Garage Job Card Template: What to Record on Every Job

A garage job card template should make it possible for someone else to pick up a repair without starting the conversation again. It needs to show why the car arrived, what was agreed, what happened and what remains to be done.

Use the template below as a starting point for your workshop. It works as a written checklist or as the structure for a digital record. All examples are fictional.

A reusable garage job card template

Copy these fields into your working document:

• Job reference: a unique reference used on the key tag and parts labels.
• Booking and promised collection: record both, including any conditions attached to collection.
• Customer: name, contact number and preferred contact method.
• Vehicle: registration, make, model and mileage recorded on arrival.
• Reported concern: the customer's description and when the symptom occurs.
• Agreed work: the tasks authorised, the agreed price or estimate reference, and any spending limit.
• Authorisation record: who agreed, when and which version of the work they approved.
• Technician notes: checks performed, observations and results.
• Parts: description, quantity, order progress and whether fitted or returned.
• Labour: task description and the time or charge recorded under your workshop process.
• Additional findings: proposed work and the customer's decision.
• Completion and handover: work completed, outstanding items, invoice reference and collection notes.

Keep each field usable. An enormous form full of irrelevant boxes is harder to maintain than a short record with room for the important detail.

Record a symptom before a diagnosis

“Brakes” gives the next person very little to work with. “Customer reports a scraping noise when braking slowly after the vehicle has stood overnight” captures a useful starting point.

Keep that original report alongside the technician's findings. If the diagnosis changes, the team can still see what the customer asked you to investigate. Avoid replacing the original concern with the name of the part eventually fitted.

Separate proposed work from agreed work

A finding is not automatically an instruction to repair. Give additional work its own entry and record the decision before treating it as part of the agreed job.

For example: “Additional repair discussed at 14:10; customer requests a written estimate before deciding.” That is more useful than “called customer”, which leaves reception guessing what happened. Link the decision to the specific work and amount discussed.

Connect the record to the physical workshop

Put the job reference on the key tag and the parts tray. At a handover, check the digital or written record against what is actually at the vehicle. If a part is still waiting to arrive, the next technician should see that immediately.

Choose one master record. If you print a working copy, agree how notes from the bay get back into the master before the job changes hands. Two competing versions create uncertainty even when both look tidy.

Make the template part of everyday work

Run five representative jobs through the template. Ask reception what they had to chase and ask technicians which fields were unclear. Adjust the form around those answers, then use the same structure across the team.

Pistonlog's digital job cards give your workshop a shared place for job information. Basic includes unlimited job cards and users, so the template can become a team routine. See Pistonlog plans when you are ready to move the record onto a shared system.

Use the template alongside your workflow board

In this Pistonlog screenshot, jobs are grouped into Booked In, In Progress and Awaiting Parts. The inspector keeps the selected job visible beside the board. Use the blank template below to decide which details your team must record before moving a job between stages.

Download the blank template (editable text file)