Overview
Identifix Shop Manager is dedicated to maintaining adherence to California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) compliance. This article will help explain how Shop Manager enables our California-based shops to comply with BAR regulations effectively.
How Shop Manager Captures BAR Requirements
Shop Manager ensures compliance with BAR requirements through a comprehensive process that captures and documents necessary approval details.
Documentation Process
The details requested by the BAR representative are recorded and presented to the customer in a printed PDF format, which includes:
- The customer’s name with an approval statement.
- The date and time of the approval.
- A digital signature from the customer.
These elements are captured simultaneously, providing proof that the approvals were made at the same time through Shop Managers’s customer-facing portal (DVX). This process ensures the customer is aware of the changes in the total job cost, the reasons for additional charges, and the new charges being applied.
Record Keeping
The approval action is logged in the Repair Order (RO) along with the method by which the RO was shared. This comprehensive logging satisfies BAR requirements and includes the following information in the event of an inspection:
- Date and time: The exact date and time when the approval was given.
- Unique identifier: The RO number and Shop Manager URL.
- Method of contact: How the customer was contacted for the approval.
- Who authorized: Identification of the person who authorized the additional repairs.
- Reason for additional repairs: Explanation of why the additional repairs were necessary.
- Total cost of additional repairs: The total cost for the additional repairs.
- Revised total cost of the RO: The updated total cost of the repair order after additional repairs.
By following these procedures, Shop Manager ensures all necessary information is captured and readily available to meet BAR inspection requirements.
We understand that this information needs to be pulled together by the shop in the event of a BAR audit. This may then require education of BAR reps about how Shop Manager works versus simple interpretation of "Write It Right".
While the Write it Right guide emphasizes a text exchange as the example, the official regulations allow for any electronic means of approval capture, not just text, including an interface like Shop Manager.
Capturing the Required Information
To help ensure California BAR compliance, Shop Manager has implemented a few settings and UI changes to appropriately capture all required information. Continue reading to learn more about these changes and where they are located.
Recommendation Approvals
There is a setting under Shop Settings > RO Info for a shop to adjust Recommendation Approval preferences, see image below:
The setting above is turned off by default. Shops located in California are highly encouraged to enable this setting along with the two options shown. This will ensure the shop is appropriately and accurately capturing the required BAR information.
If the Recommendation Approvals setting is enabled, then information modals will appear requesting that additional information; in the event a staff member is approving on the behalf of a customer.
NOTE: all information shown in the modals for approval are pulled directly from the customer’s profile.
Modal for ‘Approved in Person’
When selecting to approve in person, you will be presented with a dropdown menu to choose which contact is approving the Estimate, along with a signature box to capture this contact’s signature for approval.
Modal for ‘Approved by Phone’
When approving an Estimate by phone, a dropdown is presented to choose the contact who is approving the Estimate as well as a dropdown to choose the phone number of the contact making the approval.
If the contact’s name and/or phone number does not appear, please add the information under the customer profile directly, then come back to the RO to complete the approval.
Authorization Summary
There is also the ability to select the option to include the Authorization Summary when printing or saving the RO. This setting will show the approved work on the RO for the original Estimate and for any additional repairs that were approved.
This setting is currently turned off by default, allowing the shop to turn it on as needed when the Authorization Summary needs to be shown, such as in the event of a BAR audit.
Where the Required Information is Located
Date and Time
Unique Identifier
Method of Contact/Approval Type
Who Authorized
Reason for Additional Repairs
Total Cost of Additional Repairs
Revised Total Cost of the RO
Additional Information
- The approval type, “Electronic Authorization,” refers to when the customer approves the Estimate via their customer share link (DVX).
- The ‘Authorization Summary’ only shows approved work, for any declines please refer to the log within the RO in Shop Manager.
**For more information about BAR requirements, Write it Right, and rules specific to California, please reach out to Shop Manager support.