Modern customer relationship management (CRM) software has a relevant use in virtually every industry, including automotive. Since the best automotive CRMs include many industry-specific features, it’s important to find one that caters to your—and your customers’—exact needs.
To help you find the right provider for your dealership, we’ve rounded up the best automotive CRM providers based on their features, pricing, and ease of use.
- HubSpot CRM: Best free automotive CRM overall
- Selly Automotive: Best for independent dealers
- Zoho CRM: Best for analytical charting and reporting
- monday CRM: Best for simplified sales management
- Salesforce Automotive Cloud: Best for next-gen AI support
- AutoRaptor: Best for sales funnel visibility
- VinSolutions: Best for vehicle inventory management
- DealerSocket: Best for sales, marketing, and service integration
- Dealer Lead Track: Best for lead management and automation
Best Automotive CRM Software Compared
Provider | Free Plan | Free Trial | Our Rating out of 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ✓ 2 users | ✕ | $15 per user | 4.55 |
 | ✕ | ✓ 14 days | 4.24 | |
 | ✓ 3 users | ✓ 15 days | $14 per user | 4.22 |
 | ✕ | ✓ 14 days | 4.09 | |
 | ✕ | ✓ 30 days | 3.96 | |
 | ✕ | ✕ Product Demo only | $399 per user | 3.95 |
 | ✕ | ✕ Product Demo only | Contact the provider for a quote | 3.74 |
 | ✕ | ✕ Product Demo only | $750 per user | 3.61 |
 | ✕ | ✓ 30 days | $95 per user | 3.54 |
HubSpot CRM: Best Free Automotive CRM Overall
Pros
- Free sales, marketing, service, and operations tools are offered for car dealers
- Use next-gen AI to create email blasts, newsletters, and other email copy
- Built-in dashboard makes it easy to visualize your entire sales pipeline
Cons
- It has no industry-specific features, like finance and insurance (F&I) management and dealer management system (DMS) integration
- Free plan only supports up to 1,000 contacts
- Custom reporting, forecasting, and market asset comparison are gated with the Professional Customer Platform ($1,170 per month for five users)
You need a free automotive CRM software: HubSpot CRM is our top recommended general-use CRM for sales, marketing, service, and operations management tools at no cost. It provides car dealerships with a single platform for collecting leads, coordinating sales operations, and nurturing customer relationships.
HubSpot CRM’s free plan also includes its AI-powered Breeze Copilot tool. This smart tool helps you streamline customer service, automate sales outreach processes, and strengthen marketing campaigns.
You’re looking for an industry-specific automotive CRM: Since HubSpot is a general-use CRM system, it lacks niche-specific features, such as warranty management, insurance management, and DMS integrations.
Alternatives: Selly Automotive is our top recommended industry-specific CRM for independent dealerships. Its features include DMS integration, automated data entry via license scanning, and a smart call management system with direct dealership transfers. VinSolutions is another top automotive CRM software that has excellent vehicle inventory management capabilities.
HubSpot CRM Pricing & Features*
*Pricing is based on annual billing and a per-month breakdown of the HubSpot Customer Platform plans for individuals and small teams. Enterprise-level products and monthly billing are also available at higher costs. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
**The Customer Platform includes sales, marketing, customer service, CMS, and operations software bundled together in one product. Individual modules can be purchased at lower prices.
HubSpot CRM ticket pipeline for car dealerships (Source: Webdew)
Our Expert Opinion
HubSpot CRM tops this list of the best automotive CRM software because of its all-in-one sales, marketing, service, and operations features. The robust free plan provides a built-in dashboard, comprehensive reporting, and team-based performance data. You can conveniently manage car dealership leads, contacts, sales pipeline, and client communications from a single platform.
Selly Automotive: Best for Independent Dealers
Pros
- Native automation lets independent dealers provide immediate replies to texts and emails
- Easily create and distribute text blasts based on customer demographics
- Deal prioritization, appointment setting, and ROI (return on investment) tracking are included
Cons
- It has no free plan or trial, only a product demo
- It has no activity tracking, customizable reporting, and real-time analytics
- Some users report frequent service slowdowns and even crashes
You manage an independent car dealership: Selly Automotive offers automation features that eliminate menial tasks from the daily workflow of independent dealerships. These features include autoresponders to text and email messages for quick follow-ups with customer leads. It also has a centralized communication platform where you can access and manage emails, texts, and recorded calls from the web and mobile apps.
You need a free automotive CRM: Selly Automotive does not offer a free plan or trial. You can only watch a demo video or schedule a live demo session from its website.
Alternative: HubSpot CRM is an excellent general-use CRM that you can customize to manage your independent car dealership. Its free plan supports up to two users and includes a robust set of sales, marketing, service, and operations management tools.
Selly Automotive Pricing & Features
Flat Rate Per Month
Cost: $130 per user
Key Features:
- Centralized communications with automated emails, calls, and text messages
- Deal prioritization and appointment management
- Web and mobile app
- Lead analytics and dashboard reporting
- Integrations with DMS, including CarGurus, TrueCar, and Kelley Blue Book
Selly Automotive intelligent automated text message responses (Source: Selly Automotive)
Our Expert Opinion
Selly Automotive stands out from other CRM software for the automotive industry because of its intelligent autoresponders, which help streamline customer engagement. This industry-specific CRM also offers streamlined communications, smart call routing, workflow automation, and inventory management. These features make it easy for independent dealerships to track sales team members, clients, inventory, analytics, and marketing campaigns.
Zoho CRM: Best for Analytical Charting & Reporting
Pros
- It has robust reporting features across all plans
- It offers customer portal with e-catalog of services and a consolidated view of customer communications
- It has built-in workflow automation and service task assignment features
Cons
- Extensive customization is required to use as an automotive CRM
- It has no dashboards and custom reports with the free plan; requires a paid subscription (Standard plan at $14 per user monthly)
- AI functionality and customer portal are gated with the Enterprise plan ($40 per user monthly)
You need an automotive CRM with robust reporting capabilities: Zoho CRM offers robust reporting features across all plans. Starting with the free plan, you can generate standard reports for car dealerships, including account, campaign, case, product, quote, and invoice reports. Paid plans (starting at $14 per user monthly) allow you to build custom reports and dashboards with charts and key performance indicators (KPIs).
You want an established provider with niche automotive CRM features: While Zoho CRM is one of the most popular CRMs on the market and is equipped with robust features for managing car dealerships, it is not an industry-specific platform. It requires extensive tab, label, and form customization to align with automotive terms and functions.
Alternative: Salesforce Automotive Cloud is a well-established CRM made specifically for the automotive industry. It’s built on Salesforce’s Sales and Service Clouds, and it has ready-to-use modules for car dealerships, such as automotive lead management, warranty management, loan and lease tracking, and fleet management.
Zoho CRM Pricing & Features*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans, though monthly billing is available at a higher cost. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Zoho CRM analytics dashboard with key business metrics (Source: Zoho CRM)
Our Expert Opinion
Zoho CRM has comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing car dealers to easily generate charts, graphs, and reports to help you visualize their productivity. In addition, you can create a customized portal to help your customers easily browse your products and services. We also like its inventory management module, which allows you to manage products, price books, quotes, sales orders, invoices, and inventory.
monday CRM: Best for Simplified Sales Management
Pros
- Its highly intuitive and flexible CRM system lets dealerships customize boards to track and manage their fleet, customer relationships, and business operations
- It leverages low-code design for custom automations of insurance renewal reminders, vehicle servicing, and special offers
- It offers unlimited contacts, work management boards, customizable pipelines, and dashboards
Cons
- Module for post-sales management and account management requires a custom-priced Enterprise plan
- Email marketing tools are not available until the Pro plan ($24 per user monthly)
- AI tools are limited to an email generator
You need a highly intuitive CRM to simplify sales management processes: monday CRM is one of the easiest platforms to use because of its highly intuitive interface with a drag-and-drop functionality. Even its automation tools are user-friendly because of the low-code design. This allows car dealerships to automate customer reminders and day-to-day tasks easily.
You’re looking for low-cost post-sales and account management tools: With monday CRM, you have to subscribe to its custom-priced plan to access its post-sales management modules. These include tools for managing and tracking accounts, client projects, and collections.
Alternative: Zoho CRM offers account management features with its free plan. Its native integration with Zoho Projects also enables users to manage post-sales projects.
monday CRM Pricing & Features*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans, though monthly billing is available at a higher cost. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
monday CRM post-sales management module for customer onboarding, collection tracking, and client project management (Source: monday CRM)
Our Expert Opinion
monday CRM is a highly intuitive and customizable platform that allows car dealerships to manage their fleet and operations from a centralized work management board. You can leverage its low-code automation builder to eliminate repetitive tasks and send automated reminders to clients.
Salesforce Automotive Cloud: Best for Next-Gen AI Support
Pros
- It’s built on the foundation of Salesforce’s next-gen AI platform, Einstein, which includes predictions, recommendations, and service replies
- Easily access customer account information through their driver database
- Access warranty details, delivery reports, and more from their vehicle database
Cons
- It has relatively expensive plans, ranging from $325 to $700 per user monthly
- It has a steep learning curve because of extensive and advanced features
- Conversational and generative AI tools are locked in with Einstein 1 tiers ($700 per user monthly)
You want a CRM with next-gen AI tools: Salesforce Automotive Cloud’s basic plan comes with Einstein Activity Capture, an AI tool that automatically syncs email and calendar content with the CRM. The Einstein 1 tiers ($700 per user monthly) include conversational and generative AI tools for productivity, personalization, content generation, and case resolutions.
You’re operating with a limited budget: Although Salesforce Automotive Cloud is a powerful and full-featured CRM, it’s among the most expensive options available today. Its plans range from $325 to $700 per user monthly.
Alternative: Dealer Lead Track is a more affordable industry-specific CRM than Salesforce Automotive Cloud. Its Basic CRM plan (starting at $95 per user monthly) includes automotive lead management and daily task scheduling features. The Plus CRM plan (starting at $195 per user monthly) offers additional features, such as texting and automated emails.
Salesforce Automotive Cloud Pricing & Features*
Salesforce Automotive Cloud Pricing Add-ons:
- Experience Cloud for Automotive: $50 per user
- CRM Analytics for Automotive Cloud: $165 per user
- Automotive Cloud Intelligence: $220 per user
- Support and Success Plans: Starting at 30% of net license fees
*Pricing is based on annual billing and a per-month breakdown of the plans. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Salesforce Automotive Cloud household management tab with overview of driver and vehicle history plus AI recommendations (Source: Salesforce)
Our Expert Opinion
The Salesforce Automotive Cloud is the best AI CRM for the automotive industry because of its powerful Einstein AI tool, which has generative and conversational capabilities. It automatically captures email and calendar data and provides actionable insights into sales metrics and smart recommendations for improving productivity and conversion rates.
Visit Salesforce Automotive Cloud
AutoRaptor: Best for Sales Funnel Visibility
Pros
- Built-in reporting features and comprehensive analytics make it easy to monitor marketing campaigns and track progress
- Easily capture leads and initiate communication through a variety of channels
- It has a highly responsive and helpful support team
Cons
- The mobile app is clunky, and it lacks certain features like license scanning and image attachment
- It has no free plan or trial, just a product demo
- DMS integrations are limited
You need better visibility into your sales funnel: AutoRaptor has powerful tools that help you track your sales funnel. These include real-time insights into your source performance, lead distribution, inventory activity, and sales performance. You can also track buyer communications and appointments using real-time dashboards and reports.
You need a niche platform with reliable mobile access: Many online user reviews cite issues with AutoRaptor’s mobile app, such as its clunky interface and lack of capabilities for sending images, downloading Up Sheets, and scanning licenses.
Alternative: DealerSocket is a niche automotive CRM with higher usability scores for its mobile app because of its intuitive interface. It also allows users to scan a driver’s license and vehicle identification number (VIN), search the inventory database, send follow-up texts or videos, and view reports.
AutoRaptor Pricing & Features
Cost: Custom pricing starts at $399 per user monthly
Key Features:
- Lead, contact, and communications management
- Integration with DMS, Inventory Management Systems (IMS), and credit tools
- 20-plus dashboards and reports on performance, inventory, and lead distribution
- Automated e-lead distribution, tasks, communications, and status updates
- Usable by dealerships in and outside the US
- Mobile VIN scanning and ID verification
AutoRaptor performance report and Up Sheets (Source: LinkedIn)
Our Expert Opinion
Created by professionals with prior experience in automotive sales, AutoRaptor serves as a one-stop repository for lead management, sales communications, and more. As a result, many of its core features revolve around sales, including team and dealership performance tracking, sales forecasting, data mining, and lead assignment. Not only does this provide greater visibility into the sales funnel, but it’s also helpful when tracking sales and productivity.
VinSolutions: Best for Vehicle Inventory Management
Pros
- It has a robust inventory management system with lead count, pricing adjustments, and vehicle valuation
- It has highly customizable reporting and analytics with actionable insights into dealership performance
- It offers automation for follow-up communication, lead distribution, and tasks
Cons
- Marketing tools (text message and video marketing) require additional fees as part of custom pricing
- It has no built-in customer ID scanning and call tracking features; requires an add-on
- It has a steep learning curve because of clunky and complicated user interface
You want a CRM with a built-in vehicle inventory management system: VinSolutions comes out of the box with an inventory management system that allows you to see your vehicle inventory in real time. You can also adjust the pricing, view the current vehicle valuation, and update the display photo from the same tab.
You’re looking for a solution with built-in marketing tools: VinSolutions offers marketing tools, such as automated text messaging and content-rich videos. However, these tools are not included in the basic CRM package and require customized add-on fees.
Alternatives: DealerSocket (starting at $750 per user monthly) has out-of-the-box automated marketing capabilities that include personalized text and email campaigns. AutoRaptor (starting at $399 per user monthly) is great for monitoring marketing campaigns. If you prefer a general-use platform, go for HubSpot CRM, which offers email marketing, list segmentation, and ad management at no cost.
VinSolutions Pricing & Features
Cost: Contact the provider for a quote
Key Features:
- Centralized customer database for sales and service departments
- Vehicle inventory management with lead count
- Automated follow-ups, tasks, and communications
- Performance management
- Dashboards and reports
- Automated database maintenance
- Integration with Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, and Kelley Blue Book
- Mobile app
VinSolutions active inventory list with count of total leads (Source: VinSolutions on YouTube)
Our Expert Opinion
A versatile and customizable platform, VinSolutions combines modern dealership tools with next-gen sales management functionality. One of its strengths is its robust inventory vehicle management system with a real-time view of vehicle leads, pricing, and valuation. This platform is also compatible with numerous third-party apps, including Kelley Blue Book, Dealertrack DMS, and Accelerate My Deal.
DealerSocket: Best for Sales, Marketing & Service Integration
Pros
- It offers integrated dealership sales, marketing, and service capabilities in one platform
- It has an intuitive and highly configurable user interface
- It offers modules for franchise and independent dealership management
Cons
- It has no free plan or trial, just a product demo
- Customization options for reports are limited
- Customer support team is unresponsive
You want a purpose-built CRM platform with sales, marketing, and service tools: DealerSocket was purpose-built for use by automotive dealerships, so it boasts an impressive set of advanced features. These include a centralized customer database, automated marketing, and a service scheduler. It also has additional tools for managing franchises and independent dealerships, such as credit qualification and equity mining.
You need a more affordable solution with transparent pricing: Although DealerSocket’s website does not post an exact cost, reviews indicate that its customized plan starts at $750 per user monthly. This is the most expensive starting price in this guide.
Alternatives: Dealer Lead Track’s Basic CRM starts at $95 per user monthly. Its Plus CRM plan, which includes automated texting and email, starts at $195 per user monthly. monday CRM is another option that offers highly customizable work management boards for lead and activity tracking. Its plans start at $12 per user monthly with a three-user minimum.
DealerSocket Pricing & Features
Cost: Custom pricing starts at $750 per user monthly
Key Features:
- Seamless integration of sales, marketing, and service keeps all of your customers on a centralized platform
- Use marketing automation to build your customer database, drive communications, and maximize sales
- A highly configurable interface makes it easy to navigate the UI
Our Expert Opinion
DealerSocket provides a centralized platform for customer management and support. This solution simplifies connecting your team—regardless of their department or device—so they can focus on serving the customer and maximizing their productivity. It provides a modern interface with hundreds of third-party integrations that add even more value to the DealerSocket platform.
Dealer Lead Track: Best for Lead Management & Automation
Pros
- It has solid features for dealership lead management and automation
- Users receive instant notification via text and/or email whenever a new lead is received
- Strengthen customer retention with Dealer Lead Track’s repeat customer follow-up module
Cons
- It has no native mobile app, only a web-based app
- Its user interface is clunky and outdated
- It lacks other essential features, such as inventory management and support desk
You want to nurture repeat customers: Dealer Lead Track offers solid features for managing and automating car sales lead management processes. This platform allows you to automate texting and emailing and even provides you with dozens of automated email scripts. This makes it easy to follow up with repeat customers, ultimately leading to improved customer experiences and increased sales.
You need a native mobile app for your field sales team: Unfortunately, Dealer Lead Track is completely web-based and does not have a native mobile app. You can access the web app via an internet browser on a mobile device, but it does not have offline functionality. In addition, the app itself has a clunky interface that affects its usability.
Alternative: Salesforce Automotive Cloud is known for having an excellent mobile app that mirrors all of the features available in the web app. While there’s a decent learning curve because of its advanced features, it also has a highly intuitive interface.
Dealer Lead Track Pricing & Features
Dealer Lead Track manager dashboard showing leads, appointments, and sales reports (Source: Dealer Lead Track)
Our Expert Opinion
Dealer Lead Track provides a straightforward approach to lead management, sales, and customer support. One-click lead assignment makes it easy to assign leads as they come in, while the ability to transfer bulk leads is helpful if you fall behind the flow. There are also options to add automated text and email campaign capabilities.
How We Evaluated the Best Automotive CRM Software
To determine the best automotive CRM software, we evaluated specific features that car dealerships need. For instance, contact and lead management and reporting are common use cases of CRM in the automotive industry.
We also looked at other critical product attributes, which include pricing, product ease of use, and customer support availability. Review our evaluation process for the best automotive CRM systems.
30% of Overall Score
To help you choose the right CRM, we assessed general features essential to any product, regardless of industry or whether it’s CRM automotive software. For example, contact and lead management, sales pipelines, reporting and analytics tools, email management, and data import or export are all valuable for any business. We also wanted to check the availability, range, and quality of its third-party integrations, system customizations, and mobile app.
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated niche features relevant to car dealerships. These include marketing automation, SMS and phone campaigns, task management systems, and deal management systems.
10% of Overall Score
Pricing is crucial when evaluating all types of software products. In addition to the free plan or trial period, various pricing options for a growing business were considered. We also looked at billing choices for a subscriber to either pay monthly or save by paying annually and the costs specific to automotive features like vehicle inventory management.
15% of Overall Score
We checked if the provider has built-in templates or automations to assess the ease of use. We also searched reputable review sites to gauge general user sentiment regarding its learning curve and ease of setup. In addition, we considered its plan options to see if it is easily scalable.
15% of Overall Score
User support and customer service help prevent unfavorable experiences and outcomes that teams may encounter when using these CRM products. So we evaluated customer service hours and channel availability via phone, live chat, and email. We also looked at self-service or help center resources users can access, like tutorials, user forums, or training modules.
10% of Overall Score
Aside from our first-hand experience, we evaluated what actual users say about each software according to real online reviews. We looked carefully at customer perception, particularly the value for the price, ease of use when operating the features and navigating the CRM interface, and how users feel about the CRM’s features.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
An automotive CRM is a digital tool that allows auto dealers and service centers to centralize and optimize their sales, operations, and customer service for automotive dealerships. It helps these businesses organize customer follow-ups, send service reminders, nurture customer relationships, and streamline sales lead nurturing processes. In addition, it enables them to align their logistics and inventory management from a single platform.
Several standard and automotive CRM companies are recommended for big automobile dealerships and firms. If you’re looking for a general-use CRM for sales, marketing, customer service, and operations, we recommend HubSpot CRM. Salesforce is best for those needing an AI-powered CRM to analyze data and improve customer engagement. Meanwhile, those needing an industry-specific CRM could consider Selly Automotive and AutoRaptor.
A dealer management system (DMS) is a business management tool made specifically to help dealerships manage their daily business activities. Meanwhile, a customer relationship management (CRM) system collects customer data and interaction history on a centralized platform. When you integrate the two systems, the DMS uses data from the CRM to streamline car sales activities, such as creating contracts and autofilling document templates.
Bottom Line
When choosing a CRM for your automotive business, select the one that aligns with your feature and budgetary needs. For instance, HubSpot CRM is the best free option in this guide, while Selly Automotive is recommended for independent dealers. Zoho CRM is an excellent choice for those who prioritize reporting and analytics tools, and VinSolutions is for those who need a reliable vehicle inventory management system.
