Set Up MetaFleet in Your First Week

For: Admins and owners setting up a new shop · Permission: Admin (account settings) · Time: About 5 days, an hour or two a day

Sign in as an admin. Some setup screens don't show for other roles.
Gather your company logo, your tax rates, your parts list and your customer list.
Work in the order below. Later steps use what you set up earlier. For example, parts need locations, and orders need customers.

☐ Set up your company profile. Add your name, address, phone and time zone. The time zone sets the times on every order. See Set Up Your Company Profile.
☐ Set your branding. Add your logo, colors and welcome message. See Set Your Company Logo, Colors and Welcome Message.
☐ Add your brands only if you invoice under more than one business name. See Add and Manage Brands.
☐ Add your users. Give each person a role, service area and skills. Service areas can be added later, after you create locations on Day 2. See Add a User and Set Their Role, Service Area and Skills.
☐ Set up technician shifts if you plan shifts. See Set Up Technician Shifts, then Give a Technician a Recurring Schedule for each technician's week.
☐ Turn on team chat if you want your team to message in MetaFleet. See Turn On Team Chat.
☐ Add your repair types. They describe the work you do. See Add a Repair Type to Your Account.

☐ Create your service locations. See Create a Service Location.
☐ Set up taxes. See Set Up Taxes by Jurisdiction.
☐ Choose your approval gates. They decide where a job pauses for a sign-off. Read Understanding the Approval Gates, then follow Configure Approval Options.

☐ Set your rates. Open Settings › Pricing & Rates. Review Payment Terms, Parts Markup and Global Rates. If you bill different rates by time of day, weekends or holidays, turn on time-based rates. See Set Your Payment Terms and Invoice Disclaimer, Create and Edit Global Rates, Set Up Time-Based Labor Rates and Parts Pricing and Markup.
☐ Set how travel and fees are charged. See Set Up Travel Time Billing and Set Up Fees and Surcharges.
☐ Connect Stripe if you want to take card payments. See Connect Stripe to Take Card Payments.
☐ Connect QuickBooks Online if you use it. See Connect QuickBooks Online to MetaFleet.
☐ Set up inventory locations. See Set Up Inventory Locations.
☐ Add your parts. See Add New Parts to Your Inventory.
☐ Add your vendors. See Add and Manage Vendors.
☐ Build inspection templates if you run inspections or PMs. See Build Inspection Templates.

☐ Create your customer companies. Go to Company Details › Companies. See Create a Customer Company.
☐ Add contacts to each company. See Add a Contact to a Customer Company.
☐ Get SMS consent before you text a contact. See Get SMS Consent Before You Text a Customer Contact.
☐ Choose your asset types and unit numbering. See Set Up Asset Types, Unit Numbers and Vehicle Groups.
☐ Add vehicles. See Auto-Fill Vehicle Details from the VIN.

☐ Learn the alerts. See Respond to Alarms and Alerts in MetaFleet.
☐ Create a service order. See Create a Service Order.
☐ Build and send an estimate. See Build and Send an Estimate on a Service Order. To quote a customer without opening an order, see Create and Send an Estimate Without a Service Order.
☐ Approve and send the invoice. See Approve and Send an Invoice.
☐ Record the payment when it comes in. See Record a Payment and Apply Customer Credit.

Search with ⌘K. The search bar at the top finds records and runs commands. See Search Anything and Run Commands (⌘K).
Connect an AI assistant. See Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity to MetaFleet.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
A setup screen is missing from the menu	Your role doesn't include it	Ask an admin to check your role. See Add a User and Set Their Role, Service Area and Skills.
A customer never gets an estimate	The company has no contact who can receive it	Add a contact with a valid email and assign them to the order. For enterprise customers, give them the Approve Estimates role. See Add a Contact to a Customer Company.

Do I have to finish everything in 5 days?
No. Finish each day's tasks before you move on, because later steps use earlier ones.

Can I create a service order before I set up pricing?
You can. Set up pricing and taxes first so your first estimate and invoice come out right.

Where do I find the pricing settings?
Settings › Pricing & Rates. Fees and late fees are under Settings › Fees & Surcharges. See Set Up Fees and Surcharges, Add a Service Fee to Every Order and Late Fees and Interest on Overdue Invoices.

A day-by-day setup checklist for a new shop admin, with a link to the article that covers each task.