AI for car dealerships and brokers, done for you.
Every buyer answered in 60 seconds.
We build and run an AI system for your business that replies to every Instagram DM, Messenger message, form fill and marketplace inquiry within a minute, asks what the buyer wants and when, hands the screened ones to an available rep, and keeps following up for 30 days. It is not a CRM and not another BDC seat; it works in front of the dealer CRM you already have. We run this today for car brokers. Live in 14 days.
Why do dealers and brokers lose buyers they already paid for?
Because a car buyer at 9 pm is messaging three lots at once. The one who replies while the buyer is still on the couch gets the test drive. The one who replies at 9:15 the next morning gets a "thanks, already found one." Your ad spend generated the inquiry. Your response time decided who sold the car.
The numbers on this are not new. In the largest published audit of lead response across industries, Harvard Business Review tested 2,241 US companies and found an average response time of 42 hours, with 23% never replying at all. Automotive has two sets of numbers, and they disagree in a telling way. When DAS Technology submitted 1,700+ test inquiries through dealership websites for its NADA 2025 study, 61% answered a website lead within 15 minutes. When Foureyes pulled real CRM data from dealer systems for the same year, 65% of sales leads who returned to the dealer's website had not heard from a salesperson within 24 hours and 14.1% were never logged at all. Dealers are fast when they know they are being tested and slow when nobody is watching, which is every evening and weekend.
| What the data says | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Dealers replying to a mystery-shop internet lead within 15 minutes (2024) | 61% | DAS Technology, NADA 2025 study, 1,700+ website inquiries |
| Dealers taking more than an hour to reply | 19% | DAS Technology, NADA 2025 study |
| Sales leads returning to the dealer's website with no salesperson reply within 24 hours (real CRM data, 2024) | 65% | Foureyes 2025 Automotive Dealer Benchmarks |
| New sales leads never logged into the dealer CRM | 14.1% | Foureyes 2025 Automotive Dealer Benchmarks |
| Lift in qualifying odds, 5 min vs 30 min | 21x | Lead Response Management study |
| Time a new-car buyer spends researching online | 6 hr 31 min | Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey 2024 |
| Independent car brokers who promise any response time on their site | 8% (9 of 111) | LeadSixty research, 2026 |
| Independent car brokers capturing leads with a form nobody answers after hours | 75% | LeadSixty research, 2026 |
Full citations are listed in the Sources section at the bottom of this page. Our own broker research is published in full in the Car Broker Speed-to-Lead Report.
Read the last two rows together. Three out of four independent brokers capture leads with a website form, and almost none of them have anything behind the form that answers at night. Fewer than one in ten even promises a response time. In a business where the buyer is filling out the same form on three other sites, that is the whole competition.
The three ways car leads leak
- The DM that sits. Instagram shows the buyer exactly how long you took. A "seen 3h ago" under your last message is a signal to go buy somewhere else. Messenger and Instagram are where a growing share of broker deals start, and both channels punish slow replies visibly.
- Reps working the wrong leads. Your salesperson spends 25 minutes on the phone to find out the buyer has no down payment, wants a vehicle you cannot source, or lives three states away. The buyer who was ready is the third callback of the day and has already moved on.
- Follow-up that stops at attempt two. Most buyers do not answer the first call. Most reps stop after the second. The lead gets marked dead when it was just at work.
The fix is not a bigger ad budget or a bigger BDC. It is a system that does the first minute, the screening questions, and the 30 days of follow-up automatically, in the channel the buyer already chose, so your reps only talk to people who want a car this month.
One system between the inquiry and the sales rep
Six pieces, set up for you on a platform we provide, tuned to how you sell. Works in DMs or over text, whichever your ads send people to. Your reps do not learn new software. They get screened buyers with a time to talk. The booking layer is also available on its own as the AI appointment setter, and the phone side is covered by the AI receptionist.
Every lead source in one inbox
Instagram DMs, Messenger, website forms, Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus, Facebook Marketplace, missed calls and walk-in follow-ups. Each one lands in the CRM as a contact with its source tagged, so the first message fits how the buyer found you.
A reply within 60 seconds, in the buyer's channel
If the ad sends them to DM, the AI answers in the DM. If it sends them to a form that captures a mobile number, the AI texts. Either way it opens with a short, human message in your store's voice and asks what they are looking for, when, and what they are working with.
Screened before the rep picks up
By the time a rep calls, they know the vehicle, the timeline, the budget or payment range, the down payment, whether there is a trade, and where the buyer is. The AI never quotes payments, APR, or approval. That stays with your desk.
Routed to a rep who is actually available
Solo broker: everything books to you. Team: round-robin to the next available rep so nothing waits and nobody gets buried, or route by desk, brand, or territory if that is how you run the floor. The rep gets the transcript with the assignment.
30 days of follow-up that does not quit
No reply? Text, email, ringless voicemail, on a cadence written for car buyers. Appointment set? Confirmation the day before and a reminder an hour out. No-show? Rebooked automatically. "Still thinking"? Checked in on every few days until they buy, say no, or opt out.
Your dead leads, reactivated
Old internet leads, no-shows from last quarter, service customers with equity, lease-end dates coming up. We sequence the whole list during the install with a message that fits each group. Replies go straight to a rep. Nobody new is paid for.
What does the AI conversation actually look like?
Short, specific, and in your store's name. The first two minutes are not for selling the car. They are for finding out who this person is, what they want, and getting a time on the calendar. Here is a real-shape example from an Instagram DM that came in from a Meta ad at 9:04 pm on a Thursday.
Notice what the AI did not do. It did not quote a payment, promise an approval, or negotiate the trade. It collected six facts, matched the buyer to a rep, and booked a time. Danny walks in Friday knowing exactly which car, which trade, and which budget he is working with before he dials.
The names above are placeholders. The script, tone, questions, and handoff rules are written with you during the install. Some stores want the AI to ask about credit tier. Some want it to ask two questions and book. Some want it to push a credit application link once the buyer says "financing." It is your process.
How does this compare to a BDC, an appointment setter, or your CRM's drips?
There are three common ways dealers and brokers try to fix slow follow-up. Each works for someone. Here is where each one lands on the things that decide whether an inquiry becomes a delivered car.
| Reps working leads themselves | BDC or hired appointment setter | Dealer CRM drip automations | LeadSixty | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First response time | Minutes to next day, depends on the floor | Minutes during staffed hours | Seconds, fixed template | Under 60 seconds, conversational |
| Nights, weekends, holidays | Only if a rep is on their phone | No, unless you staff it | Yes, one-way | Yes, two-way |
| Replies inside Instagram and Messenger | If the rep has the login | Sometimes | Usually no | Yes |
| Asks screening questions and reads the answers | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Books directly to a rep's calendar | Yes | Yes | Link only | Yes, with confirmation and reminders |
| Follows up for 30 days without being told | Rarely | If managed | Yes, fixed schedule | Yes, adjusts to replies |
| Who builds and maintains it | Sales manager | You hire, train and manage | You or a vendor rep | We do, ongoing |
| Time to live | Now | 4 to 8 weeks to hire and train | Weeks of setup | 14 days |
| Monthly cost shape | Rep time | Salary plus turnover | Included in CRM, plus your time | Flat retainer, month to month |
| Reactivates dead leads and service customers | When someone has time | If assigned | Possible, manual setup | Included in every install |
Honest note: a well-run BDC that answers every lead within minutes, covers evenings, and never drops follow-up is a real solution, and if you have one you should only consider us for overnight coverage and reactivation. The pipeline tools you already use are good at what they do. We are not a replacement for them; we are the layer in front of them that turns a lead into a booked conversation.
Three steps. Fourteen days. Nothing for your reps to learn.
Free Where AI Fits call
We map where your leads come from, how fast they are answered today, and where they stall. If you sell through DMs we look at the response timestamps. You leave with a written picture of the leak, whether or not you hire us.
We build and install in 14 days
CRM setup or connection, Instagram and Messenger connected, texting number registered, AI trained on your inventory categories and screening questions, routing configured, 30-day follow-up written, reactivation launched, reps walked through it.
We run it, you deliver cars
Every conversation is monitored. We tune scripts, timing and routing every month based on what buyers actually say. You get a weekly summary and a calendar full of screened appointments.
What happens in the 14 days
| Days | What we do | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Where AI Fits call, access to your Meta Business account and lead sources, export of old leads, no-shows and service customers | One 30-minute call, logins |
| 3 to 6 | CRM build or connection, Instagram and Messenger integration, marketplace and form integrations, business texting number and A2P 10DLC registration, calendar sync | Business details for carrier registration, Meta admin access |
| 7 to 10 | AI screening script, handoff rules, financing boundaries, routing logic, 30-day follow-up sequence. Test conversations with your sales manager. | One 45-minute review call, feedback on test threads |
| 11 to 13 | Reactivation campaign across your database, segmented by dead internet leads, no-shows, service-to-sales, and lease-end or equity customers | Approve the messages |
| 14 | Go live on all sources. Monitoring on. First weekly summary the following Monday. | Answer your phone |
Carrier registration for business texting usually clears within a few business days but can occasionally take longer. We start it on day 3 and tell you on day 1 if your setup carries that risk. DM channels do not need carrier registration and can go live earlier.
What do our automotive installs typically see?
Across our automotive installs, appointment show-up rate has climbed from around 40% to around 65%, driven by screening at the front end and confirmation plus reminder messages before the visit. Lead-to-appointment rate has run about 20% above the pre-install baseline on the same lead flow and the same reps. Roughly one in ten dormant leads sequenced through the reactivation layer has come back warm.
These figures reflect typical outcomes across our automotive installations. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Actual numbers vary with your offer, your inventory, your team, and your current baseline. Our clients prefer not to be named publicly.
How do you keep automated texting and DMs compliant for a dealership?
Three things, all handled during the install.
- Registered business texting. We register your number for A2P 10DLC under your legal business name. That is what makes carriers deliver the messages instead of filtering them, and it is the step most do-it-yourself setups skip, which is the quiet reason their texts "stop working". Once the number is registered it also receives inbound texts, so a new lead who texts you first gets the same 60-second reply and the same qualifying questions. We set that up during the install where your number allows it.
- Consent and opt-out. Your forms carry a one-line text-consent checkbox, and STOP is honored instantly across every sequence. Carrier registration asks how people opt in, so the two go together.
- No financing claims from the AI, and Meta's rules respected. The AI does not state payments, APRs, down payments or approval odds; your desk does. On Messenger and Instagram it sends promotional messages only inside Meta's 24-hour window and moves later follow-up to text or email where the buyer has consented.
This is not legal advice. It is what a clean setup looks like, and we build it that way by default.
Who is this for, and who should not buy it?
Good fit: independent car brokers running Meta ads to DMs or forms; independent and franchise dealers paying for marketplace leads who do not have evening coverage; buy-here-pay-here lots where the buyer's timeline and down payment decide everything; auto finance groups routing applications to multiple stores; anyone sitting on a CRM full of dead internet leads, no-shows and service customers nobody has texted in a year.
Not a fit: a solo broker working fewer than about 15 new inquiries a month who already answers every DM within minutes from their own phone. The system would work, but the math would not, and we will say so on the Where AI Fits call. Also not a fit if your store already runs a staffed BDC that covers evenings and weekends and never drops a follow-up; in that case only the reactivation piece is worth talking about.
We also build beyond follow-up. Stores that start with speed-to-lead often come back for service-appointment reminders, review requests after delivery, a trade-in intake agent, or a lease-end outreach agent that starts conversations 120 days before maturity. Those are scoped separately once the core system is running.
Questions dealers and brokers ask before they start
What does an AI lead follow-up system for a car dealership actually do?+
Does this work if my Meta ads send people to Instagram DMs instead of a form?+
Will the AI quote payments or tell buyers if they are approved?+
Which CRM does this run on? We use VinSolutions.+
How is this different from the text drips in my dealer CRM?+
Do I still need a BDC?+
How long does it take to go live?+
What happens to my dead internet leads and no-shows?+
Does it work with Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus and Facebook Marketplace leads?+
What if a buyer just wants to talk to a person?+
How much does it cost?+
How fast do I really need to respond to an internet lead?+
Will an AI BDC sound robotic and hurt my brand?+
How do you handle buyers who already talked to another dealer?+
How do you prove it is driving appointments, not just chats?+
Is this different from the chat widget on my website?+
Who is this not a fit for?+
Other businesses we build this for
The same system, with different screening questions and routing, runs for loan officers and mortgage brokers, insurance agencies, real estate agents and teams, and med spas. If you also run in-house financing, the loan officer page covers how the AI collects financing intake without quoting terms.
- Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington. "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads." Harvard Business Review, March 2011. Audit of 2,241 US companies: 42-hour average response, 37% within one hour, 23% never responded. hbr.org
- Oldroyd, James. "Lead Response Management Study." InsideSales.com / MIT, 2007. Odds of qualifying a lead 21x higher at 5 minutes versus 30 minutes. leadresponsemanagement.org
- DAS Technology (Digital Air Strike). "Automotive Dealership Lead Response Study," presented at NADA 2025. Data from 1,700+ dealership website inquiries: 61% responded within 15 minutes in 2024, up from 55% in 2022; 19% took over an hour. digitalairstrike.com
- Foureyes. "2025 Automotive Dealer Benchmarks Report," January to December 2024 data. 65% of sales leads who returned to the dealer's website did not hear back from a salesperson within 24 hours; 14.1% of new sales leads were never logged into dealer CRMs. foureyes.io
- Cox Automotive. "2024 Car Buyer Journey Study." New-car buyers spent 6 hours 31 minutes researching online out of 13 hours 35 minutes total; used-car buyers 7 hours 29 minutes online. dealer.com
- LeadSixty Research. "The Car Broker Speed-to-Lead Report 2026." 111 independent US car brokers analyzed July to August 2026: 75% capture leads with a form and show no instant-response mechanism, 8% promise any response time, 61% actively pay for marketing. leadsixty.com/report
- Meta for Developers. "Messenger Platform and Instagram Messaging API policy." Promotional messages permitted within the 24-hour standard messaging window; outside it, only Sponsored Messages, One-Time Notifications or non-promotional message tags. developers.facebook.com
Page updated September 6, 2026. Every number on this page is either cited above or describes how our own installs work.
Find out how many buyers you are losing to the clock
Book a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call. We look at your lead sources, your DM and form response times, and your database, and show you where the leak is. No pitch if it is not a fit.
Book a Where AI Fits callor tell us in writing
Tell us what you want AI to handle and we come back with a straight answer, usually the same day. If it is not a fit, we say so.