Selling cars today is a multi-channel operation. Leads arrive from third-party marketplaces, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sites, your websites, SMS, social DMs, phone calls, and walk-ins. This initiates the lengthy process of showroom visits, test drives, trade valuation, and credit applications, desk work, finance and insurance (F&I) handoffs, and customer satisfaction index (CSI) surveys before closing a deal. Without proper automotive customer relationship management (CRM), it's likely to miss calls, struggle with appointment setting, and lose context between the business development center (BDC), sales, and service teams.
In this guide, we have evaluated top CRMs for auto dealerships that help them to speed up the process from texting to call bookings, automotive dealership framework/extensible markup language (ADF/XML) lead praising to keep a check on DMs.
Here are the best options for the franchise and independent dealers, considering the features along with all the pros and cons of each software.
Software | Our Ratings | Top Features | Starting Price |
CDK Global CRM | 0 ★★★★★ |
| N/A |
DriveCentric | 0 ★★★★★ |
| N/A |
Zoho CRM For Automotives | 4.7 ★★★★★
|
| $20/user/month |
Pro Max | N/A |
| N/A |
Autoraptor | 0 ★★★★★ |
| N/A |
Selly Automotive | N/A |
| $140.00/month |
Momentum CRM | 3.3 |
| N/A |
VinSolutions CRM | 4.5 ★★★★★ |
| N/A |
CDK Global is an AI-powered automotive CRM software, giving dealers a single place to manage sales and service communications. Its built-in marketing suite includes equity mining tools to identify trade-up and service-driven prospects. Integrated dashboards and communication features make it easier for dealers to run targeted campaigns to bring sales, acquire pre-owned inventory from the service drive, and engage customers with personalized communication. To remove duplicate data and customer records, it integrates smoothly with digital retail, finance, credit, and compliance tools.
Auto dealership businesses focus on selling more cars in less time with a high-profit margin. For this purpose, the platform provides desking software that underscores the most profitable rates, accelerates quote creation, and reduces negotiation time. It helps to close high-value deals efficiently.
Salient Features
- AI-assisted equity mining
- F&I predictive forms
- Hybrid intelligence
- AI Assistant AIVA
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Easy to navigate
- Shortcut codes make contracting process simple and organized
- Offers efficient tracking of customers and sale leads
Cons
- Lack of services tools
- Frequent errors make the documentation process difficult for the customer
DriveCentric is an intuitive CRM with a digital showroom that encourages collaboration and keeps teams engaged with customers in real-time. It has an AI-powered business development center (BDC) agent for 24/7/365. It provides your customer with human-like support that automates repetitive tasks, responds instantly, and alerts with notifications for better lead management. Long emails and texts often make the dealing process boring, but with the live rooms, you can easily turn them into a five-minute conversation. It gives your customer a detailed vehicle walk-around, easy negotiations, and finance and insurance (F&I) discussions from anywhere.
Moreover, you can spotlight your own car in the digital sales process, which brings the same inventory view for customers in the CRM.
Salient Features
- Personalized videos
- Live inventory
- Live, real-time pipeline
- Live rooms
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Offers a user-friendly layout with additional features that surpass competitors
- Provides a clear and easy-to-navigate social media style interface without any clutter
- Support smooth workflow and easy customer tracking
Cons
- Lacks service portal and alerts on incoming customers
- Allows different salesperson to get same customer and creates duplication
Zoho CRM software for the automobile industry features its own ‘CommandCenter’ that maps out and automates the entire dealer journey of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from initial order to closing deal on a single platform. Specifically designed for dealers, OEMs, garages, and workshops, it gives end-to-end visibility of the customer lifecycle, from capturing a test-drive lead to finalizing the purchase, managing inventory, and ensuring timely service delivery. Differentiates itself by omnichannel communication support that alerts customers through SMS, WhatsApp, or email, and sends them periodic reminders about service updates.
Salient Features
- AI assistance
- 360-degree customer view
- E-catalogues
- Omnichannel communication
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Sales and marketing automation improves efficiency
- It is easy to use and makes lead creation process easy
- Monitors and tracks all kind of data
Cons
- Templates and layouts are poor, often making pages unnecessarily long
- Importing reports into the system can be challenging
ProMax leans into credit, compliance, and desking—ideal for stores with a significant subprime mix. It pulls credit, structures deals, and produces compliant paperwork while keeping BDC and sales in lockstep with follow‑up tasks and appointment workflows. If your sales model depends on accurate credit pulls and disciplined desk presentations, ProMax’s single‑screen approach reduces operational friction and keeps buyers engaged.
Salient Features
- Inventory management
- Desking
- Credit reports
- Lead generation
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Helps to organize customer base and everything in one platform
- Easy to navigate with basic technical skills
- Records customers notes and keeps information updated
Cons
- Relies on internet explorer, which is no longer supported
- Training resources may be found useless to some users
AutoRaptor CRM is popular with independent and buy here pay here (BHPH) dealers because it’s easy to set up, easy to train, and keeps follow‑ups simple. Texting and call logs are front and center, and managers can quickly see who needs to call whom—and when. If you’re a single‑rooftop used car lot or a small group focused on fast adoption, AutoRaptor gets you out of spreadsheets and into a repeatable cadence without heavy admin.
Salient Features
- Centralized lead data
- One stop sales inbox
- In-app notifications
- 20+ dashboards and reports
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Support dealers in closing deals
- Great texting feature with better functionality
- Makes searching simple for customers
Cons
- Difficult to arrange follow-ups
- Lacks option to upload photos and contacts
Selly is a mobile‑first CRM tailored to small and midsize independent dealers. Salespeople can scan a driver’s license or VIN from the lot, start a record in seconds, and text a customer right from the app. With AI automation, you can easily summarize conversations, send up follows, and manage your busy schedule. Facebook Ads and marketplace lead drop in automatically with source‑based routing.
For teams that live on their phones and value speed over complexity, Selly keeps the follow‑up wheel turning without a heavy tech stack.
Salient Features
- Mobile app with DL/VIN scanning
- AI automation
- SMS campaigns
- 100+ integrations
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Provide access of sales leads on all devices
- Easily log interactions, update records, and manage tasks of previous clients
- Send text messages within complaint standards
Cons
- Do not sync with the document management system (DMS)
- Opening another message marks all texts as read
Momentum CRM is a cloud-based platform that is exclusively designed for auto dealerships and offers niche solutions to your specific needs. After capturing skillfully, the service drive (SD) extension manages online services with smart algorithms and provides efficient service responses, creates targeted follow-ups, and brings customer satisfaction. An advanced digital security system, it protects business emails with advanced encryption and threat detection.
Salient Features
- Internet lead management
- State-of-the-art analytics
- Centralized cloud-based platform
- US based customer support
Pros And Cons
Pros
- The interface is clean and intuitive
- Good compatibility with hardware
- Delivers consistent uptime and reliable services
Cons
- Issue with voice quality and packet loss
- The renewal process could be smoother
VinSolutions Connect CRM is a fixture at franchise stores, especially those already using Cox Automotive tools. It provides a holistic view to capture leads from every major source, routes them in seconds, and centralizes calls, SMS, emails, and showroom notes so managers can coach from one dashboard. The Automotive Intelligence automation surfaces ‘likely to buy’ shoppers based on their behaviors. It improves shoppers’ experiences with personalized communications and spots new opportunities with in-depth AI dashboards and reporting.
Additionally, its integration with Autotraders updates the ownership details of customers to deliver a better customer experience, increases sales, and brings results beyond expectations
Salient Features
- AI assistance for lead nurturing
- Multi-channel marketing
- AI-powered segmentations
- 360-degree view of each customer
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Desking tools are compatible with DMS
- Sales leads can be easily tracked
- Multiple things can be viewed at the same time without switching tabs
Cons
- Hard to handle duplicate customers
- Less intuitive interface
The right CRM should shorten your time‑to‑first‑contact, raise appointment show rates, improve desk‑to‑delivery conversion, and keep service bays full after the sale. Use the list above to shortlist 2–3 platforms based on your sales model, then run a pilot with live leads. That’s how you’ll quickly spot the CRM that actually moves the needle for your team and customers towards favorable outcomes.