Mobile mechanics
What belongs on a mobile mechanic invoice
Four things that decide whether a mobile mechanic invoice gets paid or gets a phone call. The generator further down opens with the lines already in it.
Put the registration and the mileage on the invoice. It is the document that becomes part of the car’s history, and a service invoice with no plate on it is worth nothing at resale.
Diagnostic time is work whether or not it found anything. Charging it as a line, and crediting it against the repair when there is one, is both fair and easy to explain.
Parts should say whether they are OEM, aftermarket or the customer’s own. It changes the price, it changes the guarantee, and it is the first question anyone asks afterwards.
Where you advised work and the customer declined, note it. An invoice recording “advised: rear pads at 3mm, declined” is a professional record and it protects you.
Where a part was ordered and the car went back on the road unfinished, say what is outstanding. An invoice that reads as complete for a job that is not is how a customer discovers the second half of the bill by surprise.
Say where the work was done. A repair carried out on a driveway in the rain and one done in a workshop are the same job at different rates, and the invoice is where a customer sees what they actually bought — someone coming to them. It is also what an insurer or a subsequent owner will read, so ’attended customer address’ is a line worth having.
The lines below are real work at plausible quantities, and deliberately carry no prices. A price is a local fact about a local market, and a made-up one would be worse than none.