Study finds many dealers fall short on key lead processes

More and more dealerships are using AI to address these gaps, automating and enhancing how dealerships manage leads.By Marcus AmickCar Dealership Guy NewsJan. 28, 2025A study by customer data and experience platform DAS Technology, released at the 2025 NADA Show, suggests that dealers routinely miss out on several sales opportunities during a customer’s car buying journey, by not following through on some fundamental steps with leads.By the numbers:The 2025 Lead Response Study, which analyzed lead responses from 1,700 (non-DAS) dealerships during Q3 and Q4 of 2024, found improvements in response times but highlighted persistent gaps:19% of dealers surveyed took over an hour to respond to leads, an improvement from 33% in 2023, but still an area of concern.61% of dealers responded to a lead within 15 minutes or less, an increase from 55%, though the 2024 numbers suggest that nearly 40% of dealers took more than 15 minutes to respond.4% of dealers did not respond at all, leaving leads on the floor, but the study did show a slight uptick from 2023 when 9% of dealers did not respond.“The fact that still 20% of dealers take an hour to respond, okay, that's top of mind. But the quality to me is the most, like, crazy thing to me,” CEO Alexi Venneri told Car Dealership Guy News.Read the full story here.