Every dealership we've onboarded — RV, powersports, franchise, indie — arrives at Glovecars with roughly the same problem stated in roughly the same words: "we're getting the leads, we're just not closing them." What they mean is: BDC is burnt out, follow-up gets missed, and by the time a salesperson finally calls back, the customer has already been to two other dealers.
The fix isn't a bigger BDC. It's a system that runs the first three touches automatically, in the tone your dealership actually sounds like, before any human is required. Here's exactly how ours does that.
Touch 1: Under 60 seconds
Lead lands in your CRM — from your website, Facebook Marketplace, Cars.com, AutoTrader, Google — and MAGS fires an SMS within 60 seconds. Not a template: a real message referencing the vehicle they inquired about, using your dealership's actual voice ("Hey Sarah, this is the Reyes Auto Bronco team — saw you asked about the Wildtrak in Cactus Grey. Still on the lot. Want to swing by tonight or does tomorrow morning work?").
This is the single highest-lift touch. Speed-to-lead studies from the Lead Response Management report show that a response inside 60 seconds is 21× more likely to convert than a response at 30 minutes. Ninety percent of dealers respond in over an hour. We respond in 60 seconds, forever.
Touch 2: A phone call, if the SMS goes unread
If the SMS hasn't been opened in 5 minutes, Rachel (our ElevenLabs voice agent) calls the number. She has the full lead context — vehicle, trim, price range if we know it, whether they've been to your rooftop before — and she opens with "Hey, this is Rachel from Reyes Auto — I'm the AI assistant Michael has set up here, hope you don't mind. I just wanted to check if the F-150 you asked about is still what you're looking at, because we've got the King Ranch in Rapid Red on the lot and it usually moves fast."
The opener does three things: it's honest about being AI (compliance in most states, plus trust-building), it names your GM by first name (personalization), and it makes a specific offer (moves the conversation from browsing to buying).
Touch 3: Warm transfer or booking
If the caller wants to talk to a human, Rachel does a warm transfer with a spoken summary: "Hey Michael, I've got Sarah on the line, she's asking about the Wildtrak in Cactus Grey we've got out front, wants to know your best out-the-door price and whether she can come see it after 6 PM." Michael picks up the phone knowing everything.
If Michael isn't there (he's with a customer, it's after hours, whatever), Rachel books directly to his calendar via your DMS integration (CDK, Reynolds, Dealertrack — we integrate with all three) and confirms the appointment via SMS + email. Sarah leaves the conversation with a booked test drive on her phone. Michael sees a new appointment in his calendar with a full transcript attached.
The 22 appointments math
Average dealership we onboard: 400 inbound inquiries per month. Prior conversion to test-drive: 12% (48 test drives). After Glovecars: 17.5% (70 test drives). That's 22 additional appointments per month, per rooftop.
At an average dealership close rate of 25% on test drives and a $4,200 average gross per vehicle, those 22 extra appointments are worth ~$23,000 in incremental gross per month, per rooftop. Glovecars' Enterprise Automotive AI is custom-quoted but typically lands well under that number, at any rooftop count.
The dealerships that win the next five years won't have better cars. They'll have better speed-to-lead.
What we don't do
We don't spam. Every touch is TCPA-compliant, A2P 10DLC registered, honors STOP and HELP, and stops the moment a customer opts out or takes ownership of the follow-up themselves. If Sarah replies "please stop, I'll come by tomorrow at 10 AM" — Rachel books the 10 AM and shuts up.
We also don't lie. Rachel identifies as AI in the opener. In states where explicit disclosure isn't legally required, we still recommend it. Customers don't mind talking to AI when it's competent, honest, and gets them what they want. They mind being fooled.