Booking Settings
Overview
Booking Settings is where you configure the ground rules for how your garage handles bookings. These settings control everything from whether customers can book same-day appointments, to how many bookings your garage accepts per day, to whether staff and customers can choose a time slot, to which vehicle types you service.
Think of this page as your booking policy headquarters -- the decisions you make here shape the booking experience for both your team and your customers, including the online widget, booking portal, manual bookings, and walk-ins.
Why it matters:
- Controls whether new bookings require manual review or are confirmed automatically
- Prevents overbooking by setting a daily capacity limit
- Lets you switch from date-only booking to structured time-slot scheduling
- Defines which vehicle types your garage accepts
- Lets you enable project mode for multi-stage jobs
- Controls estimate labor pricing options for your team
- Helps you tailor the booking workflow to match how your garage actually operates
How to Access
- Log in to your autoGMS dashboard.
- From the sidebar, select the garage you want to manage.
- Click Bookings in the sidebar navigation to open the Bookings page.
- Click the Settings button (the gear icon) in the page header.
Users with settings access can also select Booking Settings from the profile menu in the dashboard header, use the Booking Settings button in the Business Settings page header, or open it from the quick New Booking panel.
You will land on the Booking Settings page. On desktop, the side navigation groups the settings under:
- Customer booking -- Online form fields, Intake & confirmation, Capacity & time slots, and Vehicle types
- Workshop -- Staff booking requirements, Inspection steps, and Job stages & pricing
- Messages -- WhatsApp templates
On mobile, the same settings appear as horizontal tabs at the top of the page. Select a tab to jump to that section. On desktop, you can also use Find a setting above the side navigation to filter the page.
When you change a setting, a save bar appears at the bottom of the screen. Click Save Changes to apply your changes, or Discard to undo them. Garage labor rate tables save automatically and show their own save status.
Good to know: You can also navigate directly to this page by going to
/dashboard/garages/your-garage-id/bookings/settingsin your browser's address bar.
Online Form Fields
Open Online form fields to choose what customers see and must complete when booking online. Each configurable field can be Hidden, Optional, or Required.
Customer name, phone number, vehicle type, service or reason for visit, and preferred date stay required so the booking can be created correctly. You can configure email, notes, registration number, VIN, current mileage, vehicle make, vehicle model, and arrival time slot. The arrival time slot option is available only when time-slot booking is enabled, and MOT bookings always require a registration number.
These choices affect the customer-facing booking page and embedded form. Use the save bar at the bottom of the page to apply or discard changes.
WhatsApp Templates
Open WhatsApp templates to set the draft used for these booking updates: received, confirmed, work started, on hold, ready for collection, and cancelled. Each message shows whether it uses the Default message or has been Customized, and customized messages have a Reset to default link.
You can use {customer}, {vehicle}, {schedule}, {date}, and {garage} in a message -- click a field chip above the list to insert it into the message you are editing. autoGMS replaces these fields with the current booking details when staff open More actions > WhatsApp from a booking row. Leave a message blank to use the built-in default.
These are manual WhatsApp drafts. Staff can review or edit the message, open WhatsApp, and then press Send in WhatsApp. autoGMS does not send the message automatically.
Booking Settings
The booking rule sections define the core controls that govern how bookings are created and managed in your garage.
Same-Day Bookings
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Allow Same-Day Bookings | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
When enabled, customers can book appointments for the current day. When disabled, the earliest available date shown to customers will be tomorrow.
This applies to bookings made through the online booking widget and the booking portal. If your garage can accommodate walk-ins and last-minute requests, turn this on. If you need advance notice to prepare for every job, leave it off.
Good to know: Even with same-day bookings turned off, your team can still manually create bookings for today from the dashboard. This setting only affects customer-facing booking channels.
Auto-Confirm Bookings
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-Confirm Bookings | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
By default, new customer-facing bookings arrive with a Pending status and wait for your team to review and confirm them. When you enable auto-confirm, eligible new bookings skip the Pending stage and are immediately set to Confirmed.
This is useful for garages that want to reduce response time and minimize manual work. However, if you prefer to review every booking before committing to it, leave this off.
Auto-Confirm Sub-Settings
When auto-confirm is enabled, two additional options appear:
| Sub-Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Restrict to Business Hours | Only auto-confirms bookings that are submitted during your garage's operating hours. Bookings submitted outside of business hours will remain Pending for manual review. |
| Local Customers Only | Only auto-confirms bookings from returning customers who have previously booked with your garage. New customers will still go through the Pending stage for manual review. |
You can enable one, both, or neither of these sub-settings. When both are enabled, a booking must satisfy both conditions to be auto-confirmed -- it must be submitted during business hours and by a returning customer.
Good to know: Auto-confirm is designed for new incoming bookings. If your team creates a booking manually, review the booking status before assuming it has been auto-confirmed.
Daily Booking Limit
| Setting | Type | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Booking Limit | Toggle + number input | Off (10 when first enabled) |
When enabled, this setting caps the number of bookings your garage accepts per day. Once the limit is reached, customer-facing booking channels stop offering that day, and your team can see the day as full in the booking calendar.
How to set it up:
- Toggle the Daily Booking Limit switch to on.
- A number input appears. Enter your desired maximum (between 1 and 999).
- Click Save Changes.
The default value when you first enable this setting is 10 bookings per day. Adjust it to match your garage's actual capacity based on the number of bays, technicians, and average job duration.
Good to know: The daily booking limit is reflected in the Calendar View on your Bookings page. Each day shows a capacity indicator (for example, "5/10") so your team can see at a glance how much room is left. Days at full capacity are highlighted to prevent overbooking.
Time Slot Scheduling
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Time Slots | Toggle + configuration fields | Off |
When Time Slots are enabled, customers and staff no longer book by date alone. They choose a specific available arrival window on that date, such as 09:00 - 10:00 or 14:00 - 15:00.
This is the right option for garages that want tighter control over intake flow, reception workload, or bay planning.
What you can control
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable Time Slots | Switches booking from date-only selection to date + time-slot selection |
| Slot Duration | Sets how long each slot is. Options: 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or 120 minutes |
| Max Bookings Per Slot | Controls how many bookings can share the same slot before it is considered full (between 1 and 20) |
How it works
- Turn Time Slots on.
- Choose the slot duration that matches how you intake vehicles.
- Set the max bookings per slot for each window.
- Click Save Changes.
Once saved:
- the public booking page shows a Time Slot dropdown next to the date field
- the embedded widget uses the same availability rules
- staff creating bookings from the dashboard also choose from the live available slots
- fully booked slots are hidden or blocked automatically
Good to know: Time slots sit on top of your operating hours. If your garage is open from 09:00 to 20:00, only slots within that window are generated.
Good to know: The daily booking limit still applies. A day can be blocked because the whole day is full, or because a specific slot has reached its own capacity.
Project Mode
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Project Mode | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
Project Mode transforms bookings into multi-stage projects. When enabled at the garage level, individual bookings can be switched into project mode, allowing you to break work into stages, invoice per stage, and track progress through a structured lifecycle.
What Project Mode Enables
- Job Stages -- Each booking can have multiple stages (e.g., "Disassembly", "Bodywork", "Paint", "Reassembly").
- Stage Lifecycle -- Each stage has its own status flow: Draft, Open, In Progress, Completed, Invoiced, Closed.
- Stage Invoicing -- Generate a separate invoice for each stage, so you can bill as work progresses rather than waiting until the entire job is done.
- External Services -- Track outsourced vendor work linked to specific stages with cost and charge tracking.
- Invoices -- Collect advance payments from the Deposits tab and manage credit/debit notes from the invoice workflow.
How to Enable
- Toggle Project Mode to on in Booking Settings.
- Click Save Changes.
- On individual bookings, toggle the "Project Mode" switch in the booking detail header to activate project mode for that specific job.
Stage Template
When Project Mode is enabled, a stage template editor appears below the toggle. This lets you define default stages that will be copied into every new project-mode booking.
Each stage has:
- Stage Name -- An optional label for the stage (e.g., "Disassembly", "Paint Prep")
- Stage Description -- An optional description of what the stage involves
You start with 7 blank stages by default. You can:
- Edit any stage's name and description
- Add Stage to create additional stages
- Remove a stage (you must keep at least one)
Select Add description under a stage name when you want to enter its optional description.
Leave stage names blank if you want your staff to define them on a per-job basis rather than using a fixed template.
Good to know: Enabling Project Mode at the garage level does not automatically convert existing bookings. Each booking must be individually switched to project mode. This lets you use project mode only for complex, multi-stage jobs while keeping simple service bookings lightweight. See Project Mode for the full guide.
Manual Intake Requirements
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show Referral Credit | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require Referral Credit | Checkbox (shown when referral credit is on) | Off |
| Require Number Plate / Registration | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require VIN / Chassis Number | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require Current Mileage | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require Expected Completion Date | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require Arrival Time Slot | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require Job Description / Notes | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
This setting applies to internal bookings created by staff inside the dashboard.
Turn on Show Referral Credit to add a Credit Recipient field to staff booking forms. Staff can credit the garage, a team member, or a saved referral partner. Check Require Referral Credit when every staff-created booking must name a recipient. The requirement is available only while referral credit is shown; turning referral credit off also clears the requirement.
When a field is enabled here, staff must complete it before a manual booking can be queued or created. This works for the full manual-booking page, the quick-booking panel, saved fleet vehicle submissions, and batch queue submissions.
Use these toggles when your intake process always needs certain details before the work can move forward. For example, you may require a plate number for vehicle lookup, VIN / chassis number for warranty or import work, current mileage for service history, an expected completion date for reception planning, an arrival time slot for structured intake, or notes when advisors must describe the customer's concern before the booking enters the workshop.
Good to know: The Require Arrival Time Slot toggle only blocks staff when Time Slots are enabled. If your garage uses date-only booking, this requirement has no effect until Time Slots are turned on.
Good to know: For businesses that use saved fleet vehicles, the booking will only submit if those vehicle records already include the required vehicle details. Shared booking details such as completion date, time slot, and notes still come from the manual booking form.
Inspection Workflow
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Require vehicle check-in | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require pre-work photos | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require pre-work checklist | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
| Require final quality check | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
These settings control which inspection steps staff must complete before a job can move forward.
- Vehicle Check-In records the vehicle condition before work can start.
- Pre-Work Photos require the key photo angles before work can start or be completed.
- Pre-Work Checklist requires the vehicle checklist before work can start or be completed.
- Final Quality Check blocks completion until the final quality check is complete.
For the full explanation, see Inspection Workflow.
Garage Labor Rates
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Garage labor rates | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
When enabled, advisors can choose between garage rate tables and technician rates when pricing estimate labor.
Rate Tables and Defaults
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cylinder rates | Used first when the selected vehicle has a matching cylinder count |
| Brand rates | Used when no cylinder rate matches |
| Default custom hourly rate | Used when neither table matches |
| Default labor hours | Pre-filled when creating a labor line item |
Each cylinder count and brand can appear only once. Manual edits on an estimate line stay in place for that line.
Saving Labor Rates
Garage labor rates do not wait for the main Save Changes button. When garage labor rates are enabled, changes to the cylinder and brand rate tables auto-save. Watch the small status text in this section:
- Saving... means the change is being sent.
- Saved means the latest change has been stored.
- Save failed means the latest change did not save; review the values and try again.
- Auto-saved means there are no pending changes.
Fleet Service Plans
| Setting | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet service plans | Toggle (on/off) | Off |
Turn this on when your garage manages recurring service plans for fleet or business customers. When enabled, the Bookings page shows the Service Plans tab so your team can create and manage recurring maintenance schedules.
This setting controls the service-plan workflow only. It does not decide which vehicle types customers can book. Use Supported Vehicle Types below for that.
Supported Vehicle Types
This section displays one grid of selectable tiles for every vehicle type your garage can service. All types use the same selection behavior:
- Sedan
- SUV
- Truck
- Sports
- Hypercar
- Other
- Bus
- Van
- Motorcycle
Select the types you service and deselect the ones you do not. Only checked vehicle types will be available for customers and staff to select when making a booking.
You must select at least one vehicle type before saving. If you try to save without any types selected, you will see an error message.
If you select only one vehicle type, a notice appears: the vehicle selection step will be skipped entirely in the booking form. The system assumes all bookings are for that single type, which speeds up the booking process. This can be useful for specialist garages that only work on one category of vehicle.
Saving Your Booking Settings
After making changes to booking intake, capacity, manual intake, inspection workflow, job workflow, or vehicle coverage settings, a save bar appears at the bottom of the screen. Click Save Changes to apply your changes, or Discard to undo them. A success message confirms that your changes have been applied.
Your changes take effect immediately across all booking channels.
Garage labor rate table changes save automatically inside the Garage labor rates section and do not require the main Save Changes button.
Arabic Language Support
When your dashboard language is set to Arabic, the Booking Settings page switches to a right-to-left layout and displays its labels, descriptions, and controls in Arabic.
Tips and Best Practices
-
Start with manual confirmation. If you are new to autoGMS, leave auto-confirm off until you are comfortable with the booking flow. Reviewing each booking manually helps you understand the process and catch any issues early.
-
Turn on auto-confirm once you are confident. When your service menu and pricing are dialed in and you are ready to move faster, enable auto-confirm to reduce the back-and-forth. Use the sub-settings to add guardrails -- restricting to business hours and returning customers is a safe middle ground.
-
Set a realistic daily limit. Think about how many jobs your team can actually handle in a day. A limit that is too high does not protect you from overbooking, and a limit that is too low turns away business. Start with your number of bays multiplied by two as a rough starting point, then adjust based on experience.
-
Match your vehicle types to your services. If you only have pricing set up for sedans and SUVs, there is no point accepting truck or bus bookings. Keep your supported vehicle types aligned with the services and pricing you have configured.
-
Use time slots if intake timing matters. If customers tend to arrive in waves and overwhelm reception, switch from date-only booking to slots so arrivals are spread more evenly through the day.
-
Keep specialty types unchecked unless you need them. If your garage does not service buses, vans, motorcycles, or hypercars, leave those types unchecked to keep the booking form simple for your customers.
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Set up your stage template before enabling Project Mode on bookings. Define meaningful default stage names so your team has a consistent starting point. You can always adjust stages on individual bookings later.
-
Review your settings periodically. As your garage grows -- more bays, more technicians, more services -- your booking rules should evolve too. Revisit this page when you make operational changes.
-
Coordinate with your operating hours. If you enable the "Restrict to Business Hours" sub-setting for auto-confirm, make sure your operating hours on the Business Settings page are accurate. The system uses those hours to decide whether a booking qualifies for auto-confirmation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Booking Settings and Business Settings?
Business Settings covers your garage's identity, contact details, operating hours, team, and billing. Booking Settings specifically controls the rules around how bookings are created, confirmed, and limited. Think of Business Settings as "who you are" and Booking Settings as "how you take bookings."
If I enable auto-confirm, can I still manually review bookings?
Yes. Auto-confirm changes the initial status from Pending to Confirmed, but you can still manage the booking before the job is completed. Use the guided Cancel action when cancelling so any linked deposit or payment is handled explicitly.
What happens when the daily booking limit is reached?
Customer-facing bookings are blocked for that day. Customers using the online booking widget or booking page will see that the day is fully booked and will be prompted to choose a different date. Your team will also see the day as full on the calendar.
What happens when a single time slot is full?
That slot is no longer offered for new bookings. Customers and staff can still book the same day if another slot is available and the day itself has not reached its daily limit.
Do manual bookings have to follow time-slot rules too?
Yes, if Time Slots are enabled. Staff creating bookings from the dashboard can choose from the same live available slots as the customer-facing booking form, which helps keep your schedule accurate across every booking channel.
Does the daily booking limit include cancelled bookings?
Cancelled bookings do not count toward the daily limit. If a booking is cancelled, that slot opens back up and a new booking can take its place.
I selected a vehicle type but I do not see it in my booking form.
Only saved vehicle type changes appear in customer-facing booking forms. Check the type you want to accept, click Save Changes, then refresh or reopen the booking form.
Can I set different booking rules for different days of the week?
Not currently. The daily booking limit and other settings apply uniformly across all days. If your capacity varies by day, set the limit based on your busiest day and manage exceptions manually, or adjust the limit as needed before heavy or light days.
Will changing these settings affect existing bookings?
No. Changes to booking rules only apply to new bookings created after you save. Existing bookings keep their current status and are not retroactively auto-confirmed, limited, or modified.
I only service one vehicle type. Do I check just that one type?
Yes, and it will streamline the booking process -- customers will skip the vehicle type selection step entirely. However, make sure your services and pricing are all configured for that single vehicle type, since every booking will default to it.
What does "Local Customers Only" mean exactly?
In the context of auto-confirm, "local customers" refers to returning customers -- people who have previously booked with your garage and already exist in your customer database. First-time customers will not be auto-confirmed; their bookings will remain Pending for your team to review.
What is the Project Stage Template?
The stage template defines the default stages that are copied into a booking when project mode is activated for that booking. For example, you might set up stages like "Intake", "Disassembly", "Repair", "Paint", "Reassembly", "QC", "Delivery". These become the starting point, and staff can add, remove, or rename stages on each individual booking as needed.
What are garage labor rates for?
They let advisors choose between garage tables and technician rates when pricing estimate labor.
The matching order is Cylinder rates, then Brand rates, then the default custom hourly rate. Changes save automatically once the interface shows Saved.
What slot durations are available?
You can choose from 30-minute, 60-minute, or 120-minute slots. Pick the duration that best matches how long your intake process typically takes.
My garage supports Arabic. Does this page work in Arabic?
Yes. The Booking Settings page fully supports Arabic. When your dashboard language is set to Arabic, the interface switches to right-to-left layout, toggle switches are replaced with checkboxes for better RTL compatibility, and all labels, descriptions, and controls are displayed in Arabic.
Quick Reference
| I want to... | Go here | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Enable same-day bookings | Booking Settings → Allow Same-Day Bookings | Toggle on, click Save Changes |
| Set daily capacity | Booking Settings → Daily Booking Limit | Toggle on, enter max (1-999), Save Changes |
| Enable auto-confirm | Booking Settings → Auto-Confirm Bookings | Toggle on, optionally enable sub-settings |
| Restrict auto-confirm to business hours | Auto-Confirm → Restrict to Business Hours | Toggle on |
| Restrict auto-confirm to returning customers | Auto-Confirm → Local Customers Only | Toggle on |
| Enable time slots | Booking Settings → Time Slots | Toggle on, set duration and max per slot |
| Set supported vehicle types | Booking Settings → Supported Vehicle Types | Check/uncheck types, Save Changes |
| Enable Project Mode | Booking Settings → Project Mode | Toggle on, configure stage templates |
| Set default project stages | Project Mode → stage template editor | Add/edit/remove stage names and descriptions |
| Configure garage labor rates | Booking Settings → Garage labor rates | Toggle on, set cylinder, brand, and default rates; wait for Saved |