Collision customers are stressed, on a deadline, and getting two or three estimates. The shop that responds first, and keeps responding while the customer decides, wins a disproportionate share of that work. Most shops lose exactly there: the phone rings while everyone is under a car, the estimate goes out, and nobody follows up because following up is nobody's job.
Everything here applies to general auto repair too. The buying behavior is the same, local, urgent, and comparison-shopped, and our documented result below comes from exactly that kind of shop.
Where body shops leak revenue
- Missed calls during shop hours. The customer does not leave a voicemail. They call the next shop on the list.
- Estimates that never get a follow-up. You did the work of writing it, then went silent while a competitor stayed in touch.
- Reviews left to chance. Insurance-referred customers still check ratings before choosing from the list, and the shop with 40 recent reviews beats the shop with 6.
- Past customers who never hear from you again. A two-car household that had a good experience is your cheapest future job, if anyone reaches back out.
What the AI employee handles
A Make Wavs AI employee is trained on your shop, your services, and your tone, then takes over the follow-up work: answering new inquiries fast, chasing open estimates on a schedule, requesting reviews after pickup, and reactivating past customers. It drafts first, and a human approves before anything reaches a customer, so it sounds like your shop rather than a bot.
The marketing side, with a documented number
For a Meineke auto repair location, 90 days of conversion-optimized Meta advertising (April through June 2025) returned $7.20 for every $1 spent: 210 booked appointments and about $52,500 in attributed revenue on $6,352 of ad spend.
One honest note: Meineke is general auto repair, not collision. We cite it because it is documented end to end and the buyer behavior is the same, local, urgent, and comparison-shopping. We would rather show you a real adjacent number than an invented industry benchmark.
What it costs
The audit is free. AI employee plans run from $1,500 setup plus $2,500 per month (Pilot) to $5,000 setup plus $7,500 and up per month (Executive), depending on how many workflows we install and how much of the supervision we carry. Marketing budgets are set in the audit, against what a job is actually worth to you, not from a rate card.
Common questions
Can the AI answer my shop's phones?
The core install is text and email follow-up: web leads, missed-call text-back, estimate follow-up, and review requests. Voice is scoped case by case in the audit, because whether it makes sense depends on your call volume and how your front desk works today. Either way, a human approves the messages before they go out.
Will this work with the software my shop already uses?
The AI employee connects to the tools you already use rather than replacing them. In the audit we map your current stack, from your scheduler to your estimating workflow, and tell you plainly what connects cleanly and what would need a workaround before you spend anything.
How fast do body shops see results from this?
The install runs on a 30-day timeline, and follow-up workflows start producing as soon as they run, because they work leads you are already generating. Advertising takes longer to optimize: our documented Meineke result came from a 90-day campaign. Anyone promising meaningful ad results in week one is guessing.
What does this cost for an auto body shop?
The AI Audit is free and includes a 30-day plan you keep either way. AI employee plans run from $1,500 setup plus $2,500 per month to $5,000 setup plus $7,500 and up per month. Ad budgets are set against your average repair order value in the audit, not from a flat menu.
See what this looks like for your business
The free AI Audit maps where your business leaks revenue, names the highest-return workflow to automate, and hands you a 30-day plan. Yours to keep either way.
Book the free AI Audit