Getting your texting number approved

Every business that texts customers in the US has to be approved by the phone carriers first. This is called 10DLC registration, and it is not a Carvikon rule: every texting service has to do it, or the carriers block the messages. Carvikon files it for you from the texting setup in Settings → Communications. A carrier reviewer then checks your business by hand, which takes one to four weeks.

Almost every decline comes down to something the reviewer could not find. Before you press Send for approval, have all of this in place:

The reviewer opens your website to confirm your business is real and is the one registering. A registration without a website is declined before anything else is looked at. Your site needs:

• Your legal business name and your DBA (the name customers know you by), matching what you register.
• Contact details: your street address, a support phone number and a support email.
• What you do: the repair services you offer.
• An About Us page and a Contact Us page.
• A Privacy Policy page and a Terms and Conditions page, both about your business. More on each below.

It has to be your own site. A page on carvikon.com, including your booking page, does not count: a reviewer reads the address, sees Carvikon, and treats the page as ours. The same goes for your privacy policy and terms.

No website yet? A simple site from Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy or Google Sites is enough, as long as it has the pages above. Or ask us and we will help you get one up.

Enter the web address, not an email. The setup asks for your website (like baysidecollision.com). An email address in that box reaches the carrier as “no website”.

The contact email on your registration is also the help address carriers may give your customers. Use one at your website’s domain, like service@baysidecollision.com. A Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or Outlook address does not tie the inbox to your business, and reviewers can decline it.

Most website builders and domain providers (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, GoDaddy, Zoho) can set up an address at your domain in a few minutes. Put the same address on your website’s Contact page.

• Legal business name: exactly as it appears on your IRS letter (CP 575 or 147C), including “LLC” or “Inc”. Not the name on your sign; that one goes in the DBA field.
• EIN: the nine-digit federal tax ID on that same letter. The reviewer checks it against the legal name, and cannot check it until they have seen your website.
• Address: the one on your business registration, the same as on your website.
• Business type: an LLC, Inc or Corp is a company. A sole proprietor with an EIN files as a company too.

A page on your website, about your business. Reviewers look for one sentence in particular, word for word:

No mobile information will be sold or shared with third parties for promotional or marketing purposes.

It also needs to say how customers sign up for texts, how often they get them, that message and data rates may apply, and how to stop (STOP) and get help (HELP). If your policy has no texting section, add this one, with your own shop name:

Text messaging

No mobile information will be sold or shared with third parties for promotional or marketing purposes. Information sharing to subcontractors in support services, such as customer service, is permitted. All other use case categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Bayside Collision sends text messages only to customers who agreed to receive them. Messages are about your own repair: status updates, estimate approvals, appointment reminders and a notice when your vehicle is ready. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, QUIT or END to stop at any time, or HELP or INFO for help. Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of any purchase or of having your vehicle repaired.

Don’t have a privacy policy at all? The texting setup writes a complete one for your shop from your answers. On the Permission step, press Copy privacy policy and paste it into a new page on your website.

Also a page on your own website. It needs a section about your text messages: what you send, how often, rates, STOP and HELP, that carriers are not liable for delayed messages, and a link to your privacy policy.

Text message program

Bayside Collision sends text updates about your repair to customers who opted in: status changes, estimate approvals, appointment reminders and a notice when your vehicle is ready. It is not a marketing program.

- Message frequency varies with the work being done.
- Message and data rates may apply.
- To stop, reply STOP, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, QUIT or END to any message. You will receive one confirmation and no further messages.
- For help, reply HELP or INFO, or contact us at (555) 555-0143 or service@baysidecollision.com.
- Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
- Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of any purchase.
- Privacy Policy: https://baysidecollision.com/privacy

The setup’s Copy terms button writes the full page for your shop, ready to paste.

Carriers need proof that every customer you text agreed to it. Wherever customers agree (your repair authorization, an intake sheet, a sign at the counter, your online booking form) the form has to be:

• Branded with the same business name you register.
• Separate and optional: its own checkbox, only for texts, that customers may leave empty. Agreeing to texts cannot be part of signing the repair agreement.
• Not ticked in advance.
• Worded with who is texting, what about, “Msg & data rates may apply”, how often, HELP and STOP, and where your privacy policy is.

Wording you can print on your form:

☐ Yes, text me updates about my vehicle service from Bayside Collision. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply HELP for help or STOP to opt out. Consent is not a condition of service. Privacy Policy: baysidecollision.com/privacy

The picture. The reviewer also wants to see the form. In the setup, on the Permission step, add a photo or screenshot of a blank form (no customer’s details) showing the checkbox and the wording. Carvikon attaches it to your registration, so there is nothing to upload to Dropbox or Google Drive.

Using your Carvikon booking page? It already has a separate, unticked texting box with the right wording, “I agree to receive text messages about my vehicle service from Bayside Collision. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply HELP for help or STOP to opt out.”, and links to your policies. Choose “They tick a box on our website form” and the reviewer is sent to your booking page.

A reviewer who cannot approve your registration says why, and you will see it in Carvikon: the Text messaging row in Settings > Communications says “Registration needs your attention”, with the reviewer’s notes underneath. The usual reasons, and what to do about each:

• “No website submitted” Add your website in the setup, and make sure it has every page in the website section above.
• “Missing a screenshot of the opt-in form” Add a picture of your form on the Permission step.
• “The privacy policy is missing the mobile-information language” Add the sentence above, word for word, to the privacy policy on your website.
• “The policies should be for your business, not Carvikon” Put the privacy policy and terms on your own website and use those links.
• “Gmail used as the contact email” Use an email at your website's domain.
• “The tax ID cannot be checked” Check the legal name and EIN against your IRS letter. This often clears once the website is in place.

Once it is fixed, press Continue setup on that row, correct your answers, and press Send for approval again. Carvikon sends the corrections straight to the reviewer (your website and email, your policy links, the picture of your form) and your registration goes back into review. There is nothing to email.

One exception: once the carriers’ registry has your business on file, your business details (legal name, EIN, address, website and contact) stay as filed, and the last screen of the setup says so. If you changed any of those, email hi@carvikon.com and we will have them updated. Your form, policy links and messages still go through.