What is DriveDesk?
What DriveDesk does, the five surfaces your team will use, and how one test drive flows from enquiry to review.
DriveDesk is the operating system for a dealership's demo fleet. It covers the whole journey — a customer asking for a test drive, the car leaving your gate, the staff member handing it over, the vehicle coming back, and the review and reporting that follow. Everything is recorded, so you always know where each vehicle is, who took it out, and who authorised it.
The five surfaces
DriveDesk is not a single screen. Different people in your dealership use different surfaces, and each one only shows what that person needs.
| Surface | Who uses it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | Owners, managers, desk staff | Bookings, fleet, team, leads, analytics, settings |
| Staff app (Android / iOS) | Drivers, sales reps | Assigned work, customer handover, GPS, photos, condition capture |
| Gate app | Gatekeepers | Scanning vehicles out and back in at the gate |
| Your public website | Your customers | Browse your demo fleet and request a test drive on your own branded site |
| Marketplace | Buyers across India | A shared cars and bikes marketplace that sends verified leads to you |
What a normal day looks like
- 1
A lead arrives
A customer requests a test drive on your website, on the marketplace, or by phone. Phone and walk-in enquiries are logged by your team; online ones arrive already phone-verified.
- 2
It becomes a booking
Your team turns the enquiry into a booking — a showroom visit, a home visit, or a slot at an event. If the person creating it is not an approver, it waits for a manager's decision.
- 3
A manager approves it
Approval arms the gate pass, activates the staff assignment and triggers the customer's confirmation. Nothing goes live before approval.
- 4
The car leaves the gate
The gatekeeper scans the QR pass, records the vehicle's condition and fuel, and the car leaves. The trip is now live on the monitoring map.
- 5
The handover happens
Your staff member checks the customer's licence, sends a one-time code to the customer's phone, verifies it, takes a signature, and hands over the keys.
- 6
The car comes back
The gatekeeper scans the pass again, records the returned condition and odometer, and the trip closes. The customer automatically receives a review request.
What makes it different
- Nothing moves without a record. A vehicle cannot leave the gate without a scan, and a scan cannot be completed without a condition snapshot.
- Permissions are per person, not per job title. You grant exactly the abilities each member needs, and change them at any time.
- Identity is verified, not photocopied. Staff identity comes from DigiLocker; customer licences are checked against the transport authority.
- Exceptions are surfaced, not buried. A late return, an off-site scan, a mismatched licence or a distance that does not match the GPS trail all raise something a manager can act on.
- Your leads are qualified before you pay for them. Marketplace leads are priced by how much of the customer has actually been verified.
Common questions
- Do we need to install anything?
- No. DriveDesk works in any modern browser for desk work. Your drivers, sales reps and gatekeepers use the DriveDesk mobile app, which is a free download on Android and iOS.
- Do we need special hardware?
- No. GPS tracking runs on the staff member's own phone through the app. There are no SIM trackers, no dongles and no gate hardware — a gatekeeper scans with a standard smartphone or tablet.
- Does it only work for cars?
- It handles two-wheelers as well as cars. Every vehicle carries a kind, and the marketplace has a dedicated bikes storefront.
Related guides
- Setting up: your first day and first weekA practical checklist for your first day and first week — fleet, team, KYC, settings and one end-to-end test drive.
- Roles, permissions and who can do whatHow roles, individual permissions and ownership work — including the driver / sales-rep split and the full permission list.
- Bookings and approvalsShowroom, home-visit and event bookings, per-customer time slots, the approval workflow, reminders and no-shows.
Still stuck?
Check the FAQ for a quick answer, or ask us — we reply within one business day.