A garage invoice has to answer a question no other trade invoice does: which vehicle, and what was actually replaced. Months later a customer selling the car, or arguing about a repeat fault, will come back to this document as the service record.
The parts and labour split is the other structural requirement. Customers accept parts pricing far more readily when it is visible, and blending both into a single figure is the fastest route to a disputed bill.
If you are VAT registered, note that parts and labour are both standard rated, but the split still matters for the customer's own records and for any warranty claim.
The registration is what the customer and any future owner will search for.
Turns the invoice into a usable service record and protects you on wear-related claims.
Part name and number where you have it. "Parts" as one line invites a challenge.
Show the hourly rate and hours, not just a total.
What the fault was and what you did about it.
Recorded work you recommended and the customer declined, which protects you later.
Net, VAT and gross, with your VAT number shown.
It reads as unaccountable. Splitting parts from labour usually removes the objection entirely, even when the total is identical.
Without it the invoice is useless as a service record, which is much of its value to the customer.
If you told the customer the tyres were marginal and they declined, it belongs on the invoice. Verbal advice is not evidence.
Yes, always. Customers judge the two differently and accept a parts figure they can see far more readily than a blended total. The split also matters for warranty claims, where a manufacturer or supplier will pay for a defective part but not for your labour, and cannot process the claim from a single combined line.
Registration number, make and model, and the mileage when the work was done. The registration is what makes the invoice findable later, and the mileage turns it into a service record that supports the car's value at resale and protects you if a wear-related fault is disputed months on.
Put it on the invoice as an advisory line with no charge, worded plainly: "Advised front tyres below 3mm, customer declined". If the same issue causes a problem later, a written advisory on a dated document the customer received is a far stronger position than a recollection of a conversation in the workshop.
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