The car is on the lift and the owner is at a desk. You can see the leak. They cannot. Your assistant drafted a note that sounds like a pitch. A pitch is how a necessary repair starts an argument. A choice is how it starts a yes.
Write what you observed, then the fork, then stop.
Seen, judged, chosen
What you can see now — the part, the wear, the leak, the noise that repeats when you reproduce it. Then what you judge that means for the next months, labelled as judgment. Then two options: repair the failed part, or replace the assembly, or a third you would actually do. For each, what it does to time in the shop and what it rules out later.
Then your recommendation, and what would flip it. Do not dress a single path as a menu. An owner can smell a fake B.
Do not attach the estimate. RelayLink does not carry attachments. Describe the work in the briefing so they can answer without opening a packet in a meeting.
A call is right when the car cannot leave and they need the fork in minutes. Write when they have hours. After a call, send the same two options and ask them to correct your record.
Assumptions that show up on the invoice
State the assumption. You assumed they want it back tomorrow more than they want the longer job. You assumed they still drive it daily. You assumed the noise they described is the one you heard. A labelled line gets a correction. A paragraph about "peace of mind" does not.
If your assistant inferred a budget from the age of the car, mark it inferred. Age is not a brief.
You approve it; they reply from the mail
You review the wording. Use the year and the plate or the name they use for the car. A nickname you keep in your list does not travel.
They do not need an account. Almost no owner will create one for a repair. They get email and a link, and they can reply there. If the address already has an activated account, you need an accepted pair for a new thread. If two people share the car, one briefing still goes to one mailbox. Say the other person should see the fork.
After they choose
Write back the option and the parts you will order, and ask them to correct that sentence before you order. Then do that job. If you find a second failure, stop and write a second fork. Stacking surprises onto a yes is how a fair shop starts a dispute.
They can still ask to talk. The briefing is so the talk and the invoice are about the same repair.