Car dealership glossary

Aftersales is everything a dealer does for a customer after the car is handed over: servicing, warranty and bodywork repairs, parts and accessories. Dealers measure it by service and parts revenue, gross margin and workshop customer retention.

SEE ALSO Service retention, Service advisor, Service campaign, Warranty expiry

A BDC (business development centre) is the dealership team that handles customer contact by phone, email and chat: it answers enquiries, follows up leads and books test drives, showroom appointments and workshop visits. BDC managers judge the team on appointments booked, speed to lead and show rate.

SEE ALSO Show rate, Speed to lead, Missed call, Voice agent

Call analytics is the process of turning recorded customer calls into text and scores: what the customer asked about, in what mood, whether staff followed the script and what was left open. It shows a dealer where sales and service bookings are lost.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The Call Analyzer transcribes calls, scores customer intent and sentiment, script adherence and lost opportunities, and puts the result on the customer record. How does AI analyse recorded calls with dealership customers?

SEE ALSO BDC, Voice agent

CSI (customer satisfaction index) is a score built from customer surveys after a car purchase or a workshop visit. Manufacturers and importers rate dealers on it in their quality programmes, and it can feed into the dealer’s bonus.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The Quality Loop catches dissatisfaction and complaints after a visit and sees that they are put right, within a scope agreed with the importer’s quality programme. How can AI look after service quality and the dealership’s reputation after a visit?

SEE ALSO Aftersales, Service advisor

A DMS (dealer management system) is the system a dealer uses to run vehicle sales, vehicle and parts stock, repair orders and invoicing. For a dealer group it is the main source of data on vehicles, customers and service history.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The knowledge graph joins DMS data with the showroom CRM, telephony and mailboxes into one customer record. How do you join customer data from the DMS, CRM and telephony into one record?

SEE ALSO Repair order, Aftersales

End of term is the date a customer’s car finance or lease agreement runs out, such as personal contract purchase, hire purchase or contract hire. Depending on the agreement, the customer keeps the car, hands it back or changes it, so the dealer knows in advance when to talk about the next car.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The Sales Prospector lists customers whose finance agreement is ending as candidates for a conversation about a new car. We switch this on only where we have confirmed access to finance data. How do you find customers ready for a conversation about a new car?

SEE ALSO F&I, Part exchange

F&I (finance and insurance) is the part of the sale where the dealership arranges finance and protection products: loans, leasing, motor insurance, GAP cover and extended warranties. Dealers measure it by the share of cars sold on finance and by F&I income per vehicle.

SEE ALSO End of term, Part exchange

A missed call is a customer’s call to the showroom or workshop that nobody answered. The phone system’s call log shows missed calls by hour and department, and how many were returned within the agreed time.

SEE ALSO BDC, Voice agent, Speed to lead

Part exchange, or trade-in, is the sale of a customer’s used car to the dealer as part payment for the next one. It supplies the dealer with used stock for resale and opens a conversation about a new car.

SEE ALSO End of term, F&I

A repair order, also called a job card or work order, is the document the workshop opens in the DMS for each visit: reported fault, work to be done, parts, labour time and customer authorisation. Once closed, it feeds the invoice and the car’s service history.

SEE ALSO Service advisor, DMS

A service advisor is the workshop employee who books the customer’s car in, opens the repair order, agrees the work and its cost and hands the car back. Their conversations decide how much recommended work customers approve and whether they come back.

KPI TECH PLATFORM Sufler knows the customer, the vehicle and the history, and during the conversation it queries the knowledge graph and suggests what to say. More about the tool: Sufler

SEE ALSO Repair order, Aftersales, CSI

A service campaign is a free check or repair that a manufacturer orders for vehicles on a VIN list after finding a fault. A campaign for a safety defect is a recall. It gives the workshop a reason to contact each owner on the list.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The Service Prospector lists customers affected by service campaigns as service leads, with a separate playbook for that reason. How can a dealership find service leads and dormant customers?

SEE ALSO Aftersales, Repair order, Service retention

Service retention is the share of customers who keep bringing their cars back to the dealer’s workshop for servicing and repairs. Dealers usually track it by vehicle age, comparing the cars they service with the cars they sold. Comparing them with all cars of the brand registered in the area shows the workshop’s share of the local car parc.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The Service Prospector points out customers with a reason to come back, dormant customers among them, and hands the list to the Receptionist or to a person who makes the calls. How can a dealership find service leads and dormant customers?

SEE ALSO Aftersales, Warranty expiry, Service campaign

Show rate is the share of booked appointments customers turn up for, whether a test drive, a showroom visit or a workshop booking. Tracked per salesperson, BDC agent and lead source, it shows whose bookings turn into visits.

SEE ALSO BDC, Speed to lead

Speed to lead is the time from a customer’s enquiry arriving to the dealership’s first contact with them. Sales managers measure it in minutes, separately for each lead source and each salesperson.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The CRM Controller checks the timeliness of lead handling: whether every lead has a note, a status and a next step. How do you check the quality and timeliness of lead handling in the CRM?

SEE ALSO BDC, Show rate, Missed call

A voice agent is an AI program that holds a phone conversation in natural language: it understands the caller, answers questions, books appointments and hands the call to a person. A dealership can put it on its sales and service phone lines.

KPI TECH PLATFORM The Receptionist is the KPI Tech voice agent: it answers the phone during peak hours and after the dealership closes, books service and hands the call to a human when a decision is needed. Can an AI receptionist answer dealership calls after hours?

SEE ALSO BDC, Missed call, Call analytics

Warranty expiry is the date or mileage at which the manufacturer’s warranty ends. From then on the customer pays for repairs and is easier to lose to an independent garage, so a dealer can get in touch beforehand with an extended warranty or service plan.

SEE ALSO Service retention, Aftersales