Lead follow-up guide
Car dealership lead response time: minutes can decide the sale.
Speed to lead often decides who gets the visit: a car dealership should answer every internet lead within 5 minutes, and under one minute is better still. Buyers often ask several stores at once, and the first useful reply often gets the appointment.
Quick questions, no call needed.
Updated 6 min readBy the Dealer Ad Solutions team
- Text
- Website chat
- TikTok lead forms
- Listing sites
- Missed calls
The short answer
- Speed to lead: a car dealership should answer every internet lead within 5 minutes, and under one minute is better still, nights and weekends included.
- Harvard Business Review research found that companies that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as those that waited even one hour longer, and more than 60 times as likely as those that waited 24 hours or more.
- Slow replies tend to happen after hours, on weekends, and on leads that land where nobody is watching: listing-site emails, Facebook and Instagram inboxes, and missed calls.
- You can time your own store tonight: send a test lead on every channel and write down how long each reply takes.
- Dealer Ad Solutions' AI assistant answers every message within a minute, day or night, texts new leads within minutes during texting hours, and hands the ready ones to your team.
Why speed wins
The first useful reply often gets the visit.
Answer while the buyer is still thinking about the car.
Buyers ask more than one store
A buyer comparing trucks often sends the same question to several dealerships in one sitting. The first store that answers with something useful starts the conversation the others will be chasing.
Interest fades by the minute
When someone fills out a form, they are thinking about that car right now. An hour later they are at work, at dinner, or looking at another store's listing.
Leads arrive when you are closed
Forms, messages and listing-site leads keep coming at night and on weekends. A lead that waits until morning has often already heard from someone else.
~7x
Harvard Business Review research found that companies that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as those that waited even one hour longer.
>60x
They were more than 60 times as likely to qualify it as companies that waited 24 hours or more.
Where the minutes go
Where do dealerships lose the minutes?
Leads wait because they land where nobody is looking at that moment.
Swipe to see more →
| Where the lead lands | Why it waits | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Website form | Lands in a shared inbox or a CRM queue and waits for someone to check it | Text back within minutes during texting hours (8 AM to 8 PM), first thing in the morning otherwise |
| Listing sites | Arrives as an email lead (ADF) that sits until the morning | Read the lead the moment it arrives and text the buyer back |
| Facebook and Instagram | Sits in a page inbox nobody watches after hours | Answer in the same thread within a minute, then ask for a number |
| Missed calls | The caller hears voicemail and dials the next store | Text the caller back within minutes, during texting hours |
| Website chat | A bot collects a phone number and stops | Hold a real conversation and book the visit |
| Nights and weekends | Everything waits for the next business day | Answer messages day or night, text new leads from 8 AM, and hand off to your team at opening |
The 15-minute test
Time your own store tonight.
Six steps, fifteen minutes of your time, and you will know exactly how fast your store answers. Write each number down.
Fill out your own website form tonight
Use a phone number and email your team will not recognize. Submit one form before 8 PM, and send one Facebook message after closing.
Write down: Minutes until the first reply, and whether it answered your actual question.
Message your Facebook page and Instagram
Ask a simple question about a real vehicle on your lot, the way a buyer would.
Write down: Minutes until a reply on each, and whether a person or a canned message answered.
Send a lead from a listing site
Find one of your own vehicles on a listing site you pay for and send the dealership a message.
Write down: How long until anyone texts or calls you back.
Call on a busy Saturday and hang up
Call the main line during peak hours and let it ring out without leaving a voicemail.
Write down: Whether anyone texts or calls you back, and how long it takes.
Do not answer, and keep watching
Ignore the first replies on purpose. Real buyers go quiet all the time.
Write down: How many times the store follows up over the next two weeks, and what it says.
Add it up
Compare the slowest channel with your fastest. The slowest one is where your ad budget is leaking.
Write down: Your average reply time, and the longest wait any test lead had.
What good looks like
What does a good first reply look like?
A good first reply answers the question, sounds like a person who read the lead, asks one easy question, and offers two real times.
- It answers the question that was asked, in the first line
- It uses the buyer's name and the exact vehicle
- It asks one question that takes a word to answer
- It offers two specific times instead of "when can you come in?"
- It never mentions payments, rates or approvals
Buyer: Is the 2021 Tacoma still available?
Fri 9:47 PMDealership: Hi Maria, I just checked: the silver 2021 Tacoma TRD is on the lot right now. Are you trading anything in, or is it a straight purchase?
Fri 9:47 PMBuyer: I have a 2016 Civic
Fri 9:51 PMDealership: Perfect, we can look at the Civic when you come by. Would tomorrow at 11 or 2 work to see the Tacoma?
Fri 9:51 PMBuyer: 2 works
Fri 9:52 PMDealership: You are booked for tomorrow at 2. I will send you a reminder before your visit.
Fri 9:52 PM
ExampleAn example at a made-up store. The reply went out 38 seconds after the lead came in, on a Friday night.
Closing the gap
You cannot staff every minute. You do not have to.
Covering every channel around the clock with people means night shifts and weekend shifts that most stores cannot justify. That is the job our AI assistant was built for: it answers every message within a minute, day or night, on text, Facebook, Instagram and website chat, texts every new form and listing-site lead within minutes during texting hours (8 AM to 8 PM), books the visit, and hands the ready buyers to your team with a full briefing.
Messages answered within a minute, at 3 PM or 3 AM.
Quick answers about speed.
How fast should a car dealership respond to an internet lead?
A car dealership should answer within 5 minutes at the most, and ideally within a minute, day or night. Buyers often ask several stores at once, and the first useful reply often gets the visit. Harvard Business Review research found that companies that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as those that waited even one hour longer.
What should a dealership do with leads that come in after hours?
Answer them as soon as you can. Many leads arrive at night and on weekends. An AI assistant can answer every message right away, day or night; a new form or listing-site lead that arrives after 8 PM gets its first text at 8 AM, when texting quiet hours end, and your team gets a briefing for the morning.
What should a dealership do about missed calls?
A dealership should text or call a missed caller back within minutes, because a caller who reaches voicemail may simply try the next store. A text lets the conversation carry on when nobody is free to pick up. DAS, the Dealer Ad Solutions AI, texts back callers your team missed within minutes, 8 AM to 8 PM, on packages with texting, and live calls stay with your team.
How should a dealership answer leads from listing sites?
A dealership should answer a listing-site lead like any internet lead: within minutes, about the exact vehicle the buyer asked about, by text when they gave a number. These leads often arrive as emails that sit in an inbox, so send them to whoever answers first. DAS, the Dealer Ad Solutions AI, reads leads from Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus and most other listing sites and texts the buyer within minutes, 8 AM to 8 PM, on packages with texting. When the same buyer asks about the same car twice in a day, they get one text, and the second inquiry reaches your team as a note.
What should the first reply to a car buyer say?
Answer the question they asked, use their name and the exact vehicle, ask one easy question such as whether they have a trade, and offer two specific times to come in. Leave payments, rates and approvals to a person.
How fast does the AI assistant answer a lead?
The AI assistant answers every message within a minute, day or night, weekends and holidays included. A new form or listing-site lead, or a missed call, gets its first text within minutes between 8 AM and 8 PM, in your dealership's time zone and, when we know it, the customer's. At night, that first text waits until after 8 AM, because texting quiet hours apply.
Which channels does the AI assistant cover?
Text messages, Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct messages, your website chat, leads from listing sites such as Autotrader, Cars.com and CarGurus, and leads from your TikTok lead forms, which it answers by text. It can also text back callers your team missed. Package channels vary; your quote lists exactly which ones are included.
Does the AI assistant answer phone calls?
The assistant does not answer phone calls; it answers messages. A call your team misses gets a text back within minutes, 8 AM to 8 PM, so the conversation can carry on by text, and the call stays with your team.
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Who we work with
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- 50 or more leads a month
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