Automotive CRM Integration Testing Checklist

The test cases to run before you trust a lead source, a website form or a second CRM, what a pass looks like for each, and how to keep test leads out of your numbers.

Every lead source is an integration, even the simple ones. A listing site emails an ADF document, a website form posts a submission, a chat tool hands over a conversation, a tracking number rings a phone. Each one can fail quietly: the lead arrives without a phone number, lands on the wrong person, splits into two records or never arrives at all. Nobody notices until a customer mentions they asked about a truck two weeks ago.

Automotive CRM integration testing catches those failures on purpose, before customers do. Run the tests when you add a lead provider or a website form, when a vendor changes its system, when you move to a new CRM or run two side by side, and once a quarter for every source you pay for. The cases work the same at a franchise rooftop with a dozen providers, an independent or used car store with three, a buy here pay here store that lives on finance forms, and an RV or boat dealer running show leads beside its marketplaces.

Download the integration testing checklist (Excel) to log each test with its expected and actual result, or the printable PDF with a tick box beside every case.

• Use test customers, never real ones. Made up names, your own mobile number and an inbox you control, so every text and email you trigger comes back to you.
• Write the expected result first. For each case, write what should happen: which person gets the lead, which source label it carries, which first text goes out. A test without an expected result is just another lead.
• One owner, one log. One person runs the tests and records the time sent, the time received and the result for each case in the sheet.
• Keep test leads out of your numbers. When a test is done, mark the lead Lost with the Test Lead reason, which is on the default lost reason list, so it stays out of the results that matter.
• Tell the floor. A post in Team Chat saves a salesperson from calling your test customer.

The dealership integration test checklist in the download follows the same order as the sections below, from delivery through recovery, so the log reads the same way every quarter.

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Time every delivery. A lead that takes ten minutes to arrive starts the race ten minutes late, however fast your team answers it.

ADF, the Auto-Lead Data Format, is the XML document most lead providers send. What arrives at a store is often less tidy than the specification, so test the messy versions on purpose.

1. A clean ADF document from each provider. Check that customer, phone, email, vehicle, VIN and comments each landed in their own field.
2. ADF as an attachment rather than in the email body. The lead should still arrive complete.
3. A plain text or HTML lead email with no XML at all. It should still become a lead.
4. The vehicle as one free text string that begins with Certified Pre-Owned or New. The make should never read "New", and the year should be the model year.
5. No vehicle at all. The vehicle fields should arrive empty, not filled with a guess.
6. A trade-in in the document. Check where the trade details land on the lead, and that your team knows where to look.
7. A long comment with line breaks and special characters. It should arrive readable.

LeadLocate runs a strict ADF parse first and falls back to reading plain and HTML lead emails rather than discarding them, strips status words like New or Certified Pre-Owned before it looks for the year, and leaves a field empty instead of guessing when it is unsure. The ADF and XML integration page explains each step, and what is ADF XML covers the format itself.

Ownership problems are the expensive ones, because they start arguments on the floor. The duplicate lead management page covers prevention, and round robin lead assignment covers the rotation settings per person.

• ADF attachments. A provider that attaches the document should produce the same lead as one that puts it in the body.
• Photos by text. Text a photo of a trade from your test phone to the store's number. It should arrive in the SMS inbox as an MMS with the picture, and sit on the lead's communications timeline.
• Several attachments. Send two photos in one message and check that each one opens.
• Documents on a deal. Start a deal from the test lead with Start New Deal, then use the Deal Jacket QR intake from a phone camera to add a photo. It should appear in the Deal Jacket.
• Vehicles in outgoing texts. Use the vehicle insert button in the composer to send a unit to your test customer. The text should arrive with the photo and price.
• Delivery status. Every outgoing bubble shows sent, delivered or failed. Confirm each test text reads delivered on your own phone number.

The point of testing failure is to know what a bad delivery looks like before a real one happens, and how quickly your team puts it right.

Run the failure cases once per CRM rather than once per source. They teach your team where to look, which is most of what recovery takes.

It is 9:40 on a Wednesday. The internet manager signed a new marketplace on Monday, and the provider says the change went live this morning. Before a single real shopper comes through, she runs the checklist.

She opens Lead Source Settings and finds the new source reading Awaiting first lead. From her phone she sends a test inquiry on one of the store's listings as "Test Rivera", asking about a used pickup and mentioning a trade. At 9:42 the lead lands in the Leads view with the marketplace's Feed Label on the row, and the Activity Log shows Success with the lead ID. Round robin hands it to the next salesperson, whose phone buzzes, and the first text reaches her own phone under his name.

Then she checks the fields. The vehicle reads as the pickup she asked about, with the model year in the year field, and her comment came through with its line breaks. At 9:50 she sends a second inquiry with the same phone number through the store's website form, also on rotation, and it goes back to the same salesperson instead of the next one in line. At 9:55 she marks both test leads Lost with the Test Lead reason, posts the results in Team Chat and files the sheet. Fifteen minutes, and the store knows the source works before a single real lead depends on it.

Sign each source off when every case passes, with the name of the person who ran the tests. Then retest every quarter, after any change on the provider's side, after any change to your website forms, and whenever a source's Last Lead Received looks out of line.

In LeadLocate CRM, your own providers live in Lead Source Settings under Account Settings, each with its intake email, form intake link, assignment, alerts and Activity Log, and the leads LeadLocate delivers arrive on the feeds LeadLocate runs for your account. The lead source integration page covers every screen, connecting website forms to the CRM covers form intake, and CRM API integrations covers direct posting.

Lead sources, intake addresses and the Activity Log come with the LeadLocate CRM subscription. Each plan includes a login to start and more users are an add-on, and usage credits cover bulk texting, phone and email validation and voicemail deliveries. Plans are on the pricing page.

How long does automotive CRM integration testing take?

About fifteen minutes per lead source for the delivery, parsing and ownership cases, and about an hour for the full checklist across a typical store's sources. The failure and recovery cases run once per CRM, not once per source.

Who should run integration tests at a dealership?

The CRM administrator or the internet sales manager, with the salespeople on the rotation told in advance. One person runs every case and records the results, so the log reads the same way each quarter.

Should we test with real customer data?

No. Use made up names with your own phone number and an inbox you control, so every text and email you trigger comes back to you and no customer hears from a test.

How do we keep test leads out of our reports?

Mark each test lead Lost with the Test Lead reason, which is on the default lost reason list. The lead stays on record for reference and out of the numbers that matter.

What counts as a pass?

The lead arrives within a minute or two, every field lands in the right place, it reaches the person the source rule names, it carries the right source label, the first message goes out, and the Activity Log shows Success.

How often should we retest a lead source?

Every quarter, after any change on the provider's side or to your website forms, and whenever a source's Last Lead Received looks out of line with what the provider reports sending.

What should we do when a provider's leads stop arriving?

Open the source's Activity Log. No entries at all means the provider stopped sending to you, so send the ready request from What happens next again. Parse failed or Intake unknown points at the format or the address.

See the demo of Lead Source Settings and the Activity Log in LeadLocate CRM with a lead delivered, assigned and answered, then compare plans on the pricing page.

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