Auto Repair Answering Service | 24/7 Live Shop Call Handling
Auto Repair & Body Shops
A repair shop's phone rings all day while every person capable of answering it is standing in a bay with an impact gun going, a lift motor running and a radio on. The service advisor who is supposed to catch it is already on the phone with an insurance adjuster or writing a ticket at the counter, and the front desk hears the third ring at best. The calls that fall through are not junk — a driver whose car will not start is looking for somewhere to send a tow inside the hour, and a body shop caller is deciding, right there on the phone, where the wreck gets dropped.
Global Empire Corporation answers those calls live in your shop's name — taking the year, make, model and symptom, telling a tow driver where to put the vehicle, booking the routine work straight into your open bay slots, and handing the collision and insurance calls to your advisor with the claim detail already captured.
- Tow-in and no-start calls answered live, with your shop named as the destination before the truck is loaded
- Collision and insurance calls captured with the carrier, claim reference and drivability already recorded
- Routine work — brakes, tires, oil, inspections, diagnostics — booked directly into your open bay slots
- "Is my car ready?" status calls absorbed so your advisor is not answering them between write-ups
- 1.1B+
- Transactions Processed
- 11+
- Contact Centers Worldwide
- 27
- Service in 27+ Languages
- 35.5k+
- Over 35000 Happy Employees
- 10M+
- New Customers Acquired
A Tow Destination Is a Decision the Caller Makes Once
Most missed calls in most trades can be won back. This one usually cannot. A driver standing next to a car that will not start, or on a shoulder waiting for a flatbed, has to name a shop before the truck moves — and once the vehicle is on somebody else's lift, it stays there through the estimate, the parts order and the invoice. The same is true on the collision side, where the tow destination effectively settles who writes the supplement and who bills the carrier. You are not competing for the next call from that customer. You are competing for the only one.
The everyday version is quieter and adds up faster. Your advisor is at the counter with a customer, your techs are in the bays, and the phone is ringing with a brake inspection, a check-engine light and three status calls about cars already on the lot. The status calls get answered because the customers are standing there impatient; the new work goes to voicemail. A shop can be fully booked and still be losing the appointments that would have filled next Tuesday.
For independent repair shops, tire and service centers, and collision shops
What Our Agents Actually Do on a Repair Shop Call
Tow-In and No-Start Triage
Where the vehicle is right now, whether it is drivable or blocking a lane, whether the caller has roadside coverage through an insurer or a manufacturer, and whether you have room on the lot tonight. Agents confirm your address as the drop point, tell the caller where the after-hours key drop is, and put a note on the ticket so the vehicle is not a mystery on the lot at seven the next morning.
Collision and Claim Intake
A collision caller needs a different set of questions entirely: carrier and claim number if one exists yet, whether an adjuster has been assigned, whether the vehicle is drivable, whether a rental is needed and who is paying for it, and whether the caller has photographs. Agents capture that and route it to your estimator, because the shop that already has the claim detail is the shop that gets the vehicle scheduled first.
The Vehicle Detail Your Advisor Needs
Year, make, model, engine where the caller knows it, plate or VIN, approximate mileage, and the symptom described in the caller's own words rather than translated into a guess. When it started, whether it is constant or intermittent, what warning lights are on, and any noise, smell or leak. That is the difference between an advisor calling back cold and an advisor calling back ready to sell diagnostic time.
No Repair Prices Over the Phone. Ever.
Agents do not quote a repair, estimate a job or authorize work, and any answering service that offers to on your behalf is creating a problem for you rather than solving one. What they sell is the diagnostic appointment. Published menu items you approve in writing — a stated inspection or diagnostic fee, a tire rotation, a state inspection — can be confirmed as written; everything else waits for your written estimate.
Booking Routine Work Into Real Bay Slots
Oil services, brakes, tires, alignments, inspections and scheduled maintenance go straight onto your schedule against the capacity rules you set — how many waiters you will take in a morning, which jobs must be drop-offs, what needs a loaner or a shuttle, and which bays are reserved for diagnostics. A booking that ignores your bay math is worse than a message.
Status Calls and Parts-Delay Updates
The highest-volume call a shop takes is a customer asking whether the car is done, and it is the one that most reliably interrupts an advisor mid-write-up. Agents can read the status your system already shows, pass on a parts-delay note your advisor has left, and take a callback request when the answer is not on the ticket — without promising a pickup time nobody in the shop has committed to.
We Work in Your Shop Management System, Not in a Message Pad
An answering service that emails you a note has moved your problem, not solved it. Your advisor still has to open the shop management system, create the customer, decode the vehicle, build the ticket and find a slot — which is the actual work, and it happens at the same time in the morning it always did. The point of answering the call live was to have the appointment already on the schedule when the doors open.
So we work inside what you already run. Independent shops we talk to are typically on Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, AutoLeap, Shop-Ware or Mitchell 1 Manager SE, and in each case agents can look up an existing customer and vehicle, create the ticket and place the appointment on your schedule directly. Collision shops are a different world — most of the estimating and insurer traffic lives in CCC ONE, and rather than pretending an intake agent belongs inside an estimating platform, we capture the claim intake cleanly and hand it to your estimator in the form they actually work from.
- Appointments and tickets created live in Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, AutoLeap, Shop-Ware or Mitchell 1 Manager SE
- Existing customer and vehicle history checked before an agent commits to a bay slot
- Collision intake captured as a structured claim record for your estimator rather than typed into an estimating platform
- Tow-in notifications sent to your on-call contact by phone then text, so an unexpected vehicle on the lot is never a surprise
What an Intake Agent May and May Not Say About a Repair
Most states regulate automotive repair as a consumer protection matter, and the recurring obligations are a written estimate given to the customer and the customer's authorization obtained before work begins, with further authorization required when the job grows. Administration varies by state — California's Bureau of Automotive Repair sits under its Department of Consumer Affairs, Florida's Motor Vehicle Repair Act is administered by its Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and several states place repair shop registration with the motor vehicle agency instead. The obligations attach to your shop, not to a phone agent, which is exactly why the phone agent must not step into them.
That is why our scripting draws a hard line: agents book diagnostic time, confirm only the published menu items you have approved in writing, and never quote a repair, estimate a job, or take authorization for work. Anything that looks like approval is routed back to your advisor so it happens in your system, in writing, the way your state requires. Requirements differ by state and change, so confirm your current estimate, authorization and record-keeping obligations with your own counsel before deciding what an intake agent may say on your behalf.
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Frequently asked questions
Can your agents give a customer a price for a repair over the phone?
No, and you should not want them to. Repair pricing depends on a diagnosis nobody has performed yet, and in most states a written estimate and the customer's authorization are your legal obligation as the shop. What agents can confirm is the specific menu items you have approved in writing — a stated diagnostic or inspection fee, a tire rotation, a state inspection — and what they sell on every other call is the appointment. If a caller pushes for a number, agents say plainly that the shop quotes after it sees the vehicle, and book the diagnostic.
How do you handle a tow at eleven at night when nobody is at the shop?
The goal is to have the vehicle come to you rather than to whoever answered second. Agents confirm your address as the tow destination, tell the driver and the customer exactly where to leave the vehicle and where the after-hours key drop and envelope are, capture the plate, the vehicle description and where the keys ended up, and note whether the lot has room. Your on-call contact gets a notification by phone and text against the rule you set. In the morning the vehicle on your lot already has a ticket attached to it.
My service advisor answers the phone fine. What am I actually buying?
The calls your advisor never hears. Advisors answer while they are free and miss while they are writing a ticket, walking a customer to the counter, or on hold with a carrier — which is most of the morning and all of the lunch hour. You are also buying the after-hours and weekend window, when a no-start caller is choosing a shop, and the deflection of routine status calls that currently interrupt every write-up. Run one week of call reporting before you decide; the gap is usually in the middle of the day, not overnight.
Do you handle collision calls differently from mechanical calls?
Completely differently, because the buyer is different. A mechanical caller is deciding whether to spend money on their own vehicle; a collision caller is inside an insurance process and is deciding where the vehicle gets towed. Collision intake captures the carrier, the claim number if one has been issued, whether an adjuster is assigned, drivability, rental need and whether photographs exist, then routes to your estimator rather than onto the bay schedule. Mechanical intake captures the symptom and books diagnostic time. Running both through one script produces a bad version of each.
Will agents book into my schedule, or just send me messages?
Booking, wherever you run a system we can work in. Tekmetric, Shopmonkey, AutoLeap, Shop-Ware and Mitchell 1 Manager SE all let an agent find the customer, decode the vehicle, create the ticket and place the appointment against your real capacity. That matters more here than in most trades because your constraint is bays and technician hours, not slots on a calendar — so we build the booking rules around how many waiters you accept, what has to be a drop-off, and which bays you keep clear for diagnostics.
What stops an agent from booking three waiters into one morning?
The rules you write during setup, applied as hard limits rather than agent judgment. We agree how many wait-on-vehicle jobs you will take per morning, which services are drop-off only, how long you actually hold for a diagnostic versus a tire job, when the shuttle runs, whether loaners exist and who approves one, and how far out agents may book before they stop and route to your advisor. If those limits are wrong we see it in the first two weeks of the schedule and change them, which is a much easier conversation than an overbooked Saturday.
Can you take calls in Spanish?
Yes, and in a lot of markets this is the single biggest change a repair shop notices. Bilingual coverage matters more here than in trades where the buyer is usually a homeowner making a planned decision, because roadside and tow-in calls are stressful, fast, and frequently made by whoever is physically with the vehicle. We scope Spanish coverage against your actual call mix rather than bolting on a transfer that puts the caller through a second wait.
What does an answering service for an auto repair shop cost?
It depends on the shape of the coverage rather than a published rate, so we quote per program. The variables are call volume and how it moves through the week, which hours you want covered — after-hours and weekends only, daytime overflow, or full round-the-clock — how much of the work is booking into your system versus taking messages, whether collision intake is in scope alongside mechanical, whether agents work inside your shop management software, and whether you need bilingual coverage. We scope those against your real call pattern and price the program to it.
TESTIMONIALS
Our trusted clients
Global Empire provides reliable 24/7 coverage with live support when it matters most. Their breadth of service, professionalism, and ability to answer calls quickly has made a major difference for our organization. We’re very happy with the partnership and would recommend them confidently.
Wait times no longer exist with the service Global Empire provides. We have cut labor costs dramatically, eliminated overhead from dispatch staffing, and our clients are getting picked up quicker. Spending less while improving service has become the backbone of our business.
We are not only meeting but exceeding our service level objectives. Global Empire resolves many calls without needing a live agent, and the calls that require support are answered quickly and handled faster than before. Their reporting gives us visibility anytime we need it.
We set very challenging service level objectives and insist on those standards being met. At first we were unsure if Global Empire could consistently deliver at that level, but they proved they could. Based on performance and reliability, we know we made the right decision.
Service matters greatly for customer loyalty and experience, and Global Empire provides exactly the professional support required. We’re confident we achieve more value in our contact center because of the strategic partnership and the consistency of their service.
During our recent flood disaster, Global Empire provided messaging services vital to our communications management. Their quick, efficient, and professional response stood out throughout the crisis. In situations like this, service quality is not taken for granted — it’s recognized.
Excellent service — we consistently receive comments about how professional and friendly their agents are. To our customers, it feels seamless and they assume the people answering are part of our in-office team. It has worked out far better than we thought possible.
Global Empire has provided essential call center services for over a decade, responding to medical and non-medical emergencies with accuracy and professionalism. Their commitment to quality and continuous learning is clearly reflected in the service they deliver.
I never realized how much overtime we were paying until we started using Global Empire. We were able to eliminate overtime completely while improving how calls are handled. Now our staff can focus on other important tasks that keep our customers happy.
I wasn’t using all the options Global Empire offered until one of their representatives noticed and reached out. Based on their recommendations, we made several changes that saved money and improved response time. Customers now comment on how efficiently our business runs.
We believe excellent customer service provides the sharpest competitive edge. Global Empire shares that same vision and works closely with us to deliver the best possible service quality. Their partnership supports our ongoing commitment to excellence.
The main reason we work with Global Empire is the ‘red carpet’ treatment. They have the best group of agents I’ve worked with in over 20 years, and they consistently maintain high standards for compliance and customer interactions. They lead by example.
Efficient, professional service with a personal touch. It’s rare to find a provider that consistently delivers both quality and responsiveness at this level.
Over the years I’ve been impressed with the professionally trained staff at Global Empire. Our customers are often anxious or angry, and their team consistently puts them at ease. In two decades, we have never had a customer complaint — which says everything.
As we expanded from Europe into North America, we knew customer service and technical support would be critical to success. We were impressed to learn Global Empire was handling support for a market leader. After working with them, it’s clear why — their service sets the standard.
One of our members struggled with registration and called our toll-free number. The Global Empire agent remained calm, extremely helpful, and professional throughout a long troubleshooting process. Because of that call, the customer remained loyal — and that is a huge asset.
Global Empire is over-delivering on SPH and sales targets. Their performance has helped us reduce acquisition costs significantly, and they have proven to be the missing link in our growth strategy.
I can’t believe we didn’t use Global Empire sooner. Since joining, our order accuracy improved, wait time is virtually gone, and customers receive their orders correctly and on time. This partnership has had a major impact on our national pizza business.
Because of their experience in the energy industry, Global Empire has become a valued marketing partner. Their call center solutions help us acquire customers, retain them, and provide quality service after the sale — 24 hours a day.
Our business relationship with Global Empire has been long and very satisfying. Their employees deserve full credit for the professionalism and consistency they bring to every interaction. I know firsthand how stressful frontline work can be, and their team delivers every time.
Global Empire has been an integral part of our business for years. Our customers expect to speak with someone who can assist immediately, and their team consistently delivers. They maintain professionalism, empathy, and flexibility, making it easy to work together.
With so much outsourcing in the answering services space, it was a relief to find a provider that is truly efficient. The pricing is excellent, onboarding was smooth, and our clients were far happier speaking to a live operator instead of voicemail.
We have partnered with Global Empire for over 15 years and they remain a crucial part of our 24/7 operations. They support multiple sites across states, and we couldn’t be happier with their service, reliability, and long-term consistency.