Disclosure: Pinnacle Sales and Mail publishes this site and ranks itself first on this list. Every other company here was chosen and checked by us from its own published information in September 2026; none of them paid to be included.
The best automotive BDC call centers in 2026 for answering dealership phones are Pinnacle Sales and Mail (BDC On Demand), Solera Call Services, Traver Connect, eliteBDC and Better Car People, followed by Strolid and TeleDirect. STELLA and Numa are AI voice software, not staffed centers, for stores that want an automated first answer.
How We Chose
A ringing phone is a customer ready to talk right now. This list is about who picks up, not who should run your whole business development center; for that, see our best outsourced BDC companies for car dealerships, which compares full and hybrid outsourcing, CRM ownership and contracts.
We are on this list and we rank ourselves first. Every other provider was checked on its own website in September 2026 to confirm it is operating and answers phones for dealerships today, and is described only from what it publishes. No one paid to be included. We looked at:
- Coverage: the hours the provider says it answers, and whether it offers overflow (rolls over when your team is busy) as well as after-hours.
- Service scheduling: can agents book, move and cancel appointments directly in your scheduler, or do they just take a message?
- Call recording and QA: can you listen to calls, and does the provider score them?
- Automotive focus: are agents trained on dealership calls, or is automotive one industry among many?
- People or software: staffed agents, AI voice, or a mix, stated plainly.
At a Glance: The Shortlist
| Provider | Staffed or software | Coverage stated | Books into your scheduler | Recording / QA stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinnacle Sales and Mail | Staffed | Full, overflow, after-hours, event calls | Learns your appointment process | Call recordings and reporting |
| Solera Call Services | Staffed, AI monitoring | 24/7/365, overflow, after-hours | Yes, service scheduling integration | AI-powered monitoring |
| Traver Connect | Staffed | 87 hours a week plus Backstop Assist | Schedules service appointments | Not detailed |
| eliteBDC | Staffed, AI options | Overflow and after-hours capture | Yes, in your DMS scheduler | AI-graded, recorded calls |
| Better Car People | Staffed plus Brooke AI | 24/7 live inbound, overflow | Yes, directly in your system | Caller Insights analytics |
| Strolid | Staffed, AI after hours | Humans by day, Sophia AI after hours | Notes pushed to your scheduler | QA on every conversation |
| TeleDirect | Staffed, multi-industry | 24/7 answering | Bookings and reminder calls | Not detailed |
| STELLA Automotive AI | Software (AI agents) | 24/7/365 | Yes, into your scheduler | Real-time analytics |
| Numa | Software (AI) | Not stated | Yes, via DMS connection | Captures every call and text |
1. Pinnacle Sales and Mail (BDC On Demand)
Pinnacle Sales and Mail, a dealership marketing company in Cornelius, North Carolina with over 25 years in business, runs BDC On Demand: an outsourced call center built only for dealerships. It answers inbound and makes outbound calls for sales and service, and you can use it for the whole phone load or only for the gaps.
Best for: stores that need overflow and after-hours coverage, and stores running a sale or event that will spike call volume for a few days.
What they offer:
- Full call handling, overflow support, after-hours coverage or event-specific call handling.
- Sales and service calls, inbound and outbound.
- Call recordings, performance metrics and regular reporting.
- On-site consultants who can come to the store to set up or fix an in-house BDC.
Worth knowing: Pinnacle also runs staffed sales events and direct mail, so event call handling can be planned alongside the campaign; see our list of staffed sales event providers for that side. Pinnacle does not publish BDC On Demand pricing; it starts with a free consultation on call volume and staffing gaps.
2. Solera Call Services
Solera sells Call Services through its dealer solutions site. It describes the product as a fully managed call center that combines trained automotive agents, AI-powered monitoring and dynamic scripting, with agents answering as your dealership using customized scripts, 24/7/365.
Best for: service departments that want round-the-clock inbound coverage with bookings going straight into the scheduler.
What they offer: overflow call handling, after-hours coverage, appointment scheduling and CRM-integrated message delivery; a service scheduling integration so agents book directly into your system during the call; and outbound lead follow-up, first-service visit follow-ups, appointment reminders and win-back campaigns. Related Solera products include vBDC and MasterCall.
Worth knowing: the product is service-led; ask how much of the sales phone load it is set up to take. dealer.solera.com
3. Traver Connect
Traver Connect, which says it was founded by John Traver in 1991, sells a Service BDC built around the phones. Its "All Covered" program answers all inbound service appointment calls, which its service page says runs 87 hours per week, and "Backstop Assist" acts as a safety net during peak hours, after hours and weekends for calls your advisors or internal BDC miss.
Best for: franchise service departments that want advisors off the phone, and GM dealers (Traver Connect says it is a GM-approved vendor for IMR turnkey programs).
What they offer: primary inbound service scheduling, backstop coverage, outbound service campaigns for declined work and inactive customers, pickup and delivery, and a Sales BDC.
Worth knowing: its homepage says coverage can expand "up to 90+ hours a week" while the service page says 87, so confirm the exact hours for your store, and ask about call recording access, which the site does not detail. traverconnect.com
4. eliteBDC
eliteBDC, based in Oviedo, Florida, publishes its service call pricing, which is rare in this category. Inbound service appointment scheduling is priced by your average monthly repair orders and starts at $595 a month on its service scheduling page.
Best for: fixed-ops directors who want a known monthly cost tied to RO volume.
What they offer: professionally answered inbound service calls, appointments booked inside your existing DMS or scheduler, overflow and after-hours call capture, bilingual agents on every shift, text-enabled lines, instant email alerts for priority items, Microsoft Teams chat with your agent team and a monthly performance review. Its sales pricing page lists AI-graded and recorded calls with daily and month-to-date recaps.
Worth knowing: offshore labor is offered at a discount, so ask where the agents answering your calls will sit. elitebdc.com
5. Better Car People
Better Car People, with offices in Monroe, North Carolina and Boca Raton, Florida, sells an on-demand Service BDC whose agents it says handle service calls 24/7, including peak-time and holiday overflow. It pairs the staffed team with Brooke AI, a virtual service coordinator, and sells Caller Insights for AI call analytics, scoring and coaching.
Best for: groups that want live agents, an AI backstop and call scoring from one vendor.
What they offer: 24/7 live inbound call support; booking, rescheduling and changing appointments directly in your system while following your rules for capacity, waiters and advisor preferences; overflow handling; and access to Brooke AI with the Service BDC.
Worth knowing: ask which calls go to people and which to Brooke AI, especially overnight. bettercarpeople.com
6. Strolid
Strolid, of Salem, New Hampshire, says every inbound service call lands with a human BDC agent. After hours, its Sophia AI answers in seconds and routes the customer to a person first thing the next morning, and its Dealer Copilot prompts agents with answers during live calls.
Best for: stores that want a person on every daytime call and an honest, clearly automated answer at night.
What they offer: inbound service answering with notes pushed to your service scheduler, managers and advisors; sales and outbound BDC; and reporting that flags where follow-up breaks. Its sales page mentions QA on every conversation.
Not the best fit if: you need a live person booking appointments at 10 p.m.; after hours is handled by AI and a next-morning callback. strolid.com
7. TeleDirect
TeleDirect is a general call center that serves many industries and has an automotive program for dealerships and service centers. Its automotive page lists live inbound and outbound agents, 24/7 answering, callbacks, reservations and bookings, lead response management and customized scripting, plus reminder calls to cut missed appointments.
Best for: independent stores and repair shops that mainly need every call answered by a person and a message or booking taken.
What they offer: 24/7 live answering, appointment booking and reminders, branded custom scripts, and a bilingual call center service.
Not the best fit if: you want automotive-only agents who sell appointments and work your CRM; automotive is one of many industries it serves. teledirect.com
8. STELLA Automotive AI (software)
STELLA is not a staffed call center. It sells AI agents that answer dealership phones, and says it answers every call on the first ring, simultaneously, 24/7/365. Its lineup includes a Reception Agent for call handling and routing and a Service Agent that books into your scheduler. It says it is an approved FordDirect vendor.
Best for: stores that want every call answered instantly and are comfortable with an AI first answer and customizable transfers to staff.
What they offer: AI reception, service booking, sales inquiry handling, outbound campaigns and STELLA Insights analytics.
Worth knowing: software still needs a person to own it: someone must set transfer rules, review calls and fix what it gets wrong. stellaautomotive.com
9. Numa (software)
Numa is AI software, not a staffed center. It calls itself an AI operating system for car dealerships and says it is used by more than 1,300 dealerships. Its Voice AI connects to the DMS in real time, so it can answer with the customer's history and book into an open service slot.
Best for: service departments that want AI answering tied into the DMS plus a shared inbox for advisors.
What they offer: Voice AI, an AI-native inbox across calls and texts, a service advisor agent, a mobile app, and LiveCSI for spotting unhappy customers while the car is still in the shop.
Worth knowing: Numa is built mainly around fixed ops; if your gap is sales phone-ups, test it on sales calls before you commit. numa.com
How to Choose a Dealership Call Center
Before you talk to any provider, measure your own phones for two weeks: calls by hour, how many rang out, how many went to voicemail, and how many service calls ended with a booked appointment. Our article on why your voicemail box might be a revenue leak shows what to look for, and our dealership BDC benchmarks give you targets to compare against.
Overflow, after-hours or everything
Most stores do not need a call center answering every call. They need someone catching the calls that ring out at 8 a.m. on Monday, over lunch and after closing. Buy the coverage your call log shows you need, and write the rollover rule into the agreement (for example, calls roll to the center after a set number of rings).
Service calls need scheduler access
A center that takes a message for a service call has only moved the problem to tomorrow. Ask whether agents book, move and cancel appointments directly in your scheduler, and whether they can see loaner and shuttle capacity.
Listen to the calls
Ask for recordings from week one, and pick ten at random each week. Score them on greeting, whether the customer's question was answered, and whether an appointment was asked for.
People or AI
AI voice answers every call instantly and never calls in sick; people handle upset customers, odd requests and complex deals better. Many stores use both: AI for a fast first answer and simple bookings, people for everything else. Whatever you pick, confirm who answers at 9 p.m. on a Saturday. If you are weighing a broader move than the phones, compare the options in our outsourced vs in-house BDC guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an automotive BDC call center?
It is a call center whose agents are trained on dealership calls: sales phone-ups, service scheduling, parts questions and appointment confirmations. Unlike a general answering service, it should book appointments in your systems, ask for the appointment on sales calls and log each call so managers can follow up.
Should my dealership use a call center only after hours?
Many stores start there because after-hours and overflow calls are the easiest gap to see in a call log. If your team also misses calls during the day, at opening, at lunch or during a sale, add daytime overflow. Measure missed calls by hour first so you buy the coverage you actually need.
Can a call center book service appointments directly?
Some can. Solera, eliteBDC and Better Car People each say their agents book into your scheduler, and STELLA and Numa say their AI does. Ask for a live demo on your own scheduler before you sign, and confirm agents can see capacity such as loaners and waiter slots.
Do I get call recordings from an outsourced call center?
You should. Recordings let you check greeting, accuracy and whether an appointment was requested, and they settle disputes with customers. Pinnacle provides call recordings with its reporting, and eliteBDC lists recorded calls on its pricing page. Make access to recordings a written term of the agreement.
Is an AI voice agent the same as a call center?
No. An AI voice agent is software that answers and routes calls or books simple appointments. A call center is staffed by people. AI can answer every call at once and at any hour; people are better with upset customers and complicated requests. Many dealers combine the two.
Summary
The best dealership call center is the one that answers the calls you are missing today, books service straight into your scheduler and lets you hear every call. Pinnacle Sales and Mail (our own BDC On Demand), Solera Call Services, Traver Connect, eliteBDC and Better Car People lead this list, with Strolid and TeleDirect as staffed alternatives and STELLA and Numa as AI software options. To see how overflow, after-hours or event call handling would work at your store, read about our call center for dealerships or Get In Touch.
