AutoBook · Docs

Getting started: setting up your store

A first-run checklist for managers: set up your dealership, teach AutoBook Agent, turn on a channel, and invite your team.

Updated October 9, 2026

Everything below lives in Settings, grouped into Your store, Who handles what, AutoBook Agent, How customers reach you and What's plugged in, with Billing under Account. You do not have to finish it all at once, but these steps get AutoBook Agent answering customers accurately.

Your two guides inside the product

On first login you get a short product intro (reopen it any time from your account menu under Product intro). Until your store is set up, To do shows a launch card with the next steps, each with a button: Add the chat widget to your website, Connect your inventory and knowledge, Get your texting and voice numbers (a main number plus a service line; we connect them for you), Confirm business hours and timezone and Assign bookable staff. Several steps are already done for you at signup. Hide the card until tomorrow with its close button.

Set your dealership details

Under Settings → Dealership, confirm your name, address, timezone, and business hours. Timezone and hours drive booking availability, after-hours behavior, quiet hours, and the clocks for how fast your team answers (a person's own rota counts first, then the desk's hours, then these), so get these right first.

Teach AutoBook Agent about your store

Under Settings → AutoBook Agent → Knowledge Base, open How we sell, answer the nine About your store questions, write down any selling rules under Rules AutoBook Agent follows, and add documents, your website, and FAQs. The more AutoBook Agent knows, the better it answers.

Set your chat greeting

In How customers reach you → Website, write the opening message customers see when the chat opens (the Chat greeting field in the Launcher and greeting section).

Get your numbers

Under How customers reach you → Phone & texting, get your main number (the Sales desk's texting, calls and missed-call text-back) and your service line (the Service desk's). We connect them for you. Every message goes out from the number of the desk it is about; until the service line is ready, Service messages go from the main number.

Turn on a channel

In AutoBook Agent → AutoBook Agent Autonomy, set the Chat row's How it replies to On on the Channels chart. That turns the website chat on. Text and phone answer once your store has a number (Phone & texting), and email once you turn it on.

Invite your team

Under Your store → Staff & Roles, invite your managers and sales reps (or bulk-upload a CSV) and pick each person's job role, which sets what they can do and which desk they sit on. Then check Settings → Routing for who takes new work. Ask everyone to install the AutoBook app: each need reaches them once as a push, with an email copy only when the push does not reach them.

Connect your lead sources

Under What's plugged in → Connections, connect your lead feeds and CRM so new leads flow in, and booked appointments flow back out.

Check Store readiness on the Settings Overview

The Settings Overview page has a Store readiness list (Setup & launch in the side menu). Red items are the essentials; yellow ones can wait. Customers can already reach you while you work through it, and your team gets alerts from day one. Optional steps include the payment quoting rate card, so AutoBook Agent can answer monthly-payment questions with your real numbers.

Questions: support@auto-book.ca