Customers and vehicles

Customer and vehicle records are the identity foundation for estimates, jobs, appointments, inspections, communication, and history.

Find before creating

Open Customers and search for the existing customer. Enter at least two characters; use Load more when more results are available. Open the customer and check the vehicle list before creating anything. Creating duplicates divides service history and makes later decisions harder.

If the customer is missing, choose New, enter the contact details, and save. Open the customer and choose Add vehicle for a missing vehicle. Confirm the year, make, model, VIN or plate, and mileage as applicable before saving.

Keep identity accurate

Open the customer or vehicle, choose Edit from its actions, correct the details, and save. For a national phone number, select the correct phone country; an international number should include its country code. Resolve any phone-review warning before relying on that number for communication.

If saving fails, keep the form open and follow the message. If the result is uncertain, use the offered recovery or open the existing record before attempting to create another.

Import customers or a fleet

Use the import that matches the records you need:

• From Customers, open the menu beside New and choose Import. This import can create or update customers and optional vehicles.
• From one customer's vehicle list, open the menu beside Add vehicle and choose Import. This imports vehicles for that customer; it does not import a new customer directory.

Download the template, prepare the CSV, upload it, and map its columns to the requested fields. National phone numbers need a Phone Country value; explicit international numbers may begin with +.

In the review, check each proposed create or update and resolve duplicate or ambiguous matches before importing. Then review the result for committed records and row errors. Open an existing customer or vehicle when recovery offers it. If a customer succeeded but its vehicle failed, resolve the vehicle row without recreating the customer. Follow the retained-attempt recovery when an outcome is uncertain; do not start a duplicate import to bypass it.

Archive and restore

Open a customer or vehicle and choose Archive from its actions. Review the affected records, choose a reason, add a note when Other requires one, and confirm. Resolve any active-work blocker before trying again. Archiving a customer also archives its active vehicles. It retains history and makes the archived records read-only.

To find an archived customer, switch Customers → Archived, search, and open the record. Choose Restore when available, select the reason, and confirm the named customer. Add a note if you choose Other. Restoring a customer leaves its vehicles archived. Open each needed vehicle from the customer's archived vehicle list and restore it separately. Restore the parent customer first if the vehicle is blocked by its archived customer.

These actions depend on your access. If a restore is unavailable, read the blocker and correct the conflicting record or prerequisite; creating a replacement record can split the retained history.

Check the relationship

Before starting a job, verify that the selected vehicle belongs to the intended customer. This is especially important when a household, fleet, or repeat customer has multiple vehicles.

Use history as context

Review prior work, inspections, recommendations, and communication before preparing new work. History supports the current decision; it should not be treated as a replacement for inspecting the vehicle's present condition.

Protect customer information

Only store information required for the shop workflow. Do not place passwords, payment credentials, private access tokens, or unrelated sensitive notes in customer or vehicle records.

Continue with the right task

Create the proposal in Estimates, review record capacity in Plan & usage, and check Data handling before sharing contact details or screenshots.