How long does onboarding take?

It depends mostly on your CRM and website access and how much your team wants to review in shadow mode. We'll plan the timing with you rather than promise a number of days.

Can our team try Miles before going live?

Yes. We can set up a private demo page for your team with sample inventory, and shadow mode lets you watch Miles on your real leads without anything going out on its own.

Who can change Miles' settings?

Your dealership administrators. Changes to what Miles says go through testing and publishing in Miles Studio, and every change is in the audit log.

Resources

Getting Started with Relay BDC: From Contract to Live

October 23, 2026 · Relay BDC team

From contract to live

We set up your store
Our team creates your dealership and your administrator accounts. Everyone signs in with a password and an authenticator app; two-step sign-in is required for every account.
Connect your channels
Add the numbers Miles texts from and answers calls on, paste the web chat snippet into your website, and verify your own email sending domain by adding the DNS records Relay BDC shows you. Each one is a page in Settings.
Connect your CRM
Choose CDK, Elead, VinSolutions or DealerSocket in Settings, Integrations. New leads, status changes and appointments are sent to your CRM; with CDK, new leads can also come in from it.
Bring in your inventory
With your MarketCheck dealer ID in Settings, your website's listings, with photos and links, are copied into Relay BDC every six hours, so Miles recommends what's actually on your lot.
Teach Miles your store
In Miles Studio, fill in your knowledge base (hours, policies, offers), then set coaching rules, topics Miles must avoid and when it should hand off. Changes to those rules are replayed against test conversations, side by side with the current version, before you publish them.
Set up your team
Add your users and teams, choose how new leads are assigned (round robin or manual), and pick a service team for service handoffs.
Pilot in shadow mode, then go live
Turn on shadow mode and Miles drafts every text, email and chat reply for your team to send. When you're happy, turn shadow mode off and choose which channels and hours Miles answers on its own.

After you go live

Your Performance pages show what Miles is doing: leads, appointments set and shown, response time and handoffs (see what Miles reports). You can switch Miles off by channel, outside your hours or for a single conversation at any time, and your team can take over any conversation. See how handoffs work.

Frequently asked questions

How long does onboarding take?: It depends mostly on your CRM and website access and how much your team wants to review in shadow mode. We'll plan the timing with you rather than promise a number of days.
Can our team try Miles before going live?: Yes. We can set up a private demo page for your team with sample inventory, and shadow mode lets you watch Miles on your real leads without anything going out on its own.
Who can change Miles' settings?: Your dealership administrators. Changes to what Miles says go through testing and publishing in Miles Studio, and every change is in the audit log.