The numbers
| What happens | How often |
|---|---|
| Calls to dealerships that are never answered | About 1 in 5 |
| Calls that end without the caller's name and number | About 2 in 3 |
Source: Marchex analyses of calls to car dealerships.
When calls get missed
- Service open, 7 to 9 AM: advisors are writing repair orders at the counter.
- Lunch: the receptionist steps away, and the phone tree takes over.
- Saturdays: every salesperson is with a customer.
- After close: voicemail, and many callers don't leave one.
What a missed call costs
Do the math with your own numbers. Take your monthly calls, the share you miss, the share that are service, your average repair order, and your average gross per car. Even a few missed calls a day add up to real service and sales revenue a month. The calculator on our home page does it for you.
How to stop missing calls
- Measure it. Pull a week of call logs from your phone system: unanswered calls, abandoned on hold, and calls to voicemail.
- Fix the phone tree. Fewer options, and a real answer for the top three reasons people call.
- Cover the busy hours. Service open, lunch and Saturdays need backup.
- Take a name and number on every call, even when you can't help right away.
- Answer after hours with something better than voicemail.
- Call back the same day, with the details already in front of you.
CarGents does steps 3 through 6 for you: it answers every call on the first ring, 24/7, takes the details, books service, and puts every callback owed on one dashboard.
Hear one before you read further. Call . It answers as Horizon Motors, a sample store. Ask for service, ask about a car, ask for a person. Then open the live demo dashboard (login horizon-demo) and watch your call show up a few minutes later.