Stella Alternative for Car Dealerships

Let Stella keep answering the service line and give the rest of the store one platform for leads, calls, texts, follow up and deals.

Dealers who search for Stella or an alternative to it are almost always thinking about the phone. The service drive rings from the moment the doors open, advisors are writing up customers at the counter, and every call that rolls to voicemail is a repair order or a customer relationship at risk. Voice tools for the service line exist because that problem is real in every store.

A phone call to a dealership is bigger than the department it reaches, though. A service customer calling about an oil change may be driving a vehicle with a trade value your used car manager would love to see. A sales shopper who calls after hours needs an answer before the store across town texts back. The phone is one entry point into a customer relationship that the whole store shares.

That is why the most effective setups separate two jobs. One tool can be very good at answering a specific line. The platform around it has to capture every customer, every conversation and every opportunity across sales and service, and turn them into appointments and sold units. LeadLocate is built to be the best at that second job.

Stella Automotive is publicly positioned as an AI voice assistant for dealership fixed operations. Its marketing centers on answering inbound service calls, understanding what the caller needs, and helping customers book service appointments so advisors can stay with the customers in front of them. It is sold to franchise and independent service departments that want every service call answered.

Capabilities, packaging and pricing change over time for every vendor in this category, so confirm current pricing and terms with the vendor directly and get the answers in writing. Treat this page as a list of questions to bring to that conversation rather than a review of another company's product.

If service call answering is the job you need filled, Stella is built for it, and it can keep doing that job. The rest of this page is about everything around that line: the sales floor, the texting, the calling, the follow up and the deal, which is where LeadLocate earns its place in the store. For a broader look at the category, see our guide to the AI voice agent for dealership service.

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

The cleanest arrangement is a division of labor. Stella stays configured on the service line the way its team set it up, and service scheduling and repair orders keep running in your shop system. LeadLocate runs beside both, covering the customer relationship everywhere else in the store.

On the sales side, that means the lead inbox, every lead source flowing through Lead Feeds Manager, distribution rules and round robin, texting, calling, email and desking. On the service side, it means the conversations that happen outside the phone call: the text that follows up on a declined repair, the campaign that invites service customers to talk about their trade, and the handoff that puts a service customer in front of a salesperson.

LeadLocate runs on its own from the first day. Neither a DMS connection nor an inventory feed is required to operate, and your website forms connect to your account's form intake link so every web lead lands in the CRM with its fields mapped. Customer lists come in through contact import, and merge duplicates keeps one customer as one record even when the same person shows up from service and from sales.

The sales floor needs a phone system that knows who is calling, routes the call to the right person and keeps a record a manager can read. LeadLocate's phone system is built into the CRM. Tracking numbers per source show which campaign made the phone ring. The IVR call flow builder lays out options, revisions and uploaded audio. The Forward Calls To ring list is built from your own users, business hours routing handles evenings and weekends, the virtual receptionist screens calls, and caller ID name lookup shows who is on the line before anyone picks up.

Every call is recorded with call transcription, and the transcript sits on the lead record beside every text, email and voicemail. Call Alerts check each transcribed call for the words you choose, such as trade in, payment or cancel, and a manager can receive All Calls or Alert Calls Only. A twelve minute conversation becomes something a manager can read in thirty seconds and coach from the same afternoon.

Missed calls become conversations. Built from call logs, automations and texting, missed call text back sends the caller a text right away, so a ringing phone nobody could reach turns into a thread a salesperson can pick up, with RCS messaging and automatic SMS fallback carrying the message.

The service drive is full of people who already trust the store. LeadLocate gives you the tools to start sales conversations with them on their terms. Bulk texting and bulk email reach service customer lists with a message you write once, Text Automation and Follow Up Processes carry each customer through a cadence you approve, and trackable short links show who clicked. The vehicle button in every composer attaches a unit with its photos and price, so an upgrade offer shows a real car on your lot.

When a service customer is ready to talk numbers, the trade-in form collects photos and scans the trade VIN, EZ Desking builds the structure with a fifty state tax matrix, and the customer receives a deal page branded to your store with e-signature and deal chat. A SecureWebX apply link lets the customer complete a credit application from the waiting room on their own phone.

The service to sales campaigns page lays out the playbook in more depth. Team Chat keeps the advisor and the salesperson in the same conversation, and In-Store Now flags who is physically on the lot, so a salesperson knows the moment a service customer is sitting in the lounge.

Features change on every platform, so confirm each row marked for the vendor directly before you decide. The LeadLocate column is what your store runs from its first day, with training included in every plan.

While Stella keeps the service line covered, LeadLocate keeps the sales floor supplied. In Leads Manager you draw your zone with the zone editor, choose the campaign type and the prescreening questions you want answered, and preview sample ads with See Samples. Our team builds and runs the campaigns from those selections on the webXintel Ads Network, 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, so a bad lead costs you nothing. Inbound buyer leads bring in market shoppers, and opt in seller leads bring local owners who asked for an offer on their vehicle. Automated Templates answer each one the moment it lands, and the Phone Validator and Email Validator mark each contact with a validity dot so reps spend their day on numbers that ring.

Set it up beside the tools you already run and measure it. Point a defined slice of sales lead flow at LeadLocate for three to four weeks, turn on missed call text back for the sales line, and run one service to sales campaign. Compare time to first response, follow up touches and appointments set against the same weeks on your current process.

Month to month terms make that easy. CRM Only starts at $199 a month for stores that keep their own lead sources, and plans with exclusive local leads start at $799. Every plan with leads includes the CRM, because the CRM is what receives and works them. See every plan on the pricing page.

We cannot guarantee lead counts, close rates or results, and no vendor can. What we can do is show you the whole platform working on a real store. Start with the demo, or contact us and call 844-376-2274.

Do we have to stop using Stella to use LeadLocate?

No. Keep Stella on the service line for the job it was set up to do and run LeadLocate beside it for sales leads, texting, calling, follow up, service to sales campaigns, desking and credit applications.

What happens to a sales call nobody answers?

Missed call text back, built from the CRM's call logs, automations and texting, sends the caller a text right away so the call becomes a conversation a salesperson can pick up.

Can managers review sales calls without listening to them?

Yes. Every call is recorded and transcribed, and the transcript sits on the lead record. Call Alerts flag transcribed calls that contain the words you choose, such as trade in, payment or cancel.

Are LeadLocate leads shared with other dealers?

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.

What does it cost?

CRM Only starts at $199 a month. Inbound buyer leads start at $799, Marketplace Acquisitions seller leads at $999, and the Buyers and Sellers Hybrid Plan at $1,599. Every plan is month to month.

Do we need a DMS connection or inventory feed?

Neither is required to operate. Inventory Link ingests a feed if you have one or imports inventory from your website, so your units appear in the CRM and behind the vehicle button in every composer.

See exclusive local leads, texting, calling with transcription and desking working together on one screen. Month to month, so we earn your business every month.

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