An AI voice agent for auto repair workshops: answer every call

These problems usually start with a call nobody took:

• Service reminder calls go to voicemail. Your service team calls for upcoming service due. Most go to voicemail, no callback. WhatsApp messages get near-universal read.
• Customers call for service status updates constantly. "Is my car ready?" — you get this 20 times a day. WhatsApp job card updates end these calls completely.
• Previous service customers don't return. Customer had great service. 6 months later, needs next service. Didn't remember you. Went to the nearest garage.

Customers call repeatedly to ask whether the car is ready, and advisors spend much of the day answering status calls.

• "Is my car ready?" — the most common call, repeated through the afternoon.
• Booking a service — often from customers driving, who would rather talk than type.
• Price checks for a service on a specific model.
• Breakdowns and accidents — urgent, stressful, and the calls that matter most.
• Estimate questions from owners who want to talk before approving.

The first three are routine. The last two need a person. A voice agent takes the routine ones so advisors can give the others their full attention.

Vajra, Reputoo's voice agent, runs the same workflows over the phone that the WhatsApp agent runs in chat:

1. Service due reminder sent automatically — Based on last service date (3/6/12 months), WhatsApp reminder with one-tap booking option.
2. Job card updates during service — Work started, finding found, approval needed, work completed — each status update via WhatsApp.
3. Upsell approvals via WhatsApp mid-service — Additional repair found → WhatsApp with photo + cost + YES/NO button. Approval instant.
4. Next service reminder set — Post-service, the next service date is scheduled and a reminder is queued against the vehicle.

After each call the caller can get a WhatsApp message with the details, and staff see the call in the call log.

The call took under a minute and no advisor stopped what they were doing. Multiply by the dozens of status calls a busy workshop takes each day.

• 36 languages, switching to the caller's — useful where customers mix languages in one sentence.
• After hours it takes the booking or the message instead of letting the call ring out.
• Live transfer to a staff member when the caller asks for one or the call needs a person.
• Outbound calls for reminders and follow-ups, within the calling hours you set. Estimate approvals as soon as the inspection is done, status updates during the job, and service-due reminders by date or mileage.

What stays with your staff: Extra work beyond the estimate, disputes about the bill, and warranty or insurance claims need the service advisor.

When a caller says their car has broken down or been in an accident, the agent does three things and nothing else: checks the caller is safe, asks for the location (and offers to send a WhatsApp link to share it), and transfers to a person or the towing partner at once. If nobody is free, it takes the number and location and marks the call urgent. It never tries to troubleshoot the fault on the phone.

Booking calls follow the same steps as the WhatsApp flow: what service, which vehicle (recognised by the caller's number if they are a returning customer), what is wrong in their words, and a drop-off slot or a pickup. The agent reads the booking back and sends the confirmation to WhatsApp with the address and what to bring.

A monthly voice add-on of ₹1,999 (or $29) on top of your Reputoo plan, plus call minutes billed from a prepaid wallet at ₹4–12 a minute depending on the number and route.

Compare that with the cost of the calls going unanswered, or with the hours staff spend on routine calls, and decide from your own call volume.

Within the hours you set, the agent can call customers whose car is ready but not collected, or who have not replied to an estimate by the time the part needs ordering. It should not approve work on the customer's behalf — it tells them the estimate is waiting and offers to connect them to the advisor.

A workshop taking 30 calls a day at about two minutes each uses around 60 minutes a day, roughly 1,800 a month. At ₹4–12 a minute from the prepaid wallet that is ₹7,200–₹21,600 a month in minutes, plus the ₹1,999 monthly add-on. Set it against advisor time spent on status calls and the bookings lost to calls nobody answered.

1. Add services, model prices, timings and the pickup rules to the knowledge base.
2. Connect job status so the agent can answer "is it ready?".
3. Set breakdown and accident words that trigger immediate transfer.
4. Choose forwarding: unanswered calls, rush hours, or after hours.
5. Test a status call, a booking, a price check and a breakdown.

"How much for a service on a 2019 Baleno?" is answered directly when the price list has fixed prices by model. For anything that needs inspection, the agent explains that the workshop will inspect and send an estimate with photos on WhatsApp before any work, and offers a slot. Callers accept that readily when it is said plainly; what they do not accept is a phone quote that changes at the counter.

Some callers want to speak to the advisor who handled their car, especially about an estimate or a bill. The agent transfers them when the advisor is free, or takes a message with a callback time and puts it on the advisor's list. It should never leave a caller who asked for a person arguing with the assistant.

Callers switch between languages mid-sentence and use their own words for parts and problems. The agent follows the caller's language, confirms the vehicle and the problem back in the same words, and writes the booking in the form your technicians use. Add common local names for parts and problems to the knowledge base so every version maps to the right service.

Compare a month before and after: calls that rang out, status calls taken by advisors, and bookings made by phone. Read the call summaries weekly for patterns — a model the agent does not recognise, a question it hands over that one line in the knowledge base would answer — and fix them. The goal is advisors who spend their day with customers at the desk, not on status calls.

Answer with the workshop's name and say that the caller is speaking to the workshop's assistant, with an advisor available if they want one. End every call by repeating what was agreed — the slot, the car, the pickup — and saying the details are on the way to WhatsApp. Clear endings stop the second call that begins "just checking my booking".

Many car owners call about a service in the evening or on a Sunday, when they are home and thinking about the week. The agent books them into open slots so Monday starts with a full schedule instead of a list of missed calls. On days the workshop is closed it says so, offers the next open day, and for anything urgent gives the breakdown number you have chosen to publish.

Some owners call rather than tap when an estimate arrives. The agent can read out what the advisor recorded — the items, which are urgent and which can wait, the total — and record the approval if the caller gives it clearly. If the caller wants to discuss options or negotiate, the agent transfers to the advisor or books a callback before the part needs ordering. Approvals given by phone are confirmed on WhatsApp straight after the call, so there is a written record.

A caller asking about a car should be the owner or someone the owner named. The agent gives job status only to the number on the job card, or to a caller who can give the registration and job card number together. Anyone else is offered a callback to the registered number. It is a small friction that stops a stranger learning when a car will be left unattended at the gate.