The short version: A Power Automate flow that watches the status field on a job record can text or email the customer the moment it changes, so "is my car ready" stops being a phone question aimed at whoever picks up. It runs on the job list you already keep, and most of it costs nothing extra.
Wire the update to the status change
Whatever tracks jobs in your workshop, a Dataverse table, a SharePoint list, or a status field synced out of ServiceM8, Fergus or Tradify, has a moment where a job moves from booked in, to in progress, to awaiting parts, to ready for pickup. A Power Automate flow watching that field can send the customer a text or email at each change, automatically, as a side effect of whoever in the workshop updates the job, not as a separate task someone has to remember. The mechanic marks a job as awaiting parts because that is true; the customer finding out is the flow's job, not a phone call squeezed in between two other jobs.
Built on standard Outlook or a text connector tied to a SharePoint or Dataverse trigger, most of this sits inside the Microsoft 365 licence a workshop already runs. The cost only appears if the message needs to be a text rather than an email, where a premium SMS connector brings in the Power Automate premium plan at NZ$24.30 per user per month for whoever owns the flow.
Should customers be able to look it up themselves?
For most single-location workshops, no, and that is the honest answer. Proactively texting at each status change removes the reason to look anything up in the first place, which is cheaper and simpler than building somewhere for a customer to log in and check. If you genuinely want a no-login status lookup page, because the volume of check-in calls justifies it, Power Pages has an anonymous-access tier for exactly that, no client accounts, at NZ$121.30 per site per month, well under the NZ$323.60 authenticated tier because nobody needs to sign in to use it. Build that only once proactive texts alone are not cutting the call volume, not as the first move.
When it is not worth building
A one-bay workshop doing a handful of jobs a week can call each customer directly and it will feel more personal than a text anyway. Build the flow once the number of jobs in progress at once means updates genuinely get forgotten, or once the front counter is fielding the same "is it ready" call several times a day.
Common questions
How do I stop customers ringing to ask when their job will be ready?
Send the update before they think to ask. A flow tied to the status field on the job record can text or email the customer the moment it moves to the next stage, so the question gets answered before it becomes a phone call.
How can I keep customers updated without calling each one myself?
Wire the notification to the status change on the job record rather than to a person remembering to make a call. Whoever updates the job in your system triggers the customer message as a side effect, with no separate step.
How do I let customers check on their job without ringing the workshop?
A proactive text or email at each status change usually removes the need for a lookup page entirely. If you genuinely want a no-login status page, Power Pages' anonymous tier runs NZ$121.30 a month, cheaper than the authenticated version because nobody has to log in to see it.
Front counter fielding the same call all day?
Tell me what tracks your jobs today. Book a free 30-minute call and I will scope the status flow that takes the calls off your counter.