Advent Resources Alternative for Car Dealerships

Keep Advent where it is strong, on the deal file and the back office, and put a complete lead, CRM and communications layer in front of it.

Advent Resources has been building dealership software for decades, and dealers know it for a sales system built around processing car deals. Its deal calculator, Advent Advantage, sits at the center of that system, and the wider Advent DMS covers the back office work a rooftop runs on, including accounting, financing records, inventory, lease tracking and the service department. Stores that run Advent tend to describe it as the place where the deal gets structured, documented and posted.

Packaging, modules and pricing in the dealer management category move around, so treat any outside summary, this one included, as a starting point. Confirm current pricing, terms and product direction with the vendor directly and get the answers in writing before a renewal conversation.

People who type "Advent Resources alternative" into a search box usually fall into one of two groups. The first group wants a different system for accounting and deal posting, which is a back office project. The second group is comfortable with how deals get processed and is really looking for more of them: more shoppers, faster first responses, follow up that survives past the second touch, and a clear view of which advertising produced which sale. This page is written for the second group, because that front of the business is exactly where LeadLocate is built to win.

The simplest plan is also the strongest one. Keep Advent for what it is known for: the deal calculator, the deal file, accounting and the departments that post into it. Run LeadLocate beside it for everything that happens before a customer sits at the desk, and for the conversations that bring that customer back after delivery.

That split leaves your office manager's month end exactly as it is. Nobody retrains on the ledger, nobody rebuilds account mapping, and the controller never has to sign off on a conversion. What changes is the front of the store: where leads come from, how fast someone answers, what gets said on the phone, and whether a shopper who went quiet on day three hears from you again on day ten.

LeadLocate goes live without DMS access and without an inventory feed, because neither is required. That is why a store can start in days rather than quarters. When you want your vehicles on your pages and in your messages, Inventory Link imports inventory from your website or from a feed, and the vehicle button in every text and email composer attaches a unit with its photos and price in one click.

Leave your number and a lead specialist calls you back to answer your questions about pricing, coverage, and setup. Mon - Sat, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Pacific.

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The short version is a complete lead and CRM platform built for car sales, designed and built in house, and delivered as one system instead of a stack of add ons from different vendors. Here is what that looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.

A shopper in your zone answers the prescreening questions you chose and lands in the lead inbox with a name, a phone number and an email address, and the validity results from the built in phone validator and email validator show right on the lead. Distribution rules put the lead on a named salesperson with a clock running, and Manager Lead Copies put the same lead in front of the sales manager at the same moment. Automated Templates can send the first text the second the lead arrives, so the customer hears from your store while they are still holding the phone.

From there every call, text, MMS, email and voicemail sits on one timeline on the lead record. Calls are recorded and transcribed, so a manager reads a twelve minute call in thirty seconds and coaches from what was actually said. Follow Up Processes run multi step drips by lead type, and Jax, the bilingual AI assistant inside the CRM, helps reps write the next message in English or Spanish. The automotive CRM for dealerships page walks every module in detail.

The word "alternative" suggests a swap. In practice the two systems sit side by side, each doing the job it was built for.

Features and packaging change on both sides. Confirm anything decision critical with each vendor before you sign.

Most of the gross a store loses never reaches the deal calculator. It leaks out in the first five minutes, when a lead sits in a shared mailbox, a call rolls to a voicemail nobody checks, or a text goes unanswered until the customer has already booked an appointment across town.

LeadLocate closes that gap with a phone system built into the CRM. Tracking numbers per source tell you which advertising made the phone ring. The IVR call flow builder routes callers by option with your own recorded audio, business hours routing sends after hours calls where you want them, and the Forward Calls To ring list is built from your own users. When a call is missed, the customer gets a text back so the conversation continues instead of ending. Reps call from a VoIP softphone in the browser or the LeadLocate phone app, and every call lands on the lead record with its recording and transcript.

Texting runs the same way. RCS messaging with automatic SMS fallback, MMS with pictures, trackable short links with click stats, scheduled sends, and bulk texting to recipient lists all live in one inbox with delivery status on every bubble. Voicemail drops let a BDC reach a whole list in the time one dial used to take. None of it asks the office to change a single posting in Advent.

The sales floor needs numbers long before the deal file is final, and that is where DealTracker earns its place beside Advent. EZ Desking builds cash, finance and lease structures with a multi pencil grid and goal seek bays, a fifty state tax matrix, semimonthly payment frequency, trade credit caps and three lease tax methods. The desking tool page shows the engine on its own.

When the customer is ready, the customer deal page carries the numbers to them on their own phone, brand skinned to your store, with PIN access, e-signature, revision view and deal chat. The digital retail steps on that page, build, document review, deal review and a shipping quote, let the customer move the deal forward from home while your desk stays in control.

Credit applications come through SecureWebX. Branded apply links go out by text or sit on your website, the five step application supports co-applicants and ITIN, and the dealer console holds stipulations, supporting documents, OFAC screening, adverse action notices and state disclosures on the application record. Send to Lender shares an application with the lender you choose through a code gated, expiring, watermarked link. When the deal is ready to move, SecureWebX exports the application to your lender or DMS in the format it expects, including STAR XML, CSV and fixed width. See online credit application software for the full application flow.

A deal calculator can only process the deals that reach it. LeadLocate plans with leads put new shoppers in front of your team every month, and the CRM subscription that receives and works those leads is part of every plan.

In Leads Manager you choose your zone in the zone editor, check zip level stats and a market scan, pick the campaign type, write the prescreening questions each shopper answers, and preview sample ads with See Samples. Our team builds and runs the campaigns from those selections on the webXintel Ads Network, which is included with every plan. Every lead in your zone is delivered to you and only you, prescreened at capture with the questions you chose, and backed by a replacement review through Quality Control Requests, so a bad lead costs you nothing.

Leads arrive as a mix of shoppers who named a specific vehicle and shoppers still deciding. Stores that also want acquisition inventory add car seller leads, local owners who asked for an offer on their vehicle, or run both on the Buyers and Sellers Hybrid plan. We cannot guarantee lead counts, close rates or results, because those depend on your market and your follow up. What we can promise is that the leads are yours alone and the tools to work them are the best in automotive.

Week one: set up. Your account is set up for you, usually the same day. Import contacts, add users with User, Manager or Master Administrator roles, record voicemail greetings in the browser, and connect your website forms so every form on your site creates a lead with the fields mapped. Point tracking numbers at your advertising so each source has its own line.

Week two: routing and follow up. Build distribution rules and the Forward Calls To ring list, turn on Automated Templates for the first response, and load Follow Up Processes for each lead type. Set Call Alerts on the words your managers care about, such as "trade in", "payment" or "cancel".

Week three: the desk. Set centralized deal defaults in DealTracker, send the first customer deal pages, and put apply links on your website and in your text templates. Advent keeps doing exactly what it does on the deal file.

Week four: measure. Open the activity, company and management reports and compare response times, appointments set and appointments shown against the month before. Training is included with every plan, with a video library, Live Training and Schedule Training on the top bar, so new hires learn the system the week they start. When you are ready to see it live, the recorded demo walks the whole platform, and pricing lays out every plan, month to month.

Do we have to leave Advent to use LeadLocate?

No. Keep Advent for the deal calculator, the deal file and the back office, and run LeadLocate beside it for leads, the CRM, texting, calling, desking, customer deal pages and SecureWebX credit applications. Most stores run both from the first day.

Does LeadLocate need access to our DMS or an inventory feed?

Neither is required. LeadLocate goes live without DMS access or a feed. When you want inventory in your pages and messages, Inventory Link imports it from your website or from a feed.

Can a credit application taken in LeadLocate reach our DMS?

Yes. SecureWebX exports an application to your lender or DMS in the format it expects, including STAR XML, CSV, fixed width and JSON, over secure transports such as SFTP or PGP encrypted email.

How fast can our store go live?

Your account is set up for you, usually the same day. Most stores have routing, first response texts and follow up processes running inside the first week, with training included.

Are the leads shared with other dealers?

Never. Every lead in your zone is delivered to you and only you, prescreened at capture with the questions you choose, and backed by a replacement review so a bad lead costs you nothing.

Can you guarantee how many sales the leads produce?

We cannot guarantee lead counts, close rates or results, because those depend on your market and your follow up. Plans are month to month, and the pricing page lists every option.

Keep Advent on the back office and let LeadLocate bring in the shoppers, answer them first and keep the conversation going. Call 844-376-2274 or book a demo.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.