Garages lose over £40,000 per year from customer no-shows

1 September 2026  

Data from nearly 2,800 garages, recently shared by Klipboard, has revealed the annual cost of no-show appointments and shown that text reminders alone do not solve the problem.

For most garage owners, no-shows are just part of the job. A customer books a service, the bay is blocked out, parts are ordered, and then they simply don’t turn up. It’s frustrating, but the overall impact is rarely measured.

New analysis of booking data from nearly 2,800 UK and Irish garages, selected from those using Klipboard’s Autowork Online garage management software, paints a clearer picture of the cost of missed appointments, and points to a straightforward fix.

200,000+ missed bookings

In the five months of January to May 2026, those 2,800 garages recorded over 1.8 million customer bookings. Of those, 12% ended in a no-show.

For a typical independent garage completing 100 jobs a month, that translates to roughly 12 empty bays each month. At an average invoice value of £300, that equates to £3,600 in lost revenue each month, or £43,200 a year, before counting the cost of non-returnable items.

Research suggests that SMS reminders have little impact on the rate of missed appointments, but taking deposits and offering ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ to spread costs to the customer, does cut no-shows and reduce lost revenue.

SMS reminders are not the answer

Many garages already send text reminders ahead of appointments, but the data suggests it doesn’t reduce no-shows in a meaningful way.

Garages in the data that actively used SMS reminders had similar no-show rates to those that didn’t. Some of the heaviest SMS senders in the dataset – garages sending over 1,000 messages a year – still recorded no-show rates above 15%.

Lochan Sim, VP Payments at Klipboard, said: “While reminder messages are important, the data shows that doesn’t secure commitment.

“People forget about their appointments all the time. Sometimes they find a better price down the road and don’t let you know. Or maybe they realise that their bank balance won’t cover the bill until after payday.”

Deposits and Buy Now Pay Later

To solve these problems, Klipboard has launched new features in Autowork Online that allow garages to accept upfront deposits and give customers the option to defer their payments through Klarna (the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ service).

Across service industries, data show that even small deposits can reduce no-shows by 50 to 75%, which could amount to £20,000 to £30,000 in additional revenue for the typical UK garage each year.

Industry studies also suggest that offering Buy Now Pay Later options like Klarna can increase conversion rates by 20-30% while giving customers a way to spread the cost of unexpected repair bills.

Together, these new Autowork Online features aim to reduce no-shows and make it easier for garages to get paid.

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