Auto Repair Invoice Template

An auto repair invoice bills the customer once the repair is finished. It shows the work you actually did, the parts you actually fitted and the final price, and asks for payment by a due date. Its figures should match the estimate the customer authorized, plus any additional work they approved along the way.

Before the work, the customer gets an auto repair estimate: a priced proposal they sign to authorize the repair. After they pay the invoice, you can confirm it with a mechanic receipt. This page covers the bill in between.

• Repair shop: business name, address, phone or email, a "Shop registration no." line for states that register repair shops, and an optional "EPA ID no. (if a disposal fee is charged)" line
• Invoice details: invoice number, invoice date, payment terms, due date, repair order number and service advisor. The sample's terms are "Due at vehicle pickup".
• Bill to (customer): name, address, and phone or email
• Vehicle: year / make / model, VIN, license plate, odometer in and odometer out
• Concern and work performed: customer concern, cause found, work performed, "Replaced parts returned to customer (yes / no)" and "Replaced parts not returned (reason)"
• Parts: description, part type, quantity, unit price and amount, with a parts subtotal
• Labor: description, technician, hours, rate per hour and amount, with a labor subtotal
• Totals: subtotal, "Hazardous waste disposal fee", "Sales tax, if applicable" and amount due
• How to pay: accepted methods, account name, bank details and a payment reference, with placeholders for your own details
• About this repair: notes explaining the part types, when the customer authorized the work, what you checked but didn't fix, and your warranty terms

The sample is a 2017 crossover that came in with a grinding noise and pulled to the left when braking. The invoice bills 401.00 in parts (aftermarket pads and rotors, a rebuilt caliper, an OEM hardware kit, brake fluid and a used wheel cover) and 3.5 hours of labor at 140.00 an hour (490.00). With a 24.00 hazardous waste disposal fee and sales tax at 0%, the amount due at pickup is 915.00.

List each job with the technician, the hours and your rate per hour. If you charged for diagnosis, give it its own labor line so the customer can see it. If you did something at no charge, such as a recheck or a repair under your own warranty, list it at 0.00 instead of leaving it off, so the invoice is a complete record of the work on the vehicle.

Write the work in words the customer can follow. "Replace front pads and rotors" is clearer than "R&R FR PADS/ROTORS".

If the customer asked for their replaced parts when they authorized the estimate, give them back and fill in "Replaced parts returned to customer (yes / no)". Some parts go elsewhere: a core part such as a battery, sold on an exchange basis, goes back to the supplier, and a part replaced under warranty may have to go back to the manufacturer. When a part isn't returned, say which part and why on the "Replaced parts not returned (reason)" line, and offer the customer the chance to see it. In the sample, the answer is "No": the old caliper went back to the parts supplier as a core, and the worn pads and rotors were recycled.

In California, the Bureau of Automotive Repair's Write It Right guide describes the invoice as the document given to the customer when all repairs for a job are complete, with the final price for parts and labor. It lists what a standard invoice must contain, including:

• the automotive repair dealer's registration number, with the business name and address as shown in BAR's records
• an itemized list of all services and repairs performed with the price of each, including any diagnosis, warranty repairs and repairs performed at no charge
• an itemized list of each part supplied, in terms the customer can understand, with its price, stating whether each part is new, used, reconditioned or rebuilt, and whether any crash parts are OEM or non-OEM aftermarket
• any replaced parts that can't be returned to the customer
• a subtotal for service and repair work, a subtotal for parts not including sales tax, the sales tax if applicable, and the total
• the toxic waste fee charged, if any, as stated on the original estimate, and the dealer's EPA identification number; the guide says that if a disposal fee is charged, the estimate and invoice must both include it
• for additional repairs authorized orally or electronically: the date and time, who authorized them, the phone number or email address contacted, the additional parts and labor, their cost and the total price

The guide also says that generic charges for shop supplies or miscellaneous parts are prohibited, that all repairs (including warranty, no-charge and insurer-paid work) are recorded on an invoice, and that towing fees go on a separate document, not the repair invoice. Smog Check, windshield, air conditioning and mobile repair invoices need extra items, so check the guide for the kind of work you do.

The template has fields for several of these: the "Shop registration no." and "EPA ID no. (if a disposal fee is charged)" lines, "Replaced parts not returned (reason)", separate parts and labor subtotals, a part type on every line, the disposal fee on its own line and a sales tax line. Filling them in doesn't by itself make an invoice meet the guide. For a California invoice, also:

• enter your business name and address exactly as BAR has them
• if you charge a disposal fee, fill in the "EPA ID no. (if a disposal fee is charged)" line
• name any replaced parts that couldn't be returned on the "Replaced parts not returned (reason)" line
• record any oral or electronic additional authorization in the notes, with the details above

Outside California, check the rules where you work for what a repair invoice must show.

1. Add your shop's details and, if your state registers repair shops, your registration number. Fill in the "EPA ID no. (if a disposal fee is charged)" line if it applies to your shop; otherwise leave it blank.
2. Enter the invoice number, invoice date, payment terms, due date, the repair order number from the authorized job and the service advisor.
3. Fill in the customer and the vehicle, with the odometer reading when the vehicle came in and when it left.
4. Copy the customer concern from the estimate or repair order, then write the cause you found and the work you performed.
5. List each part with its part type, quantity and unit price, then each labor job with the technician, hours and rate per hour.
6. Enter the hazardous waste disposal fee (or 0.00) and set the sales tax rate.
7. Fill in whether the replaced parts were returned and, for any that weren't, the reason. Then edit the "About this repair" notes: the authorization, any work you checked but didn't do, and your warranty terms.
8. Replace the placeholders in "How to pay" with your own details, then send or print the invoice.

The PDF is a blank form for filling in by hand at the service desk. The Word and Excel files have the same layout with the brake job sample filled in, for you to overwrite.

In the Excel file, each line amount is the quantity or hours multiplied by the unit price or rate, and the parts and labor subtotals, the subtotal, the tax and the amount due are formulas too. You type the disposal fee as an amount and the tax rate in its own cell. To leave either out, set the fee to 0.00 or the rate to 0% instead of deleting the row, because the totals refer to them. The parts table has seven rows and the labor table five; if you need more, insert rows inside the table and copy the amount formula into them so the subtotals include them. In Word or on the PDF, work out the amounts yourself.

For a general layout rather than an auto repair one, see the invoice templates for Word, for Excel, as a PDF, for Google Docs and for Google Sheets.

• Auto repair estimate for pricing a repair and getting the customer's authorization before you start
• Mechanic receipt for confirming the customer's payment
• Car dealer invoice for billing a vehicle sale
• Towing invoice for towing and recovery jobs
• All invoice templates