CDK Fixed Operations Suite: What It Does and How Dealers Use It

A buyer's guide to the service and parts tools CDK Global offers around its dealer management system, and the customer layer LeadLocate runs beside them: phones, texts, service to sales and follow up.

CDK Global is one of the largest dealer management system providers in the United States, and fixed operations is a core part of what it sells. Its service and parts tools sit inside or alongside the DMS: repair order creation and the service workflow from write up to cashiering, parts inventory, the parts counter and ordering, technician time and dispatch, warranty processing, service scheduling, and service lane tools that advisors carry on tablets. Because those tools share data with the rest of the DMS, a store running CDK can see a repair order, the parts on it and the accounting behind it in one system of record.

CDK packages these capabilities under product names and bundles that change over time, and franchise and independent stores buy different combinations. Treat this page as a map of the category and confirm current modules, pricing and terms with CDK directly. What matters for a buyer is understanding the job each piece does, because the job tells you where the store's system of record ends and where the customer conversation begins.

That line is the subject of this guide. The shop, the parts room and the accounting stay in CDK. The calls, the texts, the service customer who is ready for a new vehicle and the follow up that turns a visit into a sale run in LeadLocate, beside it.

On a typical day in a CDK store, appointments arrive from the scheduler, the website and the phone, and the advisor opens each repair order on the drive. Concerns and recommended work go on the repair order, the technician is dispatched, labor time is recorded against the job, and the parts counter pulls or orders what the job needs. Warranty work is flagged for the claim, customer pay work goes to cashiering, and the accounting side of the DMS picks up the result without anyone rekeying it.

The service manager reads the department through DMS reports: hours per repair order, effective labor rate, technician productivity, parts gross and customer pay versus warranty mix. The parts manager watches inventory turns and obsolescence. Those numbers are why stores buy an integrated fixed operations suite, and a store that has them running cleanly should keep them running.

What the day does not measure is the customer conversation that happens around the repair order. The caller who hung up after four rings at seven forty. The customer whose estimate is larger than her car is worth. The customer who asked the advisor, half joking, what his car would bring on trade. None of that belongs on a repair order, and all of it is revenue for the sales department. That is the ground LeadLocate covers.

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A fixed operations suite tied to the DMS is a long commitment, so the questions should cover the contract and the data as much as the features. Bring these into the conversation.

• Module scope. Exactly which service, parts, scheduling and lane tools are in the quote, and which are separate line items.
• Third party connections. How outside applications connect to the DMS, who approves them, and what each connection costs per month.
• Data export. Whether you can pull repair order, customer and parts history in a usable format whenever you want it.
• Term and renewal. DMS agreements can run several years; confirm the term, the renewal notice window and what changes at renewal.
• Training and conversion. What training is included, and how a conversion from another system is staffed and scheduled.

Confirm current pricing and terms with CDK directly. If the decision is part of a wider system change, our guides to switching from CDK Drive and the service department switching checklist cover sequencing and the questions controllers and service managers ask most.

The division is clean. CDK holds the repair order, the parts, the technician time and the accounting. LeadLocate holds every customer conversation that happens around them, and the sales opportunities those conversations open. LeadLocate runs on its own login with DMS access not required, so a store adds the customer layer without a third party connection request, a conversion or a single change to the way the shop runs today.

A store that wants a daily list from its service tools to land in the CRM asks for it, and our team puts it in production for your dealership. Most stores start by creating leads from the drive by hand, because it works on the first day and builds the habit.

Service phones ring hardest when advisors are busiest, and an unanswered call often books the next visit at another shop. LeadLocate's phone system starts with routing. The IVR call flow builder lets the store design its own menu with uploaded audio and saved revisions, so service callers reach service and vehicle callers reach sales. Business hours routing sends after hours calls where the store wants them, call forwarding rings a list built from the store's own users, and caller ID name lookup shows who is calling before anyone answers.

When a call still goes unanswered, missed call text back opens a text thread with the caller from the store's tracking number, which our missed call text back guide covers in full. Every call is recorded and transcribed, and the transcript sits on the customer record. Call Alerts with Alert Keywords check each transcript for the words the store chooses, such as trade in, payment or cancel, and a manager picks All Calls or Alert Calls Only. A service caller who says the repair is more than the car is worth becomes a flag on the sales manager's screen within the same morning.

The repair order stays in CDK. The customer becomes a lead in LeadLocate the moment someone creates the record. A salesperson or advisor taps New Lead on the LeadLocate mobile app, scans the customer's driver license, and tags the lead to a Service Lane source in Lead Feeds Manager so every lead from the drive can be measured. In-Store Now flags the customer as in the building, and the sales manager sees it at the desk. The lead record holds up to five vehicles of interest plus trade-in lines.

While the car is on the lift, the trade-in form captures the VIN by scan and photos of the vehicle. The salesperson texts a specific unit from live inventory with the vehicle button in the composer, and Inventory Link supplies the units from the store's feed or imports them from the store's own website. EZ Desking builds cash, finance and lease structures side by side with the 50 state tax matrix, and a PIN protected customer deal page goes to the customer's phone with deal chat and e-signature.

For the finance office, a SecureWebX apply link by text collects a secure credit application with e-signed consent, and SecureWebX can export the application to your lender or DMS in the format it expects, including STAR XML, so the F&I team starts from clean data. The service lane to sales handoff page walks through the full sequence.

CDK's service tools handle the service relationship around the repair order. LeadLocate carries the sales relationship the visit opens. Follow Up Processes run multi step drips per lead type, so a Service Lane lead who says not today gets a thank you text the next day, the trade value again in two weeks, a call task on the salesperson's Workspace, and a check in timed to the next service interval. Automated Templates answer replies on the feed at any hour.

For list work, the store imports contacts, for example customers with high mileage vehicles or large open estimates, and reaches them by bulk texting or bulk email. Texts go as RCS with automatic SMS fallback, so every phone receives the message. The phone validator and email validator clean the list first and show validity dots on each record, and the DNC Blacklist runs a live do not call lookup before a number is contacted. A reply of stop is honored on the record. Scheduled sends and trackable short links round it out, so a manager writes the message once and sees who opened the vehicle page. For message wording, see declined service follow up.

Every call, text, MMS, email and voicemail for a customer sits on one communications timeline on the lead record. The Reports dashboard puts the Service Lane source next to website, phone and campaign leads, with desked deals and deliveries by salesperson and by advisor, so the general manager sees what the drive sells alongside the fixed ops numbers CDK already reports. Manager Lead Copies put a manager on a feed so every service lead also reaches the manager's inbox. User Management sets User, Manager and Master Administrator roles, and the Customer Profile stores personal information encrypted in one shared record.

Team Chat keeps advisors and salespeople talking in channels, and Jax, the bilingual AI assistant inside the CRM, answers the rep in English or Spanish. Training is included with every plan: the video training library, Live Training and Schedule Training from the top bar.

CRM Only starts at $199 a month, month to month with no long term contract. Plans with exclusive local leads include the CRM: 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. We cannot guarantee lead counts, close rates or sales results, because those depend on your market and your team. See the pricing page for every plan.

Should we keep CDK if we add LeadLocate?

Yes. CDK keeps the repair orders, parts, technician time, warranty and fixed ops accounting. LeadLocate runs beside it on the customer side: calls, texts, service to sales handoffs, trades, worksheets, deal pages, credit applications and follow up.

Does LeadLocate need a CDK third party connection to work?

DMS access is not required. LeadLocate runs on its own login and goes live the same day. A store that wants a daily list from its service tools to land in the CRM asks for it, and our team puts it in production for your dealership.

Can credit applications collected in SecureWebX reach our DMS?

SecureWebX can export an application to your lender or DMS in the format it expects, including STAR XML, fixed width, CSV and JSON, over transports such as SFTP or a secure portal. The finance office starts from clean, consented data.

How do service customers become sales leads?

An advisor or salesperson creates the lead from the mobile app with a driver license scan, tags it to a Service Lane source, and flags the customer In-Store Now. The trade photos, texts, worksheet and deal page all build on that one record.

Can LeadLocate answer or text back missed service calls?

The IVR call flow builder routes callers to the right department, call forwarding rings the store's own list, and missed call text back opens a text thread when a call goes unanswered. Every call is recorded and transcribed, and Call Alerts flag chosen keywords.

What does LeadLocate cost next to a CDK contract?

CRM Only starts at $199 a month, month to month with no long term contract, and plans with exclusive local leads include the CRM. We cannot guarantee lead counts or sales results. Confirm CDK pricing and terms with CDK directly.

Watch the recorded demo or call 844-376-2274 for a walkthrough on your own store. CDK keeps running the shop and parts; LeadLocate turns every call and visit into a customer conversation that sells.

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