Which vehicles get reminders

Summary

Most garages have years of vehicles on their books that customers have long since sold, scrapped or replaced. Reminding a customer about a car they got rid of three years ago is embarrassing, and it’s the main reason garages switch reminders off. Torqueflow gives you two tools to stop it. A reminder activation date quietens every vehicle you have not seen since that date, until it books in again. And a mark on the vehicle’s own page stops reminders straight away for a car you know has gone. This article covers both, the order to switch them on in, and how to undo the old “dead customer” workaround. It applies to MOT and service reminders.

Prerequisites

• To set the activation date: the settings.communication.manage capability (Owner and Manager roles).
• To mark a single vehicle: the vehicles.manage capability (Owners, Managers and Service Advisors). Technicians can see a vehicle’s reminder status but cannot change it.
• MOT or service reminders set up. See Automatic MOT reminders and Service reminders.

Steps

Know what each tool catches

1. The activation date catches the old backlog. Only vehicles you have seen since the date you pick get MOT and service reminders. A booking or a job brings a vehicle back in. Leave the date blank to remind about every vehicle, which is how every garage starts.
2. The date does not catch a car a customer has just lost. A car serviced last month and scrapped last week was seen after your date, so it still counts as active. For that car, mark it on the vehicle’s page. Reminders stop for that car at once.
3. “Seen” means this customer, with this car. A job or a booking counts when it is for the vehicle’s current owner. Future bookings count too. A cancelled booking does not count, and neither does a sale-preparation job on a car you bought in.

Set the reminder activation date

1. Go to Settings > Communication > Reminders.
2. Find the card headed Vehicle eligibility for reminders. With no date set it reads “No activation date set - every vehicle is eligible for reminders.”
3. Under Reminder activation date, pick the date you want reminders to count from. Most garages pick the day they went live with Torqueflow. The date cannot be more than one day in the future.
4. Click Preview impact. Torqueflow works out how many vehicles are checked, how many stay eligible, how many are not seen since the date and how many are marked sold, scrapped or replaced. It also tells you how many of the MOT reminders due soon this date would hold back.
5. Open Vehicles that would go quiet to see the list. The most recently seen vehicles are at the top, because they’re the ones most likely to be held back by mistake. Each row shows the registration, the customer and the last booking or visit.
6. Click Save date. A confirmation headed Hold back reminders for these vehicles? appears with the list again. Review it, then confirm.
7. The card now reads “Activation date: [date]. Vehicles not seen since then are not reminded.”

If you change the date after running the preview, the card says the preview is out of date. Click Preview impact again before saving.

Switch reminders back on in the right order

If you switched reminder types off because of old cars, turn them back on only after the date is saved.

1. Set the activation date, preview it and save it, as above.
2. In the reminder types card at the top of the same page, switch MOT and service reminders back on.
3. Sending starts from the next hourly check.

Clear the date or move it earlier

Clearing the date, or moving it earlier, lets held-back vehicles get reminders again. Torqueflow asks you to confirm this too.

1. Click Clear date, or pick an earlier date and save.
2. A confirmation headed Switch reminders back on for held-back vehicles? shows how many held-back vehicles would start getting MOT and service reminders, and how many of them have an MOT due soon.
3. It also says whether any reminder type is switched on. If one is, sending can start at the next hourly check. If none is, nothing is sent until you switch a type on.
4. Vehicles marked sold, scrapped, replaced or other stay off whatever the date says.
5. Click Switch reminders back on to confirm.

A vehicle that starts getting reminders again can already be inside more than one MOT reminder window, so a customer may get more than one MOT reminder at once.

Mark a vehicle as sold, scrapped or replaced

Use this when a customer tells you the car has gone.

1. Open the vehicle’s detail page.
2. Find the Reminder eligibility card. It shows Eligible for reminders or Not eligible for reminders, and a line saying why, for example “Last booking or visit: [date].” or “Booked in for [date].”
3. Click Turn off reminders for this vehicle. If the vehicle is already held back by the activation date, the button reads Mark as sold, scrapped or replaced instead.
4. Pick a reason: Sold, Scrapped, Replaced or Other. For Other, type a short note in Why? (shown on the vehicle). The note is required and can be up to 200 characters.
5. Click Turn off reminders. The card now reads “Marked [reason] on [date].”

The MOT and service reminder cards on the same page show “Held back: this vehicle is off for reminders (see Reminder eligibility).” Marking MOT done and the service intervals still work as before.

To undo a mark, click Back to automatic. The vehicle then follows your activation date again.

Keep reminding a vehicle regardless of visits

Some vehicles are still yours to remind even though you haven’t seen them lately, such as a leasing or fleet car that’s serviced on a schedule.

1. Open the vehicle’s detail page.
2. On a vehicle held back by the activation date, click Turn on for this vehicle.
3. The card reads Eligible for reminders (set by staff) with “Kept on since [date] regardless of visits.”

This overrides the activation date and the MOT sold-on check for that vehicle. Everything else still applies: a trade customer, a loan car, a SORN vehicle or an MOT already booked still stops the reminder. Click Back to automatic to undo it.

When a booking switches a marked vehicle back on

A new booking for a marked vehicle by the same customer switches its reminders back on by itself. A car marked sold that its owner books in again clearly wasn’t sold.

1. The vehicle card reads “Marked [reason] on [date], but a booking was made for [customer] on [date], so reminders resumed.”
2. The job that did it shows a notice: “This vehicle was marked [reason] on [date]. This job switched its reminders back on.”
3. If the job was booked against the wrong registration by mistake, click Keep marked as [reason] on the job or on the vehicle. The mark stands again and reminders stay off.

Technicians see the notice but not the button.

Undo the “dead customer” workaround

Some garages moved old vehicles onto a made-up customer to keep them quiet. You no longer need to.

1. Set your activation date first, as above, so the old cars stay quiet once they move back.
2. Open each vehicle and use Change Owner to move it back to the real customer.
3. Changing owner clears any sold, scrapped or replaced mark. The vehicle starts on automatic under its new owner, so under the activation date it stays quiet until that customer books it in.

Expected Outcome

• Vehicles you have not seen since your activation date get no MOT or service reminders until they book in or a job is opened for them.
• Vehicles you mark as sold, scrapped, replaced or other get no MOT or service reminders from that moment.
• You can leave MOT and service reminders switched on for the whole garage.
• Every vehicle page says whether the vehicle is eligible for reminders and why.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A customer didn’t get an MOT or service reminder. Cause: The vehicle may be held back by the activation date or marked off. Fix: Open the vehicle’s Reminder eligibility card. “Not seen since your reminder activation date” means a booking or a job turns reminders back on, or you can click Turn on for this vehicle. “Marked [reason]” means someone marked it: click Back to automatic if the car is still theirs. If the card says Eligible for reminders, check the other reasons a reminder is skipped in Automatic MOT reminders.

Problem: A customer started getting reminders again for a car we marked as sold. Cause: A booking was made for that car by the same customer after the mark, which switches reminders back on. Fix: Open the job named on the vehicle card. If the booking was a mistake, click Keep marked as [reason].

Problem: A customer got a reminder for a car they scrapped last week. Cause: The activation date only catches cars you haven’t seen since the date. This car was seen after it. Fix: Mark the vehicle as scrapped on its page. Reminders stop at once.

Problem: Saving the date says “The activation date was changed somewhere else.” Cause: Someone else changed the date while you had the page open. Fix: Refresh the page to see the current date, then try again.

Problem: Marking a vehicle says “The owner of this vehicle changed since you opened this page.” Cause: Someone changed the vehicle’s owner while you had the page open. Its reminders now follow the new owner, and nothing was saved. Fix: Refresh the page and mark it again if it still applies.

Problem: The vehicle card says “Reminder status could not be loaded.” Cause: The eligibility check failed to load for that vehicle. Fix: Refresh the page. If it persists, contact support.

Permissions

Action	Required capability
Set, change or clear the reminder activation date	settings.communication.manage
Mark a vehicle off, turn it on or set it back to automatic	vehicles.manage
Keep a mark after a booking switched it off	vehicles.manage
See a vehicle’s reminder eligibility	Anyone who can open the vehicle

Notes

• The activation date and the marks affect reminders only. A marked vehicle still appears in the vehicle list, on the customer’s record and in worklists.
• Review requests after a completed job are not affected. The completed job is itself the visit.
• Imported job history counts on its original date, so a car you last saw in 2023 on your old system counts as seen in 2023.