Guides

Service Advisor Job Description (Copy-Ready Template)

A service advisor job description you can post today, plus a duties table, the skills and ASE C1 credential to look for, the KPIs to measure and a 30/60/90-day plan.

Ijharul Islam October 21, 2026 9 min read

A service advisor is the person at an auto repair shop's front counter who turns a customer's concern into a repair order, explains the technician's findings and price, gets approval before any work and keeps the customer updated until pickup. That makes the job description harder to write than a technician's, because the job is three jobs: receptionist, translator and salesperson. Get it vague and you hire someone who answers phones but can't explain a brake job, or a closer your regulars stop trusting.

More on this topic: Running an auto repair shop, every guide in one place.

Below is a copy-ready job description for an independent shop, the duties broken out by time of day, the skills and credential to look for, how to structure pay, the numbers to judge the role by, and a 30/60/90-day plan for the new hire.

The short answer

A service advisor job description, in short: the advisor books and greets customers, writes repair orders, explains technicians' findings, gets recorded approval before work, updates customers and closes the sale. Look for counter experience and car knowledge; ASE's C1 test takes two years of service-writing experience. Judge the role on approval rate, average repair order and follow-up.

Key takeaways

Write the duties as the work actually done each day, not a list of adjectives.
ASE's Automobile Service Consultant (C1) test is the advisor credential: 50 scored questions, 75 minutes, two years of service-writing experience.
BLS doesn't publish a separate wage for service advisors; it declined to create the occupation in the 2018 SOC. Benchmark pay from local job ads.
Put a pay range and the pay structure in the ad: hourly, salary or base plus commission.
Judge the role on approval rate, average repair order, customer updates, declined-work follow-up and reviews.

Disclosure: we make BayRobin, an AI receptionist and front office for independent repair shops, and show where it fits. Everything here works without it. Figures from other companies come from their public pages, checked in October 2026 and linked at the end.

What is a service advisor?

A service advisor (also called a service writer or service consultant) is the shop employee who links the customer and the technician: they manage and sell the repair, but don't diagnose or fix the car. ASE calls the role an Automobile Service Consultant, and its C1 test is the credential for it.

It's a different hire from a technician, and from a receptionist. Our guide to hiring an auto mechanic covers technicians; service advisor vs AI receptionist covers which phone work you can hand to a service or AI and which needs a person.

What does a service advisor do in an auto repair shop?

A service advisor takes the customer's concern, turns it into a repair order the technician can act on, turns the technician's findings back into plain language and a price, gets the customer's approval, and keeps everyone updated until the car is paid for and gone. The duties, hour by hour, are in the table further down.

What should a service advisor job description include?

Pay, schedule, the actual duties, what you require, what you offer, and one way to apply. Edit this template:

Service Advisor, [Shop name], [City]
[Shop name] is a [5]-bay independent shop servicing [domestic and Asian cars and light trucks]. We're hiring a service advisor to run the front counter: greet customers, write repair orders, explain inspection findings, get approvals and keep every customer updated until pickup.

Pay: $[XX] to $[XX] an hour [or: $[XX] base plus [X]% of [labor / gross profit] sold], overtime paid. [Paid ASE C1 test.]
Schedule: [Monday to Friday, 7:30 to 5:30].
You'll: answer calls and book appointments; check cars in and confirm the concern; build estimates from technicians' findings; explain repairs with photos and get recorded approval before work; update customers at set times; close repair orders and take payment; follow up declined work and reviews.
You have: [1+] year at a service counter or in a shop; working knowledge of car systems; clear, calm phone manner; comfort with shop software and texting; [ASE C1 or willing to earn it].
We offer: [health insurance], [paid time off], [training], [a written raise path tied to C1 and your numbers].
To apply: call or text [name] at [phone]. We reply within two business days.

What are a service advisor's duties, day to day?

When	Duties
Before opening	Return overnight calls and messages; confirm today's appointments; check parts for today's jobs
Check-in	Greet, confirm the concern in the customer's words, note mileage, set the promised time, get approval for diagnosis or inspection
Mid-morning	Turn findings into estimates; send photos; call for approvals; record each approval or decline
All day	Answer and book calls; order parts with the foreman; update every customer at set times; handle walk-ins
Afternoon	Second customer update; manage delays honestly; check work is done to the approved estimate
Pickup	Explain the invoice, show old parts, take payment, book the next service, ask for a review
Before closing	Follow up open estimates and declined work; set tomorrow's schedule with the foreman

The middle row is where most advisors are made or lost. Our guide on how to explain repairs to customers has the talk tracks.

What skills and certifications should a service advisor have?

Car knowledge enough to understand a technician's notes and ask the right follow-up question. They don't need to diagnose.
Phone and counter manner: calm, clear and specific, especially with an upset customer.
Arithmetic and estimating: labor hours at your rate, parts, fees and tax, done quickly and right.
Organization: ten cars in different states, none forgotten.
Honesty about urgency: willing to say "this can wait".

The credential for the role is ASE's Automobile Service Consultant (C1) test. ASE's C1 page lists 50 scored questions in 75 minutes across communications, customer and internal relations, vehicle systems knowledge, sales skills and shop operations, and it asks for two years of work experience related to service writing (not hands-on repair). The credential lasts five years; the recertification test is 25 questions in 30 minutes. In 2026 ASE charges a $34 registration fee per order plus $62 per test. If you want ASE's Blue Seal for the shop, ASE requires current C1 certification for service consultants; see ASE certification for shops.

How much should you pay a service advisor?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't publish a wage figure for service advisors. When it revised its occupation codes in 2018, it declined a request to create a separate occupation for auto service writers, because occupations are classified by the work done, so advisors are counted inside other occupations. Any "BLS service advisor salary" you see is someone's estimate.

Benchmark from what nearby shops and dealers advertise for the same job, then pick a structure:

Structure	How it works	Watch out for
Hourly	A rate for hours worked, overtime paid	No reward for selling well
Salary	A fixed amount; check your state's overtime-exemption rules first	Misclassification if the role doesn't qualify
Base plus commission	A base rate plus a percentage of labor or gross profit sold	Rewards overselling unless paired with comeback and review measures
Base plus bonus	A base plus a monthly bonus on a few KPIs	Pick KPIs the advisor controls

Put the range and the structure in the ad. Whatever you choose, overtime rules still apply; this isn't legal advice.

Which KPIs should a service advisor be measured on?

KPI	How to count it	Reference
Average repair order	Total sales ÷ repair orders closed	Tekmetric's national average was $704.25 through June 2026
Approval rate	Estimate dollars approved ÷ estimate dollars presented	Set from your own last 90 days
Customer updates	Share of open cars updated at both set times	Aim for every car
Declined-work follow-up	Declined items followed up on schedule	Aim for every item
Calls answered	Answered ÷ total calls during open hours	From your phone system
Reviews	New Google reviews per month, and replies	Ask every paying customer

Pair any sales measure with a trust measure. An advisor paid only on average repair order will raise it; one also measured on comebacks and reviews will raise it honestly. More on the numbers in our shop KPIs guide.

What should a new service advisor's 30/60/90-day plan look like?

Period	Goals	Owner checks
Days 1-30	Learn the software, price book and phone script; shadow every check-in; run the counter with the owner nearby by week 3	Every estimate reviewed before it goes out
Days 31-60	Run the counter alone; present all estimates; send photos with every recommendation; record every approval	Weekly review of approval rate and two recorded calls
Days 61-90	Own follow-ups on declined work and open estimates; start on ASE C1 if not certified	Agree KPI targets and the pay review date in writing

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a service advisor and a service writer?

In most independent shops they're the same job: the person who writes repair orders, explains findings, gets approvals and updates customers. ASE calls the role a service consultant, and its credential is the C1 test.

What does a service advisor do?

A service advisor runs the front counter of a repair shop: books and checks in customers, writes repair orders, turns technicians' findings into estimates, explains them and gets recorded approval, keeps customers updated, closes out invoices and follows up declined work. They don't diagnose or repair the car.

What are a service advisor's duties?

Returning calls and confirming the day's appointments; checking cars in and confirming the concern; building estimates from the technician's findings; calling or texting for approval and recording it; answering and booking calls; updating every customer at set times; explaining the invoice and taking payment at pickup; and following up open estimates, declined work and reviews.

Does a service advisor need ASE certification?

It isn't legally required, but ASE's C1 Automobile Service Consultant credential is the recognized one. It needs a passed test and two years of service-writing experience, and it lasts five years. ASE's Blue Seal program requires it for service consultants.

How much does a service advisor make?

BLS doesn't publish a separate figure for service advisors; it declined to create the occupation in the 2018 SOC revision. Benchmark from local job ads for the same role and decide between hourly, salary and base-plus-commission structures.

What KPIs should a service advisor track?

Average repair order, approval rate on estimates presented, customer updates sent on time, declined-work follow-up, calls answered and reviews. Pair sales measures with trust measures so commission doesn't reward overselling.

Where BayRobin fits

When your advisor is with a customer at the counter, BayRobin's AI receptionist answers the phone, asks the year, make, model and concern, and books an open time; it never diagnoses or quotes beyond the price ranges you set. The dispatch board shows the day by technician, so the advisor can promise times the bays can keep. BayRobin is free until your first 10 booked jobs, no card up front. Start free or see pricing.

Sources

Competitor details in this post were checked against these public pages in October 2026. Products and prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.

#hiring #service writers #front desk #shop kpis