Guide

Make a vehicle bookable (why customers can't book it)

Whether a vehicle can be booked depends on several switches in different places, so a car that looks fine can still be unbookable. This is the one checklist that names every control, in the order worth checking them.

6 min read

This guide answers

  • I added a vehicle but customers can't book it. Why?
  • Why is my vehicle not showing on the booking page?
  • Why does a group show as unavailable for my dates?
  • What makes a vehicle bookable?

A vehicle only appears as bookable when several things line up. Any one of them being off is enough to hide it or mark it unavailable, and there is no single "bookable" switch. Work down this list in order; the first mismatch is usually the answer.

Before you start

Nothing to set up. This is a checklist for a vehicle you have already added but that customers cannot book. Have the vehicle, its group, and the pickup location open in separate tabs so you can check each.

The checklist

1. The vehicle's status is Available

Open the vehicle (Vehicles in the sidebar), go to the Status & access tab, and check Status is Available. A vehicle that is retired, off the road, or already on hire is not offered.

2. The vehicle is in a group

On the vehicle's Identity tab, check Group this vehicle belongs to is set. Customers book the group, so a vehicle with no group cannot be reached.

3. The group is active and bookable

Open Vehicle groups and open that group. Check:

  • Active is on. An inactive group is hidden from the booking page entirely.
  • Bookable as group is on.
  • Default daily hire (NZD) has a price. With no rate, there is nothing to quote.

4. There is a pickup location, and it is switched on for pickups

Open Locations and open the branch the vehicle sits at. Under Delivery & one-way fees, check Is pickup location is on. A location with pickups turned off is hidden from the booking page.

5. The vehicle will actually be at that location on the dates

On the vehicle's Identity tab, Home location is where Glovebox assumes the vehicle sits when idle. Availability uses this to work out where the vehicle will be on a future date. If the home location is wrong, the vehicle can be offered at the wrong branch, or not at the branch you expect.

6. A payment gateway is connected

If nothing can take a deposit, customers see "online payment is not available" instead of a working checkout. Open Settings › Taking payments and connect Stripe or Windcave. See Connect a way to take payment.

7. The dates are actually free

If the group shows "Not available for your dates", another booking may cover those dates, or the gap to the next hire is shorter than your turnaround time (the cleaning/prep buffer between hires). Check the fleet calendar for that vehicle, and your turnaround setting in Settings › Booking policies.

What you should see when it worked

On your booking page (/book), pick the pickup location and dates, and the group appears with an availability count and a price. If you were troubleshooting a specific date range, use those exact dates to confirm.

Still stuck

If you have checked all seven and the vehicle still will not book, there is a command your Glovebox contact can run, fleet:why-unavailable, which walks every gate for a vehicle and names the one that is failing. Get in touch and mention which vehicle and which dates.

  • Add your first vehicle Adding a vehicle takes a minute once you have a vehicle group and a location to put it in. This walks through the required fields and the two that trip people up: the group (which you must create first) and the home location.
  • Add your first vehicle group A vehicle group is the thing customers actually book and the thing your pricing is attached to. You have to create at least one before Glovebox will let you save a vehicle, so this is usually the very first thing you set up.
  • Set up pickup and return locations Locations are the branches customers choose when they book. This covers adding one, the two switches that decide whether it shows as a pickup or return point, and where to add delivery or one-way fees.
  • Connect a way to take payment Until you connect a payment gateway your booking page cannot take a deposit, so this is one of the first things to do. It covers connecting Stripe, using Windcave, and the one difference that matters: only Stripe can auto-charge for damage, fuel and over-mileage after a hire.

Still stuck?

Send us a message.

If the answer you needed isn't here, tell us what you're trying to do and we'll come back to you.

A sentence or two about what you're trying to do is plenty.