If you run a garage, you’ve probably said this at least once this week:
“Yeah, we can probably squeeze it in.”
It might be a loyal customer, a breakdown job, or someone who “just needs a quick look.” On the surface, it feels like good customer service. In reality, constantly squeezing jobs in is one of the most common — and expensive — habits in independent workshops.
And the cost isn’t always obvious.
Why garages keep doing it
Most garages don’t squeeze jobs in because they’re disorganised. They do it because:
- They don’t want to turn customers away
- They rely on repeat business and word of mouth
- They’ve always run the diary “in their head”
- It feels quicker than reworking the plan properly
The problem is that what feels flexible in the moment often creates chaos later in the day.
The real impact on your workshop
When jobs are added informally, a few things tend to happen:
1. The day runs longer than planned
Technicians rush, breaks get skipped, and overtime creeps in. Even 30 minutes extra per day adds up over a month.
2. Proper jobs lose attention
The work that was booked in advance gets interrupted. Quality drops, mistakes become more likely, and comebacks increase.
3. You lose visibility of capacity
If half your work never makes it into a proper system, you don’t actually know how busy you are — which makes pricing, staffing, and planning guesswork.
4. Admin piles up at the end of the day
Jobs that weren’t logged properly still need invoicing, notes, and customer follow-ups. That “quick job” often becomes a 20-minute admin task after hours.
“But turning people away feels worse”
This is the key mindset shift:
Saying “not today” isn’t bad service — unmanaged flexibility is.
Customers are usually fine waiting a day or booking a proper slot if:
- You’re clear
- You’re organised
- You follow through when you say you will
What frustrates customers far more is delays, lack of updates, or feeling like their car was an afterthought.
A better way to handle urgent jobs
Well-run garages still leave room for flexibility — but it’s planned flexibility.
Some practical approaches:
- Keep a visible buffer in your daily capacity
- Log every job, even “quick looks”
- Track how long these squeezed jobs actually take
- Review how often they disrupt the day
Once you see the pattern, you can decide whether those jobs are truly profitable — or just familiar.
Why systems matter more than experience
Many garage owners rely on years of experience to juggle work. That works — until it doesn’t. As volume increases, memory-based systems break down.
A simple digital workflow:
- Shows real capacity
- Makes knock-on delays obvious
- Helps you protect technician time
- Lets you say “yes” without losing control
Good systems don’t remove flexibility — they support it.
Final thought
“Squeezing it in” feels like good service, but unmanaged squeezing quietly eats into profit, morale, and time.
The goal isn’t to stop helping customers.
It’s to help them without burning the workshop out.
If your days regularly end later than planned, or you’re always catching up on admin at night, this is usually where the problem starts.
