Welcome to Carfluence
Carfluence is the shared infrastructure platform for automotive technology. This guide walks you through the essential first steps to get your dealership data flowing.
Step 1: Sign In to Your Dashboard
Navigate to your Carfluence dashboard at app.carfluence.io. Sign in with the credentials provided during your onboarding call. Carfluence uses FusionAuth for enterprise-grade authentication with SSO support.
After signing in, you'll land on the Overview page showing your connected data sources, recent sync activity, and inventory statistics.
Step 2: Add Your First Dealership
Go to Dealers in the sidebar. Click Add Dealer and fill in your dealership details:
- •Name: Your dealership's display name (e.g., "Bob's Toyota")
- •Address, City, State, ZIP: Physical location
- •Phone and Email: Primary contact information
- •Dealer Code: Your internal identifier (optional)
You can also bulk-import dealers by pasting a CSV-formatted list (one dealer per line: Name, Address, City, State ZIP, Phone).
Step 3: Connect a Data Source
Navigate to Integrations and click New Integration. Choose your data source type:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| vAuto | Inventory management feeds |
| HomeNet | Vehicle listing syndication |
| Elead | CRM and lead data |
| Custom CSV | Any CSV/TSV format you define |
When you create an integration, Carfluence automatically provisions SFTP credentials:
Host: app.carfluence.io
Port: 2222
Username: (auto-generated)
Password: (auto-generated)Provide these credentials to your data provider (vAuto, HomeNet, etc.) and they will begin pushing files to your secure SFTP folder.
Step 4: Verify Your First Sync
Once your data provider starts pushing files, you'll see sync activity in the Integration Logs. The first sync typically processes within 5-15 minutes. Head to Inventory to see your vehicles appear with full details including VIN, make, model, year, price, and more.
Step 5: Explore the AI Assistant
Click the AI icon in the sidebar to open the AI assistant. Ask questions like:
- •"How many vehicles do I have in stock?"
- •"Show me all used trucks under $30,000"
- •"What's my average days on lot?"
The AI assistant has full access to your inventory data and can help you build queries, understand your data, and generate reports.
Next Steps
- •Set up field mappings to customize how data is normalized
- •Create transformation rules to automate data processing
- •Generate API keys for external integrations
- •Configure merge configs to combine data from multiple sources