Customer portal overview

Summary

The customer portal is a branded, self-service website where your customers can track their vehicle’s progress, approve quotes, exchange messages with the garage, view invoices, and manage their profile and privacy settings. Each garage gets its own portal branded with the garage logo and primary colour. Customers do not need to create an account. The garage creates them automatically when a customer record is added.

Prerequisites

The customer has an email address on file.
At least one work order, conversation, or invoice exists for the customer (otherwise the portal is empty but functional).

How customers access the portal

Signing in with an email link

Customers sign in from a link, sent to their email or by text. They never need a password.

The customer opens the portal login page. The page heading reads Sign in to your portal with the subheading “Enter your email to receive a sign-in link”.
The login form defaults to the Email link tab.
The customer enters their email address in the Email address field and clicks Send sign-in link.
A success message confirms the email was sent.
The customer clicks the link in the email to sign in. They stay signed in for 90 days from that moment, however often they use the portal.

If the link has expired, the portal shows “Your link has expired. Request a new one below.” If the link is invalid, it shows “That link is no longer valid. Request a new one below.”

The login page always carries a line for customers the email form cannot help: “No email on file, or the link isn’t arriving? Call [garage name] on [phone] and they can text you a sign-in link.” When they call, use Send Portal Link on the customer record and choose SMS.

The Password tab

The login page also shows a Password tab. Password sign-in is not working at the moment, so point every customer to the Email link tab, or send them a link with Send Portal Link. Nothing they need is behind a password.

SMS and notification links

Customers also receive links in quote emails, WhatsApp updates and text messages. These links sign the customer in and take them straight to the page they are about: the quote awaiting approval, or the job’s status page. Text messages use a short link such as tflow.link/p/0f3a91c47b2e5d68.

A link the garage sends works for up to 90 days. For what customers see when one has expired, and how to get them back in, see Portal sign-in, links and expiry.

What the portal shows

After signing in, the customer sees a welcome page with their name and the garage name. The page reads: “Track your vehicle’s progress at [garage name]”.

First-visit welcome strip

The very first time a customer opens the portal, an extra welcome strip appears above the standard header: “Welcome to [garage name]. Your car’s status is at the top of this page, and you can message the team anytime via Messages.” A small close button (X) sits on the right of the strip. The customer taps it to dismiss the strip, and it does not show again. The strip also clears naturally when the customer closes their browser. The strip does not appear on subsequent visits.

Single active job hero

When the customer has exactly one active work order, which is the most common case for a typical retail customer, the portal home page heroes that job at the top: “Your [Make Model] - [Status]. [Estimated ready date]” in large type. Tapping the hero opens the job’s status page. The Messages and Invoices tiles still appear below the hero. With two or more active jobs, the home page falls back to the standard tile-grid layout. With no active jobs, see the empty-state below.

No active jobs

When the customer has no active work orders, the home page shows a centred empty-state: “Your garage is ready when you are” with a tap-to-call button “Call [garage name]”. One tap opens the customer’s phone dialler with the garage’s number prefilled.

Password prompt

Signed-in customers may see a card headed Want to sign in faster? inviting them to set a password. They do not need to. The email link remains the way to sign in.

Messages

A View Messages link takes the customer to their conversations with the garage team. See Portal messaging for details.

Your Jobs

A collapsible Your Jobs section shows all active work orders as cards. Each card displays:

Reference Number - a human-readable code prefixed with “WO-” (e.g. WO-TANGO-1234). The card notes “Quote this reference when calling”.
Vehicle registration, make, model, and colour.
Status badge - Pending, Scheduled, In Progress, Awaiting Parts, Ready, or Complete.
Status message - a plain-English description (e.g. “Work in progress”).
Description of the work.
Appointment date if one is scheduled.
Booked date at the bottom.
A View status link to the detailed status page.

If no active jobs exist, the portal shows “No active jobs” with the message “When you book with us, you’ll see your car’s status here.”

Invoices

A View Invoices link leads to the invoices list. Each invoice card shows:

Invoice number.
Payment status badge - with an overdue indicator if the due date has passed.
Date and vehicle registration.
Gross amount.

Clicking an invoice opens the detail page where the customer can download a PDF.

The profile menu in the top-right header shows the customer’s name and an avatar initial. Clicking it opens a dropdown with:

Messages - go to conversations.
Invoices - go to invoices list.
My Profile - edit preferred salutation.
Privacy & Security - manage privacy tier, password, and voice PIN.
Sign out - log out of the portal.

My Profile

The profile page lets customers choose how they prefer to be addressed. A link at the bottom reads Manage communication preferences, which opens the preferences page where customers can toggle consent categories for how the garage contacts them.

Privacy & Security

The combined Privacy & Security page includes:

Privacy Level - a tier selector controlling what the AI voice assistant can share when someone calls about the customer’s account.
Account Security - cards for managing a voice PIN and password (set or change).
Alert Preferences - visible only at the BLOCKED privacy tier, controls notifications when someone tries to access the account.
Get in Touch - shows garage contact channels (voice AI numbers, WhatsApp, main line).

Expected Outcome

The customer can independently track work, approve quotes, send messages, view invoices, and manage their account settings without needing to phone the garage.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Customer sees “Unable to find your garage. Please check the URL.”	The portal URL does not match any registered garage domain or subdomain.	Confirm the garage’s domain is set correctly in organisation settings.
Magic link email not received.	Email may be in spam, or the email address does not match any customer record. Or Torqueflow can no longer email that address, because earlier email to it bounced for good or was reported as spam.	Ask the customer to check their spam folder. Verify their email address in Torqueflow matches what they entered. If it does and nothing arrives, use Send Portal Link and choose SMS.
Password tab does not work, or says “Invalid email or password”.	Password sign-in is not working at the moment.	Ask them to use the Email link tab, or send a link with Send Portal Link. Their account is not affected.
Customer sees “We’ve made a security update, so everyone needs to sign in again.”	Their browser held a sign-in the portal no longer accepts. Everyone signed in on 28 August 2026 was signed out this way once.	Nothing is lost. They request a new sign-in link, or you use Send Portal Link.
A text link says “This link has expired. Ask your garage to send you a new one.”	The link is more than 90 days old, or is an old-style short link used after 27 November 2026.	Use Send Portal Link on the customer record.
”Too many requests. Please wait a minute and tap the link again.”	The link was tapped many times in a short spell, or several people share one connection.	Wait a minute and tap again.
Portal shows no jobs or invoices.	The customer has no work orders or invoices linked to their record.	Confirm the customer record in Torqueflow has the correct email and that work orders are assigned to them.

Notes

A portal sign-in lasts 90 days from when the customer signs in. Using the portal does not extend it.
The portal is fully responsive and works on mobile devices.
Every portal page checks the customer is signed in. If their sign-in has ended, they are sent to the login page with a message explaining why. If it ends while they are part-way through something, the page says “You have been signed out, so that didn’t go through” with a Sign in again button.
A link the garage sends signs in whoever taps it, so customers should not forward portal emails or texts.
The garage’s branding (logo and primary colour) is applied throughout the portal automatically.