A Top Dealer Just Replaced Their Service Lane Appraiser: Service Drive Acquisition Without a Buyer

• Every dealership wants to buy more cars out of service, but most programs depend on one person walking the drive, and they stall when that person is out or leaves.

• MOTO(acquire) built a service drive acquisition tool that doesn't require anybody to be in your service drive to do it.

• AI tees up your sales team directly in your CRM, so service acquisition leads get worked like any other lead.

• MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires.

• MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, and will build the integration if your DMS is not connected yet.

Every dealership I talk to wants to buy more cars out of their service department. The opportunity is rarely the problem. Staffing it is. Service drive acquisition without a buyer standing in the lane sounds like a stretch to a lot of GMs, so here is what we just walked one of the biggest dealer groups in the country through.

Most stores that try service acquisition hire someone to walk the drive, talk to customers, and appraise cars between ROs. When that person is on a day off, tied up, or leaves, the program stops. The cars still roll through your service lane every day. Nobody is there to ask.

The point: nobody has to be in your service drive

Our entire team was on that call, including our head engineer and founder, because we developed a service drive acquisition tool that doesn't require anybody to be in your service drive to actually do it.

That is the whole idea. AI tees up your sales team directly in your CRM. Your salespeople work the opportunity the same way they work any other lead, and nobody has to be posted in the lane hoping to catch the right customer at the right moment.

How does AI service drive acquisition work with your CRM?

Here is the flow in plain terms, the way a used car manager would want it explained.

1. It starts with your DMS data. Your service appointments and repair orders already tell you who is coming in and what they drive.

2. Customers get automated texts. Instead of a person approaching them in the drive, the outreach happens by text.

3. Vehicle details go to your inventory tools. VIN and miles get pushed over so your desk can see what the car is before anyone talks numbers.

4. Your sales team is alerted when a customer is ready. The opportunity lands in the CRM, teed up for a salesperson to follow up.

The difference from the appraiser model is consistency. The outreach happens whether or not someone is standing in the lane. The lead shows up in the CRM on a slow Tuesday morning or a packed Saturday.

Why service drive acquisition without a buyer matters

Service customers are some of the best acquisition targets a store has. They already own a vehicle, they already chose your store, and they are sitting in your building. The hard part has always been reaching them consistently without building the whole program around one hire.

MOTO(drive) stores consistently buy about 1% of their repair orders without dedicated service acquisition hires. Look at your own RO count and think about what that means for your used inventory, cars you would otherwise be chasing at auction.

That doesn't mean your people stop mattering. Your used car manager still appraises and makes the deal. Your sales team still closes. What changes is how the opportunity gets found and handed to them, and that it no longer depends on someone being in the lane.

Where MOTO(drive) fits

MOTO(drive) is the MOTO(acquire) product built for this. It handles service drive acquisition using DMS data and automated texts, pushes VIN and miles to inventory tools, and alerts your sales team when a customer is ready.

MOTO(acquire) integrates with all major DMS platforms and many others, including Tekion, Dealertrack, CDK, Reynolds, and Auto/Mate. If your DMS is not one we integrate with yet, we will build the integration.

If you want to dig further, browse more videos in our service drive acquisition library, or watch how a dealer group approaches buying cars from the service drive.

If you want to acquire more cars out of your service department, reach out and our team will show you exactly how we can help you buy more cars from your service drive.