Customer Repair Order

Internal Controls

Administrative Controls

All mechanical and body shop service sales should be recorded on pre-numbered repair orders.  One Repair Order form may combine all classifications of labor sales; or, separate Repair Orders may instead be used for each individual labor classification such as mechanical, warranty, body shop, or internal labor.  In addition, pre-numbered Specialty Repair Orders can be used to record new vehicle preparation, used vehicle reconditioning, or warranty labor sales.

Each Customer Repair Order should consist of four copies; a customer copy, an accounting copy, a hard copy, and a copy provided for use with warranty claim work or for posting parts sales to the inventory control records.

The service advisor or the service manager should prepare customer Repair Orders.  The information to complete the form should be obtained from the customer signing the authorization clause on the Repair Order.  The customer must sign the Repair Order and the copies separated.  The hard copy of the repair order should be given to the technician performing the work; the soft copies should remain intact and placed in a storage rack conveniently located at the Parts and Accessories Department counter.  Some computer systems use a “Pre-Invoice” (Hard Copy) for the technician.

When parts are required to perform repairs, the technician performing the work should present the hard copy of the Repair Order to the parts and accessories counterperson.  The parts counterperson should remove the soft copies of the Repair Order from the storage rack so that the parts issued for the repairs may be recorded on the Repair Order.  With “in-house” computer systems the parts are added to the repair order by posting them electronically.  Parts and accessories should not be issued to technicians until hard copies of the Repair Orders are submitted, so a match can be made to the soft copies in the Repair Order storage rack.  In addition, no purchase order for sublet repairs should be issued unless a Customer Repair Order has been prepared.

When all of the service work required on a repair order is completed, the hard copy of the repair order should be attached to the soft copies and the proper selling prices and costs should be filled-in on all of the copies.  The cashier receiving or printing the repair order should carefully watch that all items listed on the hard copy are correctly recorded on all of the copies and that the customer is properly charged. 

Controls should be established to ensure that Repair Orders are re-ordered before their supply is depleted.  In addition, each supply of Repair Orders should be used in numerical sequence.