Tekion ARC Service: What It Does and How a Dealership Uses It

A plain buyer's guide to the service side of Tekion's platform, and the customer follow up layer that runs right beside it.

Tekion sells the Automotive Retail Cloud, usually shortened to ARC. The pitch is one cloud platform in place of the stack of separate systems most stores have collected over the years: the dealer management system, the sales tools, the service and parts applications and the accounting, all sharing one customer and vehicle record and running in a browser and on mobile devices.

For a service department, that shared record is the headline. The advisor, the technician, the parts counter and the cashier are meant to work from the same repair order in real time instead of passing paper and rekeying data between applications. Stores that move to ARC usually do it as part of a full DMS change, which makes it a large project with data conversion, training and a go live weekend rather than a tool you add on a Tuesday afternoon.

Everything on this page about Tekion comes from how the company describes its own product in public. Modules, packaging and contract terms change, so confirm current features and pricing with Tekion directly and get the scope of your package in writing before you sign.

ARC Service sits in the category the industry calls fixed operations software: the system that runs the shop itself. The job list in that category is fairly consistent from vendor to vendor, and Tekion presents its service module as covering the whole visit. Use the list below as a demo checklist and confirm which pieces are included in your package.

Before the visit: appointment booking online and by phone against shop capacity, with reminders to the customer. At the drive: check in on a tablet at the vehicle, capturing mileage, concerns and signatures. In the shop: the repair order, dispatch to technicians, technician time, multipoint inspection results with photos or video, and parts requests. At the end: the estimate, the customer approval, invoicing, payment and pickup.

The value of running all of that inside the DMS is that nothing has to sync. The repair order, the parts ticket and the accounting entry are the same record. When you watch the demo, ask to see one complete visit from appointment to closed repair order rather than each screen on its own, because the handoffs between screens are where service departments lose time on a busy morning.

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.

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A service demo is built to look smooth. These questions get you to the parts that matter after go live, when the demo team has moved on and your advisors are working a full drive.

• How does our service history convert, and how many years of repair orders come across?
• What does the technician see on a phone or tablet, and how is flag time recorded?
• Which customer messages go out automatically during a visit, and can we edit the wording?
• How are text opt outs stored, and do they carry across sales and service?
• Which reports come standard for effective labor rate, hours per repair order and declined work?
• Can we export our customer and declined work lists whenever we want, in a standard file?
• What does advisor training look like, and who supports us in the first month?

The export question matters more than it looks. Your customer list is the most valuable data in the building, and the ability to pull it out on your own schedule is what lets you run campaigns in whatever tool you choose. Our switching from Tekion page covers the data side in more depth for stores planning a platform change in either direction.

ARC runs the shop. Repair orders, technician time, dispatch, parts, warranty and the accounting behind every invoice belong in the system built for them, and a store on Tekion keeps all of that in ARC.

LeadLocate owns a different job: the customer conversation before and after the visit, and the revenue that depends on it. That means the calls that ring during the morning rush, the declined brake job that deserves a follow up in three weeks, the customer who has been away for fourteen months, and the owner in your service lane sitting on enough equity to trade. Those are sales and marketing problems that happen to start in service, and they are exactly what a CRM with texting, calling, automation and campaigns is built to solve.

Running the two side by side is simple because LeadLocate needs no DMS integration and no inventory feed to operate. Your customer list comes in through contact import, your tracking numbers route through the phone system built into the CRM, and your advisors keep working in ARC exactly as before. The automotive service CRM page lays out where each category starts and where the other one takes over.

Every service department has the same ninety minutes. The drive is full, the advisors are writing up cars, and the phone keeps ringing with people asking about status, booking a visit or pricing a set of tires. A call that rings out tends to go to the next store in the search results.

The phone system built into the CRM gives that hour a structure. The IVR call flow builder routes callers by option with your own recorded audio. Call forwarding rings a list you build from your own users, and business hours routing sends after hours calls where you want them. When a call is missed anyway, missed call text back sends the caller a text within seconds, so they have a written answer and a thread they can reply to on their own time. See missed call text back software for the full setup.

Every call is recorded and transcribed, and Call Alerts check each transcript for the words you choose, such as cancel, price or trade in. A manager reads a difficult call in thirty seconds instead of listening to eleven minutes of it, and the transcript sits on the customer's timeline next to every text, email and voicemail.

Every repair order with a declined recommendation is a warm lead with a date on it. Brakes quoted and deferred, tires the customer wanted to think about, a timing belt that did not fit the budget that month. Most of that is timing rather than refusal, and in most stores it goes unworked because the advisor has already moved on to the next car.

Bring the list into LeadLocate and it becomes a cadence instead of a hope. Follow Up Processes run multi step drips per customer type, mixing texts and emails, and voicemail drops reach a whole list with one recorded message. Scheduled sends let a manager write a campaign today and release it Saturday morning. Trackable short links show who clicked the booking link, and every reply lands in the same inbox as the rest of the store's conversations.

Service lists are the oldest data in the building, so run the Phone Validator and Email Validator first. Validity dots show on each record, your team stops dialing disconnected numbers and your sending reputation stays clean. The declined service follow up page walks through a full play, and the same tools reach customers who have drifted out of your service cycle entirely.

Your service drive sees people you already know, in person, several times a year, at the moment they are thinking about their vehicle. Some of them owe less than the car is worth and would trade with the right number. That opportunity usually gets lost between departments, because service is measured on hours and sales never hears about the conversation.

LeadLocate turns that moment into a lead with an owner. The customer record carries up to five vehicles of interest plus trade in lines, so the car in your lane and the one they might buy are one conversation. Round robin assignment puts the lead in front of a salesperson right away, Manager Lead Copies keep a sales manager informed, and the salesperson can pencil a real payment in DealTracker desking with the 50 state tax matrix, then share it as a customer deal page with e-signature.

Build a campaign around it too: a short text to owners of the models your used car manager needs most, offering an appraisal during their next visit. Service to sales campaigns covers the playbook in detail, including how to keep the service experience first so the offer feels like a courtesy.

Setup is fast because there is nothing to connect first. No DMS integration and no inventory feed are required, so a store on Tekion is set up for it, usually the same day: numbers routed, users added and training included through the video library and live sessions.

Pricing is month to month with no long term contract. CRM Only starts at $199 a month and covers the calling, texting, automation, campaigns and reporting on this page. Plans that add exclusive local buyer leads start at $799 and always include the CRM, because the CRM is what receives and delivers them. 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. Full detail is on the pricing page.

We cannot guarantee call volume, retention or revenue from any campaign, because those depend on your customers, your prices and your market. What the software does is make the disciplined follow up the easy one, then show you the numbers afterward in activity, company and management reports. If you are still weighing platforms, our Tekion alternative page covers the wider picture.

Is Tekion ARC Service a separate product from the Tekion DMS?

Tekion presents ARC as one platform, with service as a module that shares the same customer, vehicle and accounting record as sales and parts. How it is packaged and priced for your store is a question for Tekion, so get the scope of your package in writing.

How does LeadLocate work with a store on Tekion?

It runs beside ARC. Repair orders, technician time, parts and accounting stay in ARC, and LeadLocate handles calls, missed call text back, recorded texting, declined work follow up, campaigns and service to sales handoffs. No DMS integration is required to start.

How do we get our service customers into LeadLocate?

Export a customer or declined work list from your service system and bring it in with contact import. Run the Phone Validator and Email Validator before the first campaign so your team works current numbers and addresses. Confirm the export options available in your package with Tekion.

Can our advisors text customers from LeadLocate?

Yes. Advisors get threaded SMS and MMS with photos, RCS with automatic SMS fallback, templates, the AI writing assistant and a delivery status on every message, all on a record the store owns. Opt outs and the DNC Blacklist apply across the whole account.

Can a franchise store on Tekion run LeadLocate?

Yes. LeadLocate runs beside the manufacturer programs and the DMS your store already uses, so a franchise rooftop adds the calling, texting, campaign and lead layer without changing its shop or accounting setup.

What does it cost to run LeadLocate beside Tekion?

CRM Only starts at $199 a month, month to month with no long term contract. Plans with exclusive local leads start at $799 and include the CRM. See the pricing page for every plan.

See missed call text back, declined work cadences and service to sales handoffs running beside ARC. Month to month, no long term contract.

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