What is a repair order?
A repair order, or RO, is the record of one vehicle's visit to a repair shop, from the write-up to the invoice.
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What goes on one
- The customer and how to reach them.
- The vehicle: year, make, model, VIN, plate and the mileage when it came in.
- The complaint, in the customer's own words: what they say is wrong.
- What the technician found, and the work done: labor lines with their hours and rate, and parts with their price.
- The estimate the customer said yes to, and the invoice and payments at the end.
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Why it matters
- It is the shop's record of what was asked, what was approved and what was done.
- When a car comes back, the earlier repair orders say what was already tried.
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Rules differ by state
- Some states set what a shop must write down and give the customer before work starts.
- This guide does not say what your state requires. Check your state's auto repair rules.
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Where Scarab OS does this
- Each visit is one repair order, from the write-up to a sealed record.
- Once sealed, nobody can change it without it showing.
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Questions shops ask
What is a repair order?
The record of one vehicle's visit to a shop: the customer, the vehicle, what they said is wrong, the work, the parts and the total.
Is a repair order the same as a work order?
They name the same record. Auto repair shops mostly say repair order; diesel and fleet shops often say work order.
What does RO stand for?
Repair order.
