Invoices

You rarely build an invoice by hand. The moment a customer approves work, the visit's bill assembles itself from every approved, unbilled line on the repair order. Approve more work mid-visit and the open bill updates in place, even after it has been sent; only paid invoices stay locked as snapshots. To remove approved scope from an unsettled bill, use Revise approved work and review the replacement before applying it. If the invoice was already signed, the signature clears so the customer signs the changed bill. Jobs already paid on an earlier invoice show a Paid marker with that invoice number on the vehicle page, so they never look missing from the current bill. Discounts carry with the work: every approved estimate's discount lands on the bill, so approving an add-on never erases a discount from an earlier estimate. A discount on a single item of an estimate lives in that item's line prices, so it carries to the bill automatically too.

Invoice assembly is retry-safe. If a request or worker stops after the approval is saved, CarSignal resumes the same visit bill instead of creating a second draft or losing the approved work. A payment and an approved add-on are serialized too: a bill cannot be marked paid against an older, smaller total, and a paid invoice is never rewritten.

Record approval shows the selected work with tax and service fees before you confirm, including when the estimate was never sent. If the work or total changed, review it again. Shop Brain can take you to this review; a conversational yes by itself does not record the approval.

While the invoice is a draft you can adjust its discounts with the same picker quotes use: each job can carry its own discount, plus one bill-wide (or labor-only / parts-only) discount on top, and different targets stack. One guardrail in both places: a discount the customer already saw on the approved quote can be increased (goodwill at the counter) but never silently reduced — the customer never pays more than they approved, and the same rule holds per job. If the customer agrees to the higher price (a renegotiation at the counter or by phone), the reduction asks an admin or service writer to record who gave the OK and how; the consent is noted on the job's activity and in the shop audit log, so the change has a record of the customer's authorization. A labor-only discount leaves parts, the parts-based environmental fee, and parts tax untouched, and a parts-only discount is the mirror, leaving labor and labor tax untouched.

Shop supplies work the same way: open the bill and edit or remove them at any point before the invoice settles, even after the work was approved. Click the Shop supplies line (or open the invoice panel) to change the amount or waive it; tax recomputes and your change sticks — the bill will not quietly re-add the fee when more approved work lands on it.

Payments after a refund

The bill separates Payments received, Refunded, and Net payments. If a refunded amount was paid again and the invoice is covered, it shows Paid in full. Refund history stays on record. A refund on a settled receipt does not reopen it for collection or unlock its original prices and notes. New work is billed separately.

What is on it

Line notes saved through Revise approved work appear beneath the job on the customer's invoice and PDF. Updating a note replaces its earlier text; it does not change payments already recorded. Confirm the revision to publish the change—typing into the editor alone does not update the invoice.

Sequential invoice number, your shop's legal identifiers (Tax ID, BAR number, license numbers from Settings), bill-to, the vehicle with mileage in and out, itemized parts and labor, environmental fee, tax, your shop note, and your warranty and terms text. Statutory notices print where states require them. The shop's own preview carries a blank customer-signature and date line, so you can print the invoice and have the customer sign on paper at the counter; online, the customer signs from their copy of the link. Preview invoice opens in a window right over the vehicle page — never a new tab — with Save PDF in the toolbar. The saved PDF is the document you print and hand across the counter, and it closes with your shop name, phone, and legal identifiers.

Sending

The web bill keeps a verified balance visible during routine background checks. If payments cannot refresh, it shows Invoice total instead of an old balance. Choose Refresh balance beside the message to retry. Collection stays blocked until the current payments are verified; your recorded payments are not changed.

The first Send invoice click in the vehicle's money rail opens the invoice terminal. Review the bill and delivery method there, then send. Opening the terminal alone sends nothing.

Send by text, email, or both from the vehicle's invoice panel. Before anything goes out, a compliance check blocks the send if required fields are missing, so an incomplete settings page cannot produce a non-compliant invoice. Technician assignment never blocks a send: it stays with the job, and when the vehicle has an assigned tech, unattributed billed jobs pick that name up automatically at send. Contact details refresh from the client record at send time. The odometer reading is frozen onto the invoice the moment it is first issued, so later vehicle updates or the next visit's check-in never change what an already-sent invoice shows; if no reading was captured, drafts say "Not entered" internally and customer documents simply omit the line rather than showing a false zero.

Net terms and fleet accounts. If the client has payment terms set (Net 7–60), sending stamps a due date and the invoice reads "Net 30 — due Sep 12" instead of "Due upon receipt." The workflow for a fleet job: send the invoice when you close the job — it becomes a receivable, visible in the daily close — and mark it paid when the check actually lands. Revenue always counts on the day the money arrives, so a Net-30 job never inflates today's numbers. An invoice can also carry the fleet's own PO / authorization number, shown on the document and searchable.

Signatures

An online payment is tied to the invoice version and balance the customer reviewed. If the bill changes, old online Checkout sessions must be closed before the change can apply. If a payment is already processing, CarSignal waits for its confirmed result instead of collecting again. The customer can reopen the invoice link for the current balance. If payment history cannot be verified, the page explains why payment is paused and offers Refresh invoice; it never treats an unavailable history as zero paid.

Customers sign before paying the final balance online: a typed name plus a drawn signature on the invoice page, with the signature metadata recorded. For money already collected in person, Record without signature records that the customer declined or was unavailable, with the staff member, time and exact invoice version. It records payment, not customer approval of work, and does not mark the invoice signed. A partial deposit can be collected before signing. If the bill changes after it's signed (you add a charge, apply a discount, or approve more work), the signature clears and the customer signs again for the new amount, so a signature always matches the bill it authorizes. Resend the invoice to ask for that fresh signature; the vehicle page shows "Bill changed after signing" until it's re-signed.

Revising an approved job

On the web vehicle page, revisions open inside the job or charge card, not in a modal. Edit, review, and confirm in that same space. The job stays open while you revise it; Cancel returns to the expanded job without applying your changes.

After you confirm, the job returns to its normal card with the applied lines in place, marked as revised (your reason shows when you give one; it is optional). You can keep adding parts, labor, or charges to an approved job at any time (PartsTech orders land as usual); the original approval is untouched, and the added work still needs a recorded OK before it reaches the bill. The confirmation screen itemizes the new invoice total, including any carried discount, shop supplies, fees, and tax.

Regular jobs keep the familiar parts and labor grid, Add line, and title editor in the header. Already-loaded lines are editable immediately while the saved revision is checked in the background; typing stays in place. Diagnostic jobs show Customer and Findings. Routine services do not gain a separate work-notes field when revised. If the job already has a saved customer-facing writeup, it remains editable under Invoice writeup. Vehicle tech notes and invoice notes stay in their existing editor.

Confirmation shows the invoice before and after, net payments already received, and the remaining balance. Approval controls sit beside the bill on wide screens. Back to edit returns to your changes; Cancel exits without applying them.

Open Tax & notes on a part or labor line for invoice notes and tax. Change a part's condition using its inline New / Used / Rebuilt / Reconditioned selector, including when adding a part. The revised condition is saved with the replacement document after confirmation. The draft job total is a preview—the bill and recorded payments do not change until you confirm. Parts ordering remains separate from revision editing.

Adding a charge opens its form in view, outside the scrolling line table. Add charge puts it in your revision; Cancel leaves the other edits alone. The revision's Review changes returns when you finish that entry. Confirmation keeps the invoice before and after, net payments, and new balance together at the top. If the job total differs from the whole bill, both changes are shown. For an increase, enter Approved by and Approval method below the totals, then confirm that the customer approved the revised work and amounts.

Use Revise approved work on the job card to change a charge, part, labor line, or customer-facing writeup. Make your edits, choose Review changes, then Confirm changes. The original approval and billed amount stay unchanged until confirmation. The review shows the old and new job totals, invoice total, payments already received, and remaining balance. An increase requires the customer's name and how they authorized it. Reductions still get a recorded revision, without asking for new price authorization.

On the web, description, quantity or hours, rate, and tax stay together. Line details holds cost, discounts, and notes for parts and labor; Customer-facing writeup opens the job's text. A standalone charge keeps its Fixed amount / Quantity × rate, unit, internal cost, tax, and customer notes visible. Changing the price type keeps the same amount; changing the price still goes through Review and Confirm. Existing discounts stay attached.

An already-loaded charge opens inline with its fields ready to edit while the saved revision is checked in the background. Your typing stays in place. Review changes becomes available when that check finishes; conflicting changes never replace another advisor's work. The editor expands and closes smoothly, or immediately when reduced motion is enabled. Cancel does not save your edits.

Cancel leaves without applying or saving local input. Previously reviewed edits can remain in the shared working copy; cancelling never deletes another advisor's work. There are no save-draft or restore choices. If another advisor changed the revision, your input remains visible until you cancel and reopen the latest version. If confirmation loses its response, Confirm changes checks the same request; editing and leaving wait until its outcome is known. A temporary opening failure offers Try again. Missing historical approval details still need verification; retrying does not invent them.

Only that job changes. Other jobs on a partly approved quote remain available from the customer's existing link. The original approval stays on record and the current job shows the applied revision. A changed signed invoice needs a fresh signature. Cancelling a revision leaves the approved work, payments, and original parts-order records alone.

Picking up a vehicle does not settle its bill. An invoice that has never been fully paid can still be revised after pickup, including when a partial payment has been collected. Once an invoice has been fully paid, its prices remain frozen even after a refund; use a separate bill for new work. Older records whose original approved scope or fee cannot be verified are held for review rather than recalculated using today's prices.

Adding a charge after approval

Customer concerns get their own boxed section near the top of the invoice: every job's concern listed together, so a customer with several complaints reads their whole story in one place instead of hunting through the line items (findings stay with their job). On the vehicle page, one click on Tidy for the customer under a job's raw notes drafts a clean professional version, shows it for a quick edit, and Apply makes it the job's customer text — what prints as the concern. The customer's original words stay one tap away behind View original (and Use original switches back). Below the job list, suggestions from the customer's notes appear on their own: any complaint that has no job yet shows as a click-to-add row quoting the customer's words, and when everything is covered a quiet line says so. It only ever suggests what the customer actually said, and nothing is added without your click.

Opening an invoice (the INV number, invoice status, or first Send invoice action) opens its command center: the document on the left — every job and the complete math down to Amount due — and collection on the right: the balance, Record payment, Send payment reminder (that is what a resend is once the customer has seen or partly paid the bill), who it goes to, and an Activity feed of sends, views, and every payment and refund. Rare moves (refund, void, mark picked up) live behind More. On an unsettled bill, Edit beside Discount or Shop supplies opens the editor directly. Nothing changes until Apply; Cancel leaves the bill alone. Apply or cancel before sending or taking payment. Raising an approved amount still requires recorded re-authorization, and changing a signed bill still requires a new signature. A previously paid receipt never offers price editing, including after a refund. Draft invoices use this same terminal before sending; nothing is sent until its Send invoice control is pressed.

Storage fees, a sublet bill that landed late, anything that has to go on a bill the customer already approved: add it as a Charge on the vehicle page (the same + Add a job window, Charge type). Pick a preset first if one fits: Storage starts per-day (enter days and the rate), Sublet adds a vendor-cost field so the markup shows in your profit (the customer never sees your cost), Disposal names a flat fee, and Other is the blank form. Then pick Flat for a single amount, or Quantity × rate for anything counted: days of storage, tires, miles, hours — enter the quantity, the unit word, and the rate, and it all lives on the line itself — the quote, invoice, and PDFs print the math ("3 × $150.00") and adjusting the quantity on the job recomputes the total. Every charge also takes an optional detail line the customer sees under it ("Storage while awaiting insurance approval", what the sublet shop actually did). The charge appears in the pending zone like any other work; Record approval puts the selected charge on the bill, and the living bill absorbs it into the open invoice. One path for every charge, before or after approval, and the approval is recorded like any other.

Fixing a wrong invoice

If a manual refund loses its response, reopening Record refund recovers that original request with its amount and receipt choice locked. Retry original refund checks or completes the same request, even when the latest refundable balance is zero. Do not hand money back again just because the connection failed. A confirmed result clears the pending request before another refund can be entered.

Record payment shows the amount you are about to record. Blank amounts and amounts above the balance cannot be submitted. If the final payment needs a customer signature, Get customer signature opens the customer invoice first; a smaller deposit can still be recorded before signing. Return to Record payment after the customer signs. Opening the signature page never records money.

On the web, payment, refund, and receipt delivery each open one focused dialog. Escape or Cancel takes you back to the bill. A failed invoice send stays visible in the bill panel so you can fix the destination or retry without hunting for a vanished notification.

For a correction to approved work, use the revision flow above. Void & rebuild is for replacing an invoice with no money still held: the old document and reason stay in the audit trail, and the new draft uses the recorded approved scope. Voiding never authorizes extra work or changes a previously paid receipt.

Money is the guardrail: an invoice holding any payment, even a deposit, cannot be voided until that money is refunded. Record a cash/manual refund from the invoice panel; refund online payments through Stripe. Once all held money is returned, the bill can be voided, but its payment and refund history still cannot be permanently deleted.

Refunding a deposit on an unsettled invoice reduces the money held and increases its remaining balance. The original payment stays in history with a separate refund, including refunds of online deposits. A refund after full settlement is different: the paid bill stays a closed Refunded receipt, showing payments, refunds, and the net money received. It does not automatically create a new amount to collect. Use a separate reviewed bill for a new charge, rather than rewriting a paid receipt.

If recording a payment or refund loses its connection, retry the same request in the same app. The retry resumes the original transaction instead of recording the money twice. Two people collecting at once are checked against the current balance; an amount above what remains is refused. Receipts and bookkeeping retry separately after the money is saved.

Verified vehicle balances

The vehicle workspace loads the invoice total and its recorded payments together, including deposits on draft invoices. Returning to a vehicle does not briefly treat existing payments as zero. Web and mobile recheck the balance when payment history changes.

Returning to an already-loaded web tab keeps the balance and payment breakdown in place while checking in the background. A slower routine check does not replace them with a loading message. Collection still waits for the check to finish. A payment change or failed check is shown explicitly.

If verification is unavailable, the workspace labels the amount Invoice total or Last confirmed balance instead of calling it the current balance due. Recording money waits for verification; existing invoices and payment records are not changed by this check.

Imported ShopBoss paid invoices keep their original totals and paid status. When receipt details were not part of the import, web, mobile, and customer copies show Imported paid record instead of a payment-loading error. This does not create payment records or enable collecting or refunding an unverified historical amount. Customer history lists continue showing the original paid document totals.

Closed zero-dollar invoices without payment rows show No-charge receipt. No payment was required, and no payment record is invented. Their original totals and closed status stay intact.

Counter sales (no vehicle)

Selling a part off the shelf or ringing up a quick charge? Open Sales from Inventory and hit New sale. Add parts and labor lines with no vehicle or VIN required.

Search your inventory right in the composer to drop a stocked part onto the sale — the price fills in and its on-hand count shows (with a warning if you're selling more than you have). Paying the sale deducts those parts from stock; free-typed lines that aren't from inventory don't touch it.

Attach a customer if you want by searching your existing clients, or just type a name — a phone or email (neither is required) lets you text or email the invoice. Tax applies at your shop rate.

Take payment right there: Mark paid for cash, text or email the invoice (it picks the method from whatever contact you have — phone texts, email emails, both sends both), or Copy pay link for a page they can pay online.

The Sales page keeps the list of pending and completed sales, so you can come back to one to take payment or resend. A counter sale is a normal invoice underneath, so it counts toward your revenue in Financials — it just isn't tied to a car.

Next: Getting paid.