Automotive CRM for Dealer Groups

One platform and one set of habits across every rooftop, with each store's leads, numbers and customers kept where they belong.

A group is not a big store. It is several stores that have to behave like one company without losing what makes each of them work. The questions change once the second rooftop opens:

• Routing. Did the lead from the north store's website reach the north store's floor, and the right person on it?
• Permissions. Can the used car director see what the job needs at each store, while a salesperson sees only their own store?
• Reporting. Can the group compare store against store on the same numbers, counted the same way?
• Data lines. When a salesperson moves from one rooftop to another, which customers go with them? (None. The store keeps them.)
• Consistency. Does every store answer a lead the same way, with the same first response and the same follow-up?

LeadLocate answers those with a clear account structure and the same tools on every rooftop. The dealer CRM software page covers the product module by module; this page is about running it across a group, from a two store family group to franchise points and used car stores spread across state lines.

Each rooftop runs as its own LeadLocate account. That account holds the store's leads, customers, conversations, phone numbers, lead feeds, templates, deal defaults and reports. A salesperson at one rooftop works that rooftop's customers, and the line between stores is the account itself.

The group layer sits in the people and the habits:

• Group leaders who oversee several stores get a login on each rooftop's account they run, with Whole Team View and Reports checked.
• Single sign on means one login per person launches the CRM, Inventory Link, SecureWebX and My LeadLocate, the account portal, with biometric login on the phone app and a Quick Access PIN per user.
• App access is set per user in My LeadLocate, so the office manager who runs credit applications can launch SecureWebX while a salesperson launches the CRM and the phone app.
• Personal information on the Customer Profile is encrypted, logins are logged, and SecureWebX adds two factor authentication, an audit log and archive, never delete, on every application.

That structure keeps compliance simple: each store's DNC Blacklist and texting history live with the store that built them.

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Every person has an Access Control card in User Management, and a manager checks exactly which pages, tools and apps they can open. Job titles are labels, so the card is what counts. Mapped onto a typical group:

Each person keeps their own notification toggles. A manager adds users while a license is free and requests more from the account. When someone leaves or transfers, switching their login off hands their open leads and tasks to a successor at that store, or marks Temporary leave, and the history and authorship on every record stay where they are.

The LeadLocate for dealer group executives page walks the same structure from the executive's chair.

Routing at a group fails when a rule is attached to something that moves. In LeadLocate it attaches to the lead feed, which does not move.

• One feed for each source at each store. Every listing site, website form and third party source at every rooftop is its own feed, with its own assignment rule, notifications and Automated Templates. Four rooftops with six sources each is twenty four feeds, and none of them share a rule by accident.
• Assignment. A feed rotates leads round robin across a store's floor, goes to one named user, or waits for anyone at that store to claim it.
• Routing rules per rooftop and distribution lists cover the group cases, such as a shared group website form whose leads belong to different stores. Our team sets these up with the group.
• Manager Lead Copies put a GM or a group internet director on a feed to receive a copy of every lead it delivers, by email and in the CRM.
• Duplicates merge into one record when the same shopper submits twice at a store.

Phones follow the same logic. Tracking numbers per source show which listing rang, call forwarding builds each store's Forward Calls To list, and business hours routing and the IVR call flow builder decide where an after hours call goes. Campaign leads from Leads Manager arrive by store: each store sets its own Market Area, and every lead is delivered to one store only, prescreened at capture and backed by a replacement review.

The multi rooftop lead routing page walks a four store setup feed by feed.

Here is an automotive CRM for dealer groups at work in a group with two franchise points, a used car store and a fourth rooftop one state over.

7:45 a.m. The group internet director opens her Workspace. Manager Lead Copies put every weekend lead from all four stores' main feeds in her inbox, each one already answered by that store's Automated Templates.

9:40 a.m. A shopper submits the inquiry form on the used car store's website, and the lead lands in that store's CRM. Round robin hands it to the next salesperson on that floor, and the first text has already gone out.

11:20 a.m. A caller to the out of state store says the word "cancel". That store has "cancel" set as an Alert Keyword, so Call Alerts flag the transcribed call for its GM, who calls the customer back before lunch.

2:00 p.m. A salesperson transfers from the north store to the used car store. The north store switches his login off and hands his open leads and tasks to a successor there. The used car store adds him while a license is free. His north store customers stay with the north store.

4:30 p.m. The director reads Reports at each rooftop: leads by source, by status and by user, activity by user for calls, texts and email, and call volume. Same reports, same definitions, four stores side by side.

Comparison only works when every store counts the same things the same way. Because every rooftop runs the same platform, the reports match.

• Activity, company and management reporting on every account, with the Reports dashboard on the dock.
• Leads by source, status, type and user, so the group sees which sources pay and which stores work them.
• Activity by user for calls, texts and email, counted from the communications themselves, because the work happens inside the CRM.
• Call volume and Call Alerts, with each manager choosing All Calls or Alert Calls Only.
• Scheduled Messages in Whole Team View, so a manager sees every queued text, email and voicemail drop at the store.

Two numbers deserve a weekly look at group level: first response time and how many touches a lead gets before the store stops. Both vary widely between stores in the same group, and both are fixable with templates and Follow Up Processes. The dealer CRM reporting dashboard page covers the report screens.

The group's real advantage is a shared playbook. Build it once at the pilot store, then repeat it at each rooftop:

• Automated Templates for every feed, from the same master set.
• Follow Up Processes per lead type, with restore defaults when a store drifts.
• Custom lead statuses, row colors, tags and the lost reason popup, set the same way at each store so reports line up.
• Deal defaults centralized in Desking, with the 50 state tax matrix covering stores in different states.
• AI voicemail drops by topic, with a Spanish twin for each.
• Team Chat channels and direct messages for every user, and Jax, the bilingual assistant inside LeadLocate, for how do I questions in English or Spanish.

A group that runs a central BDC across stores has its own workflow, covered on the centralized BDC for dealer groups page. LeadLocate works alongside each store's DMS; accounting, parts and service stay in the DMS.

Groups that switch well do it in waves.

1. Pick a pilot rooftop. A mid sized store with a cooperative GM, not the best or the worst performer.
2. Bring the data. Smart Contact Import reads XLSX, CSV, JSON, ADF and vCard files with AI column mapping, and our team helps move each store's customer history. The CRM data migration page lists what to export first.
3. Build the playbook. Feeds, templates, Follow Up Processes, statuses and deal defaults at the pilot, then copy the pattern.
4. Train by store. Live Training sessions, the video library and Schedule Training on the top bar, store by store.
5. Roll the rest in waves, one or two rooftops at a time.

Every rooftop's plan runs month to month with no long term contract, so a group can pilot one store before it moves the rest.

In an automotive CRM for dealer groups, every rooftop's account has the same cost parts. The plan is CRM Only, or a lead plan with exclusive local leads: Inbound, Marketplace Acquisitions or Buyers and Sellers Hybrid. Each plan includes a login to start, and more users are an add-on. Usage credits cover bulk texting, bulk email, ringless voicemail deliveries and phone and email validation, and Extra Marketing Effort Levels for buyers or sellers add to an active subscription. The pricing page lists every figure.

Is each rooftop its own account?

Yes. Each rooftop runs as its own LeadLocate account with its own leads, customers, numbers, feeds and reports. Group leaders get a login on each rooftop they oversee, with the access they need, and single sign on gives every person one login.

Can a group director see leads from every store?

Yes. Put the director on each store's feeds with Manager Lead Copies and every lead arrives by email and in the CRM, beside the salesperson who owns it. Each store's Reports cover the rest.

What happens when a salesperson transfers between rooftops?

The first store switches their login off and hands their open leads and tasks to a successor, so its customers stay put. The second store adds the salesperson while a license is free.

How do leads from a shared group website reach the right store?

Our team sets up routing rules per rooftop and distribution lists for the group. Inside each store, the feed's assignment rule decides who gets the lead: round robin, one named user, or open to claim.

Do two of our stores compete for the same campaign lead?

Each store sets its own Market Area in Leads Manager, and every lead is delivered to one store only. Plan the Market Areas together so each rooftop reaches the corridors the group wants it to work.

Can we pilot one rooftop first?

Yes, and we recommend it. Run one store for a few weeks, build the playbook there, then roll the others in waves. Every plan is month to month.

Tell us how many stores you run and where. We will walk the feeds, user access and reports for a pilot store on a live account. Call 844-376-2274 or watch the demo first.

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