CRM for Independent Car Dealerships

Built for the owner run lot that buys its own cars, finances its own way and sells with a small team that wears every hat.

An independent lot runs on a short list of people and a long list of jobs. The owner buys at the auction on Tuesday, appraises a trade on Wednesday, answers credit questions on the phone Thursday night and closes a deal on Saturday. The salespeople post units online, text shoppers and work the floor. Somebody in the office chases stipulations and title paperwork.

A franchise CRM assumes a different store: a manufacturer program, an allocation of new units, a service drive feeding the sales floor and a person whose whole job is administering the software. An independent dealer CRM has to fit the store you actually run:

• Both sides of the car business. You sell retail and you buy inventory, so trade-ins and seller conversations belong in the same system as buyers.
• Credit first conversations. Many of your shoppers open with "can I get approved?" before they ask about a car.
• Inventory that lives on your website. Most independents keep their cars on their own site and the marketplaces they list on, not in a feed.
• A team of five that covers seven days. Leads arrive at 9 p.m. and on Sunday morning, and someone has to answer fast.

A CRM for independent car dealerships serves independent used car lots, specialty and enthusiast stores, and the buy here pay here store that also sells through outside lenders. If in-house financing drives your business, the BHPH dealer CRM page covers that workflow in detail.

Picture a twelve car a month store: the owner, two salespeople and an office manager. Here is one Saturday with LeadLocate running it.

9:40 a.m. A shopper who saw your Facebook Marketplace listing for a four year old pickup fills in the inquiry form on your website. Your form intake link drops her into Leads labeled with its feed, and the Automated Templates for that feed text her back within seconds with a SecureWebX apply link.

9:52 a.m. Round robin hands the lead to the salesperson on the floor. He sees the first text already went out, reads the thread on his phone and asks her about a trade.

10:30 a.m. She finishes the five step credit application on her phone. It lands in the SecureWebX application inbox. The owner opens it, then uses Send to Lender to share it with the credit union the store works with most, as a code gated, expiring, watermarked link.

1:15 p.m. She walks in. The salesperson flags her with In-Store Now so the owner knows she is on the lot, scans the trade VIN, photographs the trade on the trade-in form and scans her driver license into the customer record.

1:40 p.m. The owner opens Desking, books the trade, and puts two finance pencils side by side in the multi pencil grid. The 50 state tax matrix handles the customer's state. The lender's stipulations come back, and she uploads her pay stub to the Deal Jacket from her own phone by QR code.

4:10 p.m. Delivered. The sold customer Follow Up Process schedules the thank you text and the thirty day check-in. The unsold shopper from 11 a.m. is already on the unsold process, and a reminder sits on the salesperson's Workspace for Monday.

Every text, call and document from that day sits on one timeline the owner can open from home.

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.

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

An independent store does not need everything on day one. It needs the right things in the right order. This is the order that pays back fastest on most lots.

Two more belong on the list for a short handed store. Missed call handling and the virtual receptionist cover the hours nobody is at the desk, and the missed call text back page shows how a missed ring turns into a text thread instead of a lost shopper.

Setup moves at the speed of this list. Stores that gather it before the kickoff call go live fastest.

• Your users. Names, mobile numbers and what each person should be able to open in User Management.
• Your phone numbers. The main line, any numbers printed on signs or listings, and who should ring when a call comes in. Call forwarding builds a Forward Calls To list from your users.
• Your website address. Inventory Link imports inventory from your website, so the cars appear in the CRM Inventory menu and the phone app without a feed.
• Your lead sources. Each marketplace, listing site and website form becomes its own lead feed, and any website form can post straight into the CRM through your form intake link.
• Your customer list and DNC numbers. Smart Contact Import takes XLSX, CSV and vCard files, and the DNC Blacklist import loads the numbers that asked you to stop.
• Your logo and hours. The logo brands your deal pages and apply links. Business hours drive call routing and your calendar's booking hours.
• Your lenders. The banks and credit unions you send applications to, for Send to Lender in SecureWebX.

Our team takes it from there: feeds, numbers, the inventory import, apply links and your first templates. Training runs through the video library, Live Training sessions and Schedule Training on the top bar, so the whole team learns on your own account.

Here is how the twelve car store from the Saturday example gets there.

1. Week one: the owner and one salesperson. Numbers forwarded, inventory imported, customer list loaded, apply link in the first template. Two people find the friction before the whole floor does.
2. Week two: the whole floor. Everyone texts and calls from the CRM, on the desktop and the phone app. The rule is simple: if it is not on the timeline, it did not happen.
3. Week three: follow-up and credit. Sold, unsold and credit application Follow Up Processes go live, and the apply link goes on every listing.
4. Week four: inventory out, leads in. Salespeople post units to Facebook Marketplace from the CRM car view with the Inventory Link Chrome extension, then review and publish. The Marketplace strategy guide covers pricing, photos and response habits. If you chose a lead plan, your campaign goes live and your first leads start arriving.

At the end of the month, Reports show activity by user for calls, texts and email, so the owner sees who works the leads without standing over anyone.

The CRM is one of four products that share a login, and an independent lot uses all of them. The full dealer CRM software page walks the CRM module by module.

• SecureWebX carries the credit side: branded apply links, the application inbox, stipulations, adverse action notices and Send to Lender. The SecureWebX page covers it in full.
• Inventory Link brings your cars in and puts them back out: the import from your website, per salesperson inventory sites and an embeddable inventory widget. See importing inventory from your website.
• DealTracker is the desking engine: cash, finance and lease, deal pages with e-signature, Deal Chat and PencilRecap sheets.
• Jax, the bilingual assistant inside LeadLocate, answers your team's how do I questions in English or Spanish.

Design Studio builds image ads from your live inventory with your own logo, and Leads Manager is where you set your Market Area when you want exclusive local buyer or seller leads. Seller leads are local owners who asked a dealership to contact them about selling their vehicle, which is inventory you buy direct instead of at auction; the seller leads page explains how they arrive.

Your DMS, accounting and title work stay where they are. LeadLocate works alongside your DMS as the sales and customer layer.

Compare cost by its parts so nothing surprises you in month two.

• The plan. CRM Only for stores that already have their lead sources, or a lead plan that adds exclusive local leads: Inbound for buyers, Marketplace Acquisitions for opt-in sellers, or Buyers and Sellers Hybrid for both. Each plan includes the CRM, SecureWebX, Inventory Link and DealTracker.
• Users. Each plan includes a login to start, and more users are an add-on as the team grows.
• Usage credits. Bulk texting, bulk email, ringless voicemail deliveries and phone and email validation draw on prepaid credit packs bought in My LeadLocate.
• Terms. Month to month with no long term contract, and Skip A Month pauses lead delivery for a slow month while the CRM keeps running.

Every figure is on the pricing page. When you compare against your current stack, count what the platform replaces: the separate texting app, the e-signature subscription, the credit application form and the inventory website tool.

Do we need a DMS or an inventory feed to start?

No. Neither is required. Inventory Link imports inventory from your website, and the CRM runs from the first day with your numbers, your users and your lead sources. Your DMS keeps doing its job beside it.

Can our salespeople keep working from their phones?

Yes, and that is the point. The LeadLocate app on iPhone and Android carries the texting inbox, the VoIP dialer and the Workspace, so the phone they already carry works the store's business number and every thread stays on the store's record.

Which lenders can we send credit applications to?

Any lender you choose. Send to Lender in SecureWebX shares the application as a code gated, expiring, revocable, watermarked link with a lender response portal. Credit pulls run on your own bureau account.

We also run buy here pay here accounts. Does it fit?

Yes, on the sales side: leads, credit applications, desking with semimonthly payments and follow-up. Loan servicing and accounting stay in the system you use for them today, and LeadLocate runs beside it.

Can we post our cars to Facebook Marketplace from the CRM?

Yes. From the CRM car view, the Inventory Link Chrome extension fills in the Marketplace listing, and the salesperson reviews it and publishes.

If we buy leads, does another dealer get the same shopper?

No. Every lead is delivered to you and only you, prescreened at capture with the questions you choose, and backed by a replacement review if a lead is bad.

Watch the demo to see a lead go from a Marketplace text to a signed deal page, or call 844-376-2274 and our team will walk your store's setup list with you. Month to month, no long term contract.

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