Vehicle Repair Estimate Form Template

A vehicle repair estimate form should show the customer, vehicle, each part and labor charge, exclusions, total, expiry date, and the exact revision the customer approved. Use the printable template below to calculate and explain the quote; record approval against that version before work starts. An estimate is a proposed price, not an invoice or proof of payment.

Download the sample CSV · Download the form field specification

Printable vehicle repair estimate template

Copy this sample into a document or spreadsheet and add your shop’s contact details. The sample figures below are illustrative; use your own parts cost, labor rate, tax rules, and diagnosis.

This example’s subtotal is $86 + ($74 × 2) + $250 + $18 = $502. The sample tax is 8% of the subtotal, or $40.16, for a $542.16 estimate. Confirm which items are taxable in your jurisdiction and show the calculation used. If inspection reveals new work, issue a revised estimate and ask for approval again; keep the earlier version and its decision in the record.

What to include before sending a quote

Identify the customer and vehicle well enough to find the job later, but avoid putting unnecessary personal information on a printed copy. Give the estimate a unique number and revision. State what the shop inspected, what work is included, and which parts, labor hours, rates, fees, taxes, and assumptions produce the total. Separate optional work from the work needed for the quoted scope.

List exclusions beside the estimate rather than relying on a general disclaimer. Say whether the price can change after teardown, how long the estimate is valid, and that additional work requires a new approval. Keep customer approval attached to the revision shown to them. A generic “approved” flag on the customer or repair order is not enough to tell which scope and price they accepted.

For another field-format reference, see the repair estimate form. The sample above adds a revision-specific approval record.

Turn the paper form into an estimate workflow

AI-generated editorial concept; not a screenshot of a deployed app.

For a digital version, model customers, vehicles, estimates, estimate_revisions, line_items, and approvals. An estimate holds the stable job identity; each immutable estimate_revisions row holds its scope, status, currency, expiry, tax basis, and calculated totals. Link line items and approvals to the revision ID. Store each part or labor row with description, quantity or hours, unit rate, and line total. Calculate totals in trusted server-side logic, then save the calculation inputs and result together so a later edit cannot silently change an approved quote.

Give shop staff access to estimates for their shop. Let an authenticated customer view only estimates linked to their own customer account. Keep contact details, VIN, internal notes, cost basis, and staff comments private. A customer-facing estimate can expose the vehicle summary, quoted line items, exclusions, totals, status, and approval action; do not send internal notes or another customer’s records to the browser and merely hide them in the interface.

Use a clear state flow: draft → sent → approved or declined; an edit to a sent estimate creates a new revision that returns to sent. An approval record should include estimate ID, revision ID, customer ID, decision, and timestamp. Treat any changed amount or scope as a new version requiring a new customer decision. Approval authorizes the quoted work under the shop’s terms; it does not create an invoice or record a payment.

Build the proposed app with one backend: Atoms Cloud or Supabase. Atoms’ Supabase guide says each Atoms project connects to one Supabase project at a time, and Supabase and Atoms Cloud are alternatives for a project. The guide also says the connection alone does not create a data feature: build the save/read flow and then test it in the app and connected database. Atoms: Connect Supabase.

Before accepting the workflow, create a synthetic estimate, refresh or reopen it, and confirm the saved line items and totals remain correct. Edit the estimate, create revision 2, and verify that approval of revision 1 does not approve revision 2. Sign in as a second customer and confirm the first customer’s estimate cannot be read. Test that the total recomputes when a quantity, rate, or tax basis changes.

If the shop later collects a deposit, link a separate payment record to the approved estimate revision and fulfill the deposit only after verified payment. Stripe recommends a server-side webhook for reliable Checkout fulfillment because a customer may never reach the success page; the handler must tolerate repeated or concurrent events and fulfill a payment only once. Keep Stripe secrets server-side and test the webhook and Checkout flow before enabling deposits. Stripe: Fulfil orders.

Build prompt

Use this prompt to define the proposed app and its acceptance checks:

Build a vehicle repair estimate app for one repair shop.
Use Supabase as the only backend for this project.
Create customers, vehicles, estimates, estimate_revisions, line_items, approvals tables.
Keep a stable estimate ID and immutable revision snapshots.
Link every line item and approval to its exact estimate_revisions ID.
Add shop_staff and customer roles with authenticated ownership checks.
Staff can manage shop estimates and customer/vehicle records.
Customers can read only estimates linked to their own account.
Keep VIN, contact details, internal notes, and cost basis private.
Expose only customer-facing vehicle summary and quoted line items.
Include estimate number, revision, status, currency, expiry, exclusions.
Store quantity/hours, unit rate, tax basis, and calculated line total.
Recalculate subtotal, tax, and total in trusted server-side logic.
Save calculation inputs and outputs with each revision.
Allow draft, sent, approved, and declined states.
Editing a sent estimate creates a new revision in sent state.
Bind each approval to estimate ID, revision ID, customer ID, decision, timestamp.
Approval of an old revision must not approve a later revision.
Keep approval separate from invoice and payment records.
Seed synthetic customer Casey Reed and vehicle 2018 Civic.
Seed estimate R-1042 revision 1 with parts and labor rows.
Show a printable estimate with scope, exclusions, and totals.
Do not add Stripe or collect payment in this version.
Test arithmetic across quantity, rate, and tax changes.
Create an estimate, refresh, and confirm saved values remain.
Edit a sent estimate and verify a new revision is created.
Approve revision 1 and verify revision 2 remains unapproved.
Sign in as another customer and confirm reads are denied.
Check public/customer responses contain no staff notes or cost basis.

For related patterns, see turning a spreadsheet into a web app and building a client portal.