What do I do about cars sitting on my lot waiting for customer approval?
Short answer
Set a firm storage and decision deadline in writing at drop-off, and enforce it the same way every time. A lot full of unapproved cars is dead capital and a liability sitting outside your building.
A parked car with no approval is costing you every day
Every space taken up by an undecided customer's car is a space you can't use for a paying job, and it's a liability sitting on your property that you didn't agree to store indefinitely. Shops that let this slide usually have three or four of these cars at any given time without realizing how much space and risk that represents.
Put the deadline in writing at drop-off
State clearly on your repair order or intake form that estimates are valid for a set number of days and that a daily storage fee applies to any vehicle left beyond that window without approved work or pickup. Have the customer sign it before you even start diagnosing.
When the deadline hits, call once, remind them of the policy, and then apply the fee. Don't make exceptions quietly, or every customer with a slow-to-decide car will expect the same pass.
Know your state's abandoned vehicle process before you need it
For the rare case where a customer genuinely disappears, most states have a mechanic's lien or abandoned vehicle process that lets you recover storage costs or dispose of the vehicle after a set period. Learn that process before you're stuck with a car for six months, not while you're stuck with one.
The cost of letting one bay space sit idle
| Avg. gross profit per bay per day if workingbased on typical bay hours and GP/hr | $450 |
|---|---|
| Days a stalled car typically sits before enforcementin shops with no storage policy | 12 days |
| Lost opportunity costover that stalled period, one bay | $5,400 |
The math: Multiply your average gross profit per bay per day by the number of days a space is tied up with no approved work, that's what silence is actually costing you.
Storage fee policy for the intake form
ESTIMATE APPROVAL AND VEHICLE STORAGE POLICY Estimates are valid for 5 business days from the date issued. If a vehicle is left at [Shop Name] beyond 5 business days from estimate issuance without approved repair work or arranged pickup, a storage fee of $[amount]/day will apply, beginning on day 6. Vehicles left beyond 30 days without payment or contact may be processed according to [state]'s mechanic's lien and abandoned vehicle laws. By signing below, I acknowledge and agree to this policy. Customer signature: __________________ Date: __________
Where owners get this wrong
- Never putting a written deadline in front of the customer at drop-off.
- Making exceptions quietly for customers who push back, which erases the policy for everyone.
Worth knowing: Check your state's specific mechanic's lien and abandoned vehicle rules before disposing of or selling any vehicle, the notice periods and process vary widely by state.
Ask your version of this question
This is one business owner-tested take. Your shop size, trade, and team change the answer. Ask the exact version inside Ask a Shop Owner and get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.
Now run it against your numbers.
This answer is written for shops in general. Inside Ask a Shop Owner it becomes your answer: your revenue, your crew, your market, your history. Ask "What do I do about cars sitting on my lot waiting for customer approval" and get the version that accounts for what you already told us.
Was this helpful?
One click. It tells us which answers to deepen and which questions we still owe you.
Not ready for a trial? Take the scripts with you.
Leave your email and we send three short notes over the next week showing how owners used answers like this one on a real decision. No newsletter, no drip forever.
Three emails, then it stops. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your email address.
Answered for these owners
Built for shops like yours