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Customer messages

Managers only

MOT reminder texts

GarageActive can text your customers before their MOT runs out, as well as emailing them. Texts get read fast, and they come from your garage's own name.

Switch texts on

  1. Open Settings and choose the SMS tab.
  2. Enter a Sender name. It's the name texts show they're from: 4 to 11 letters or numbers, with at least one letter and no spaces.
  3. Tick Send SMS and choose Save changes.
  4. Open the Reminders tab, tick Send via SMS and choose Save changes.
  5. Wait for your sender name to be approved. Every new name is checked before any text goes out, usually within 2 business days. The SMS tab shows Sender name submitted for review with the date until then, and Sender name approved once texts can send.

What the text says

Each text shows as from your sender name, and reads like this:

Ace Motors: your AB12 CDE MOT is due 13 Nov 2026. Call 01632 960123 to book. Opt out: https://garageactive.com/u/3hXV2q5pwu3eKzeJT4rFmj

  • It starts with the Garage name from the General tab in Settings. A long name is cut to the words that fit, so the reminder always goes as a single text.
  • The number to call is the Phone number from the same tab. If you haven't added one, the text doesn't ask the customer to call.

Who gets one

A customer gets a reminder text about a vehicle when all of these are true:

  • SMS is on, Send via SMS is ticked, your sender name is approved, and your garage is on Premium.
  • Their MOT reminder SMS choice is Agreed. That's separate from their email choice, so ask for it.
  • Their phone number is a UK mobile. If it isn't, the customer's details show a warning under the number.
  • Everything that applies to reminder emails: a completed job on the vehicle in the last two years, they were the customer on the most recent one, an MOT expiry date from official DVSA records, and the vehicle still has its plate.
  • You have SMS left in this month's allowance, or extra SMS are on.

Your monthly allowance

  • Premium includes 100 SMS a month. The SMS tab shows how many you've used, and the count resets on the 1st.
  • When the allowance is used up, reminder texts stop until the reset, and texts that fall due in the meantime are skipped. Reminder emails carry on as normal.
  • To keep texting after that, a manager can choose Allow extra SMS on the SMS tab. Each extra SMS costs 6p, charged on the 1st. Your monthly SMS allowance explains how it works.
  • Need a bigger allowance every month? Contact support and we'll put a plan together.

Good to know

  • Texts go out at 10am, 27 to 30 days before the MOT runs out. Emails go out at 6am. A customer who agreed to both gets both.
  • Each text ends with an opt out link. Opting out of texts doesn't stop their emails, and the Activity tab shows which they opted out of.
  • Each sender name belongs to one garage. If another garage already uses the name you want, choose your own variation, like adding your town.
  • Changing your sender name pauses texts until the new name is approved.
  • If a name is still waiting after 7 days, the SMS tab shows Sender name not yet approved. Contact support or choose a different name.
  • If a name is turned down, the SMS tab shows Sender name not approved, and texts stay paused until you choose a different name.
  • Sent texts show in the Activity tab of the customer and of the vehicle. Once the mobile network reports back, a second entry says whether the text was delivered. If it wasn't, check the customer's mobile number.

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