Labor Approval
How Customer Approval Works
Every labor line on a Repair Order has its own customer authorization status. When a technician discovers additional work needed, the advisor adds a labor line and it starts as Pending — it appears on the estimate but does not bill yet. The customer must approve it before it counts toward the total.
This gives you a clear record of exactly what the customer authorized, what they deferred, and what they declined — line by line, with a full history of every decision.
The Three States
Pending
The line is on the estimate but no customer decision has been recorded yet. Pending lines appear on the estimate PDF and show the total in the breakdown, but do not count toward what the customer owes. The RO cannot advance past “Estimate Sent” until every pending line has a decision.
Approved
The customer authorized this work. The line bills, counts toward the total, and the technician can proceed. When the advisor clicks Customer Approved on the RO, the price of every approved line is frozen at that moment as a snapshot of what was agreed.
Declined
The customer said no. The line does not bill and the technician will not perform the work. The line stays on the Repair Order permanently — it does not disappear. This gives your shop proof that the customer was offered the service, what you quoted, and that they declined. Declined lines appear separately on the invoice labeled “Recommended — Declined.”
Recording a Decision
On the Labor tab, each line has a small cycle button on its left side. Click it to move the line through Pending → Approved → Declined → Pending. When you decline a line, a small field lets you record the reason and the channel (phone, in person, email, or text). All of this is optional but helps build the audit trail.
A history icon on each line opens the full decision log — every change recorded, who made it, and when. The Approval History panel at the bottom of the Labor tab shows every line’s decisions in one place.
Recommended Work on the Vehicle
When a customer declines a labor line, CSM saves it as a recommended service on that vehicle. The next time the vehicle comes in, the shop can see what was previously recommended and add it to the new Repair Order in one click — no retyping, no forgetting.
Customers can also see their vehicle’s recommended services in the Customer Portal and remove items they have had done elsewhere or no longer want tracked.