California Auto Repair Estimate Form Template

What a California auto repair estimate form is for

In California, an auto repair job is regulated from the moment the customer hands over the keys. The Automotive Repair Act requires a written estimate before any work, forbids charging more than the estimate without consent obtained in a specific way, gives customers the right to their old parts, and sets out what every invoice must show. The Bureau of Automotive Repair inspects shop paperwork, and most consumer complaints it receives come down to the estimate, the authorization or the invoice.

This template gives independent shops, mobile mechanics and collision centres a set of forms that follow those rules page by page: the written estimate and work order, a teardown estimate for jobs that need diagnosis first, the customer's authorization with the optional designee, a record of every approved increase with the statutory acknowledgment, and an itemized invoice. It replaces generic order pads that leave out the parts condition, the sublet disclosure or the oral consent details.

When to use it

Use the estimate and authorization pages for every repair or diagnosis that is not free preventive maintenance with a posted price. Use the teardown section when you cannot price the repair until something is taken apart. Complete the additional authorization record the moment you discover the job needs more than the customer approved, and the invoice at completion.

Smog inspections have their own Bureau requirements and forms, and towing must be estimated and authorized separately. Body shops working from an insurer's estimate have additional notice requirements; this template's parts table supports collision work but does not replace a full insurer estimate.

What's inside

The full list of sections and fields in this template, in the order they appear.

1. Shop details and work order

   • Registered business name
   • Address
   • ARD registration number
   • Work order number
   • Date received
   • Promised date

2. Customer and vehicle

   • Customer contact
   • Year
   • make and model
   • VIN
   • Plate
   • Odometer in
   • Customer's description of the problem

3. Diagnosis or teardown estimate

   • Diagnosis
   • Teardown labor
   • Reassembly cost
   • Parts destroyed by teardown
   • Maximum reassembly time
   • Restoration risk

4. Repair estimate

   • Parts with condition and crash part type
   • Labor hours and rate
   • Sublet work disclosure
   • Parts and labor subtotals
   • Sales tax
   • Total estimated price

5. Authorization

   • Statutory no-work-without-authorization statement
   • Customer signature and amount
   • Designated person for increases
   • Return of replaced parts
   • Towing
   • Storage
   • Payment and lien notice
   • Service writer

6. Additional Authorization Record

   • Date and time
   • Person consenting
   • Phone number called
   • Method
   • Additional parts and labor
   • Additional cost
   • New total
   • Statutory acknowledgment of oral approval

7. Invoice

   • ARD number
   • Invoice and work order numbers
   • Odometer out
   • Itemized service work
   • Parts with condition
   • Subtotals
   • Sales tax
   • Total
   • Approved increases
   • Replaced parts disposition
   • Warranty
   • Customer receipt

Preview pages

How to use the forms

1. Fill in the shop header once. Use the business name and address exactly as they appear in the Bureau's records, and your ARD registration number.
2. Write up the customer and vehicle. Record the VIN, plate and odometer reading, and the customer's description of the problem in their own words.
3. Estimate diagnosis or teardown if needed. Price the teardown, the reassembly and the parts that will be destroyed, the maximum time to put the vehicle back together, and any risk that it cannot be restored. Get authorization for this first.
4. Write the repair estimate. List each part with its condition, mark crash parts as OEM or aftermarket, list labor separately, disclose any sublet work, and total the estimate with sales tax on parts.
5. Get the customer's authorization. The customer signs for the total estimated price, may name a person to approve increases, and chooses whether to have replaced parts returned.
6. Stop and get consent before any increase. Contact the customer, describe the additional parts and labor and the extra cost, and record the date, time, name, phone number and method on the Additional Authorization Record before doing the work.
7. Complete the invoice. Itemize service work and parts separately, show the subtotals, tax and total, list each approved increase, and record what happened to the replaced parts.
8. Get the oral approval acknowledgment if needed. If an increase was approved orally and you did not record the facts on the invoice, have the customer sign the statutory acknowledgment at pickup.
9. Give copies and keep yours for three years. Hand the customer legible copies of the estimate, authorization and invoice.

Example: a completed increase record

A fictional shop in Fresno estimates a front brake job on a 2017 Honda Accord at $412.60, including tax. During the job the technician finds a leaking caliper:

Date and time consent was obtained: May 12, 2026, 11:40 a.m. Name of person who gave consent: Maria Lopez (customer). Telephone number called: (559) 555-0148. How consent was given: Phone. Additional parts: Front left brake caliper, Rebuilt, $86.50; brake fluid, New, $14.00. Additional labor: Replace caliper and bleed brakes, 0.8 hours at $150 = $120.00. Total additional cost: $220.50, plus sales tax on the added parts. New total authorized price: $633.10, plus sales tax on the added parts.

The shop called before touching the caliper, wrote the facts down at the time, and showed the rebuilt caliper as "Rebuilt" on both the record and the invoice. Because the facts of the oral consent were copied onto the invoice, the customer did not need to sign the acknowledgment line, though many shops ask for it anyway.

California rules to know

These are the California provisions this form set is built around. Check the Bureau of Automotive Repair's current Write It Right guide for detail.

• Written estimate and authorization (Business and Professions Code section 9884.9(a)). No work or charges before authorization; no charge above the estimate without consent obtained before the extra work.
• Oral consent record. Date, time, name, phone number called, additional parts and labor and total additional cost on the work order, plus either the same facts on the invoice or the customer's signed acknowledgment in the statutory wording.
• Sublet work (section 9884.9(b)). Must be stated on the estimate and needs the customer's consent.
• Collision repairs (section 9884.9(c)). Itemized estimate identifying each part as new, used, rebuilt or reconditioned, and crash parts as OEM or aftermarket.
• Designee (section 9884.9(d)). The customer may name, in writing at authorization, someone else to approve increases.
• Replaced parts (section 9884.10). Returned on request made when the work order is taken.
• Invoices (section 9884.8 and California Code of Regulations, title 16, section 3356). Registration number, separate service and parts listings and subtotals, tax, total, part condition, legible copy.
• Teardowns and towing (title 16, section 3353). Teardown costs estimated and authorized first; towing estimated and authorized separately.
• Records (section 9884.11). Kept for at least three years.

Mistakes that lead to Bureau complaints

The most common problems the Bureau sees are work started on a verbal "go ahead" with no written estimate, extra work done first and explained later, invoices that lump parts and labor together, rebuilt parts billed as new, and "shop supplies" charges that are not itemized. A missing oral consent record turns a fair charge into one the shop cannot collect. Using the same pages in the same order on every job, and filling in the increase record before reaching for the next part, keeps the paperwork as good as the repair.