intake tool how it writes back and what still has to be copied by hand.

If replies go out by text from software, the sending number has to be registered under Twilio's A2P 10DLC rules. A customer who texted you first is different from a marketing list, but have your lawyer confirm what applies, and stop when someone says stop.

How to tell it's working

Count four things every week: inquiries by door, how many got a reply inside your clock, how many became appointments, and how many records had a missing field. Ignore vendor conversion promises; after a month you'll have your own baseline. The first sign it's working usually comes sooner: nobody finds a forwarded form in their inbox anymore.

Where RevvOS fits

RevvOS brings calls, texts, forms and open estimates into one customer view, shows the source of each item, says when information is missing and drafts replies for an advisor to approve. It doesn't publish a dedicated lead-intake product, and it doesn't replace your shop system. If calls are where you lose people, start with missed call automation, or book an assessment to scope intake as one workflow.