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Ready to let CarAi answer your dealership calls?
Help your team get more service appointments, respond faster, and turn more leads into sales.
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Ready to let CarAi answer your dealership calls?
Help your team get more service appointments, respond faster, and turn more leads into sales.
In just 30 days, CarAi answered 1,113 calls, booked 79 service appointments worth an estimated $35,550 in revenue, and saved the team more than 37 hours while enabling 24/7 customer service.
Located in Oshawa, Canada, Mills Motors Buick GMC has been in business for over 70 years and has grown into one of the largest single-vehicle retailers in Canada. The dealership operates a GM Certified Service Centre, a parts department, and a collision centre.
They approached CarAi with a familiar pain point. They needed to upgrade their phone system to handle large call volumes, reduce missed calls, and cover out-of-hours operations, without increasing headcount or outsourcing to an external BDC. This was not a staffing problem. It was a volume problem.
Mills Motors faced a frustrating dilemma. They knew their existing phone system was unreliable, but they could not measure the damage. Without call recordings or volume tracking, management had no visibility into how many opportunities were slipping away or where revenue was being lost.
They identified the phone lines for general enquiries and service as the primary bottlenecks. During volume spikes, customers were often routed to a voicemail inbox or forced to call back later. The dealership wanted to adopt a system that would handle call volume during peak times. With an average repair order valued at $450, based on NADA 2024 industry averages, missed calls each week represented a significant hit to the bottom line.
“The issue we have is that the receptionist can sit there and not take a phone call for 30 minutes, and then she gets four immediately, all at the same time. Then we end up with calls, while we’re open, going to a general voicemail inbox,”
– Chris Vandenthillart, Assistant General Manager.
Mills Motors adopted CarAi to support their team during high-volume call spikes and to cover out-of-hours operations when the dealership was closed.
CarAi was configured as a backup for all inbound dealership calls. The receptionist remained the first point of contact. When unavailable, CarAi instantly stepped in to prevent calls from being missed or sent to the general enquiries voicemail inbox.
Calls transferred directly to the service department were answered by CarAi first. This allowed the AI to pre-qualify callers and handle routine requests such as oil changes, tire rotations, and regular maintenance bookings. CarAi operates 24/7, turning after-hours enquiries into captured service revenue. Customers can now book service appointments at any time, day or night. Appointment bookings were connected directly to the dealership’s DMS, reducing the manual workload for the service team and removing the need to re-enter information into the DMS.
During the first 30 days of operation, the Mills Motors team noticed that many returning customers asked CarAi to speak with a specific individual at the dealership.
The CarAi team responded quickly by building a detailed staff directory, including names, roles, and extension numbers. This enabled customers to be transferred directly to the correct team member by name, removing the need for calls to be filtered through reception.
CarAi also recognizes when a staff member is unavailable and routes the call to their personal voicemail inbox. This reassures customers that their message reaches the right person and removes the need for reception to manually triage messages.
Between December 30, 2025, and January 29, 2026, the impact was immediate and measurable.
Every inbound service call was captured, recorded, and transcribed, giving management full visibility for the first time.
CarAi autonomously booked 79 service appointments. Using the industry average repair order value of $450, this represents recovered revenue that would otherwise have been missed.
By handling 2,226 minutes of phone time, CarAi freed service advisors to focus on higher-value, in-person customer work.
Answering calls while the dealership was closed and continuing to book service appointments unlocked revenue that was previously impossible to capture.
“Implementing CarAi has given us a phone system we can trust. We are now confident that we never miss a call, especially during off-hours. CarAi has allowed our service department to focus on the shop floor while the AI handles volume spikes and appointment bookings,”
– Jeremy Oliver, Service Manager at Mills Motors Buick GMC.
“CarAi has taken a huge amount of pressure off our front desk. Calls that used to interrupt the team, get transferred between departments, or sit on hold are now handled automatically.”
– Hazel Blackmore, Receptionist Supervisor at Mills Motors Buick GMC.