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Getting started

Creating your shop

Sign up, run the four-step setup, and land on a working board.

Create your account with an email and password, or pick Continue with Google and skip the password. Either way, onboarding takes a few minutes and asks only for what the rest of the system needs.

The four steps

  1. Shop basics. Name, phone, and address, the details customers see on estimates and invoices.
  2. Operations. Booking hours, your default labor rate, and invoice basics like tax rate. Pick how your business is set up: LLC / Corporation asks for your EIN; Sole proprietor skips it, and customer texting registers under your name instead. All of it can be refined later in Settings.
  3. Create the shop. Your workspace is ready; you land on the vehicles board.
  4. Optional extras. Invite a teammate and connect PartsTech. Both can wait.

If someone referred you, their link pre-fills the referral code at signup, and they get a $500 cash reward once you've been on CarSignal for a month. See the referral program.

Finding your way around

  • The sidebar is split into Workshop (Vehicles, Schedule, Estimate, Inventory, Templates) and Business (Outreach, Receptionist, Clients, Financials).
  • The setup readiness widget in the top bar tracks what is left to configure, like connecting payments or finishing texting registration, and links straight to each step. Dismissing it hides it for a day; once setup hits 100% it disappears for good.
  • The notification bell carries everything that needs a human: new leads, approvals, parts updates, payments. A new alert pops up top right for about ten seconds, then fades; a newer alert replaces it at once. Anything you did not open stays unread in the bell until you deal with it. Every alert in the bell reads in full: the whole message wraps, a reason ("Reason: the assigned tech is off.") sits on its own line, and a very long one opens in place with More.

More than one shop

Own several locations? The workspace switcher at the top of the sidebar swaps between them, and Add location opens a three-step form (details, setup copied from a location you pick, review) that creates the new one. Each location keeps its own board, team, number, and money; customers are shared. See Multiple locations.

Next: Invite your team.