The problem
Explaining an MOT failure or an extra repair to a customer with limited English, through typed phone translation back and forth, takes about 20 minutes and often ends in a 'leave it for now' that wasn't really understood. A garage with 3 of these conversations a week spends about an hour on them.
What the AI does
ChatGPT Voice can translate a conversation as it happens: tell it 'Translate everything we say between English and Polish' and put the phone on the counter. You explain the fault, it speaks the translation, the customer answers, and it translates back. The conversation's transcript stays in the chat afterwards. The estimate and approval still go on the job card in writing. Voice is on every plan; Go (about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) gives 3 hours of Live voice in a rolling 24 hours.
A worked example
A four-bay independent garage in Peterborough has many Polish and Romanian-speaking customers. About 3 times a week the service adviser uses ChatGPT Voice to explain a failure or quote, then shows the photos and the written estimate.
Before
About 20 minutes per conversation using typed translation: 3 a week
After
About 8 minutes per conversation with live voice translation
What it's worth
About $137£103€123A$198C$194 a month in time saved, against about $9£7€8A$13C$13 for ChatGPT Go. Each conversation drops from 20 to 8 minutes, and 36 minutes a week times 4.3 is about 2.6 hours a month at an assumed $53£40€48A$77C$75 an hour.
How to set it up
- Choose ChatGPT Go (€8, about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) so voice doesn't run out on a busy day; Free voice is limited.
- Open a new chat, tap the voice icon and say: 'Translate everything we say between English and Polish. Translate only, with no advice of your own.'
- Speak in short sentences and show the part, the photo or the inspection report as you go.
- Put the price, the work agreed and the customer's approval in writing on the job card or estimate, as you would for any customer.
- Ask the customer to repeat back what's been agreed before they leave.
What goes wrong
- Technical words can be mistranslated, such as 'track rod end' or 'advisory'. Point to the part or photo as well as saying it.
- OpenAI says voice transcripts are not word-for-word records. The written estimate and approval are the record, not the chat.
- For a complaint or a dispute, use a human interpreter, not an app.
- Go and Plus are personal plans: turn off 'Improve the model for everyone' in Data Controls if you don't want your data used for training. Leave out registration numbers and names.