Schedule a test drive or sales appointment
Book a test drive or sales appointment from the agenda or from a lead's page, and let the lead status update itself.
Book a real appointment so a test drive or sit-down shows up on your agenda, the assigned salesperson gets a heads-up, and the customer gets a reminder the day before.
There are two ways to book: from the Appointments agenda (pick any customer) or straight from a lead's page (the lead is filled in for you).
Book from the agenda
- Go to Appointments and click New appointment.
- Under Customer, search by name, email, or phone and pick the person.
- Choose a Type — Test drive, Sales, Service, Delivery, or Other.
- Set the Date & time.
- Optionally Assign to a team member (leave it Unassigned to skip).
- Add Notes if you want.
- Click Schedule.
You must pick a customer to book from the agenda. If the person isn't a customer yet, add them under Customers first, or book from their lead's page instead.
Book from a lead's page
- Open the lead and click Schedule appointment (top right, next to the status badge).
- The lead is already attached — no customer search needed. Choose the Type and Date & time.
- Optionally Assign to a team member and add Notes.
- Click Schedule.
Booking from a lead is the fastest path. If you pick someone other than yourself under Assign to, that salesperson gets a notification in their bell so the appointment doesn't get lost.
What happens to the lead status
When you book an appointment for a lead, the system tries to move that lead to Appointment set automatically.
The auto-move only happens when the lead is currently in the Engaged stage. That is the only stage the lead can move to Appointment set from. If the lead is in any other stage (New, Contacted, Negotiating, etc.), the appointment is still booked normally — the status just stays where it is. This is by design, so a stray booking can't jump a lead backward or forward. Move the lead to Engaged first if you want the status to follow the booking.
Track and update the appointment
Every appointment lands on the Appointments agenda, soonest first (earliest scheduled time at the top), showing When, Who, Type, Assigned, and Status. New bookings start as Scheduled.
Use the buttons on each row to update it:
- Confirm — customer confirmed they're coming (status → Confirmed).
- Completed — they showed and the appointment happened.
- No-show — they didn't come.
- Cancel — the appointment is off.
The buttons you see depend on the current status. Confirm only appears while the appointment is still Scheduled; once it's Completed, No-show, or Cancelled there are no more actions on that row.
Marking a lead's appointment Completed moves that lead to Showed, and No-show moves it back to Engaged — but only when the lead is in the Appointment set stage. As with booking, if the lead isn't in that stage the appointment updates anyway and the lead status is left alone.
Reminders
A daily check sends each customer an email reminder the day before their appointment, and notifies the assigned team member. You don't have to do anything — it runs automatically. Reschedule an appointment and the reminder resets so it goes out again for the new time.
Reminders only go out for appointments that are still Scheduled or Confirmed. Once an appointment is Completed, No-show, or Cancelled, no reminder is sent.
FAQ
Can the customer book their own appointment?
Not yet. Appointments are booked by your team from inside AutoDealer.io. Customer self-booking isn't available.
I booked for a lead but the status didn't change to "Appointment set."
That's expected unless the lead was in the Engaged stage when you booked. Move the lead to Engaged, then book — or just set the status by hand on the lead's page. The appointment itself was saved either way.
Do I have to assign the appointment to someone?
No. Assign to is optional and defaults to Unassigned. Assign it when you want a specific salesperson to get the heads-up and the reminder.
Can I link a specific vehicle to the appointment?
Not from the booking dialog. You can note the vehicle in the Notes field for now.
How far ahead does the reminder go out?
The customer gets one email the day before, plus a bell notification to the assigned team member. Each appointment is reminded once; rescheduling triggers a fresh reminder for the new date.
Who can book appointments?
Anyone signed in to your dealership can book and update appointments — there's no special role required.