Every dealership has “lost” customers—those who inquired but never bought, or those who bought once but haven’t been back for service or another purchase. The Vehicle Recovery solution is designed to win those customers back and recover revenue opportunities that might otherwise be lost to competitors. It’s like a safety net for your sales and service funnels, using targeted marketing and outreach to re-engage customers who have gone cold or prospects who slipped away, and turn them into active business again.
This solution works by analyzing your CRM, DMS, and even website data to identify high-potential people who are not currently engaged. For sales, that could be unsold prospects: someone who came in 60 days ago on a test drive and never bought, or internet leads that went cold. For service, it could be customers who haven’t serviced with you in over a year or whose maintenance is overdue based on time/mileage but haven’t scheduled. It flags these individuals and then automates tailored campaigns to lure them back.
For example, a prospect who never bought might get a campaign highlighting a fresh offer on the model they were interested in, or a notification that pre-owned inventory like what they wanted is now available. A lapsed service customer might receive an email or text offering a special “We Miss You” discount on their next service, or perhaps an incentive to try your service pickup/delivery (tying in with that solution) for ultimate convenience.
Vehicle Recovery leverages multiple channels—email, text, direct mail, even outbound BDC calls—to maximize chances of reconnection. It ensures the messaging is contextually relevant. If it’s a previous buyer who defected to another brand, perhaps you highlight an upgrade offer to get them back in your brand family. If it’s a service customer lost to aftermarket, maybe emphasize your certified techs and genuine parts, plus a coupon.
One key aspect is tracking and personalization. The system keeps track of who responds and who doesn’t. If someone clicks a link but doesn’t act, maybe they get a follow-up call from your BDC saying, “We noticed you were looking at service offers—can we schedule something for you?” If they ignore an email, maybe try a text next time. It’s persistent but intelligent follow-up, not just one-and-done.
It also might integrate with equity data (similar to Equity Mining) for previous buyers: e.g., find customers who bought 3-4 years ago from you, have good equity, but haven’t been in recently, and target them with “We want your trade” or upgrade communications—thus recovering a sales opportunity that might have drifted elsewhere.
On the service side, it can identify patterns like customers who had a bad CSI survey and never returned. Those might get a white-glove outreach with a special apology and offer to make things right, recovering not just revenue but also goodwill.
The platform provides reporting on how many customers have been “recovered” or reactivated—how many leads came back in to buy, how many lapsed service customers returned, revenue generated from these campaigns, etc. This helps quantify the ROI of proactive retention efforts.
In essence, Vehicle Recovery serves as your dealership’s second chance mechanism. It proactively seeks out those slipping away and brings them back into the fold with personalized communications and offers, ensuring you capture business that might otherwise be lost.
Without a system like this, a lot of potential revenue just fades away. Salespeople might not systematically follow up with unsold prospects beyond a few attempts. Service departments might not notice when a regular customer stops coming in—until maybe a year later when someone says “Hey, whatever happened to Mr. Smith?” By then, Mr. Smith could be happily servicing at the quick-lube down the street or bought a car elsewhere.
Dealerships often focus on new leads and current customers, which is important, but it means those who drift away often don’t get much effort because they’re “out of sight, out of mind.” And if there are attempts to win them back, they’re usually one-size-fits-all blasts like a generic email to everyone who hasn’t serviced in 12 months. That can come off as impersonal or irrelevant and thus ineffective.
Also, busy dealership staff simply don’t have time to comb through databases and figure out who to recontact, when, and with what message. It’s a complex task that requires data mining and marketing finesse. Without automation, it’s rarely done well, if at all. That’s a lot of potential repeat sales or service revenue left on the table.
This is where Vehicle Recovery helps by systematizing and automating the retention marketing process, something most dealerships know is important but struggle to execute consistently.
Lost Lead Identification
Automatically identify sales prospects in the CRM that have not converted and have gone cold beyond a set threshold (e.g., no activity in 30+ days). Prioritize them by interest level (like those who had a deal proposal or test drive are high priority).
Lapsed Customer Detection
Flag customers who haven’t been back for sales or service in a defined period. For sales, maybe those who bought 3+ years ago and are likely in the market again, or those whose lease is ending and didn’t contact you. For service, those who haven’t been in for 12+ months or missed their last recommended maintenance.
Automated Multi-Channel Campaigns
Launch targeted campaigns to these lost customers using email, SMS, direct mail, and calling. The content is tailored: e.g., “It’s been a while since we saw you…here’s 15% off your next service” or “The new model year is out, come test drive the car you were interested in again.”
Personalized Offers
Generate individualized offers/incentives based on the customer’s history. For example, a service customer who always did maintenance with you but disappeared might get a higher discount or free service offer than one who only came once. A sales prospect who was looking at a specific model could get an offer or financing promo specifically on that model.
Equity & Service History Integration
Include relevant data in the outreach. “We’d love to buy your
2018 Camry – our records show it’s in great shape and we have customers waiting for one like it” or “You declined a brake service last time – here’s an incentive to take care of that now before it becomes urgent.”
BDC Task Routing
Create follow-up call tasks for BDC or salespeople to personally reach out to high-value lost customers after initial communications. The system can say “Call these 50 customers who clicked the email but haven’t scheduled” and provide a script tailored to their situation.
Win-Back CSI Workflow
For customers who left unhappy (like low CSI score and no return visits), trigger a special recovery workflow—like a manager call to apologize and offer to fix the issue for free or with a strong discount.
Tracking & Analytics
Track responses and recovered business. The system ties campaign respondents to actual sales ROs or service ROs. E.g., see that 50 customers scheduled service out of the 500 targeted, resulting in $X revenue, or that 5 vehicle sales were directly attributed to the winback campaign.
Continuous Drip Logic
Not just one blast—set up sequences. If an email is ignored, try a text a week later. If that’s ignored, perhaps a voicemail drop or direct mail letter next. The system retires people from the sequence if they respond or after a maximum number of attempts, whichever comes first.
Opt-Out and Preference Management
Ensure compliance by honoring opt-outs and managing customer contact preferences. The system keeps track if a customer says “don’t email” or “not interested in service offers,” etc., adjusting campaigns accordingly.
CRM: Works in tandem with your CRM by updating contact history and ensuring active leads are worked in CRM while the “lost” ones are handled by Recovery until they become active again. Once someone responds, they can flow back to a sales rep’s pipeline in CRM with notes like “responded to win-back offer.”
Marketing Platform: Coordinates with your broader marketing campaigns to avoid overlap. For instance, exclude recovered customers from generic blasts—they should now get regular marketing or tailored follow-ups. If Solera’s Marketing Platform is in use, these tools likely share data so each contact gets the right communication.
Equity Mining: Feeds data both ways. Equity Mining finds the opportunities, and Vehicle Recovery handles the campaign to reach those dormant equity customers. Or conversely, a recovered service customer who visits can be flagged to the sales team if they have equity (so next time they’re in, you make them a trade offer). Essentially, all these tools collaborate to maximize customer value.