What this helps you do
Your dealer management system keeps the repair order, the parts and the invoice; your CRM keeps the lead and the deal; your service scheduler keeps the appointment. The Hub holds only the customers who connected, whether they follow service, sales or owner news, and what you sent. It does not know a repair-order state, which is why a ready-for-pickup notice is sent by a person, or posted by your own system to the inbound webhook. Whatever the system, the doors are the same four: a CSV export you upload on Connections, the inbound webhook that invites one person at a time, signed outbound events that tell your systems who connected or replied, and the Zapier app when both ends are apps rather than code.
When to use it
Use CSV from an opted-in customer export. Use the inbound webhook when your DMS or CRM can post a customer as they arrive, or fire a status notice from your own event. Use outbound events when your systems should know who connected. The service-drive code covers a lot on its own.
How to do it
- Export the opted-in service and sales customers and upload the CSV on Connections.
- Point your own system at the inbound webhook on Integrations so a new customer is invited the day they come in.
- Add your HTTPS endpoint under events out if the DMS or CRM should hear about connections, opt-outs and replies.
- Ask for the Zapier app if you would rather connect the two ends without code.
- Send the vehicle-ready notice, the part arrival or the appointment change from Send once your own system says so.
Example
A dealership uploads its opted-in service customers and puts the code on the service drive. When a part lands, the advisor reads it in the DMS and sends one Blast to that customer; the reply comes back in Conversations. The repair order stayed in the DMS throughout.
Good to know
- There is no DMS, dealer CRM, manufacturer, inventory or service-lane connector. CDK, Reynolds, Dealertrack, Tekion, VinSolutions, DealerSocket and Xtime are named here only to say so.
- The Hub holds no repair-order, parts, inventory or deal data, and cannot read a vehicle's status.
- A Blast shows the dealership. Per-person sender identity is not verified, so a message is never presented as coming from a named advisor.
- A recall or service-campaign message is a courtesy notice beside the manufacturer's and the regulator's required notification, never instead of it.