Core CRM
The bones every dealer CRM has to get right.
Multi-source lead intake (ADF, web, walk-in, phone) ADF-XML, JSON API, web forms, walk-in, inbound call — single Lead model, deduped on ingest.
ADF + Cox lead feeds. Custom sources via Cox integrations team.
ADF + 30+ provider feeds via Solera integrations.
Auto-dedup across phone, email, household Phone (E.164 hashed), email, household roll-up at ingest — see PII encryption track.
Customer-level dedup; household roll-up is manual.
Match-back is overnight batch, not real-time.
Available via IDMS module — add-on.
Customer dedup only, no household.
Unified activity timeline (every touch in one feed) LeadActivity table joins SMS, email, call, store-visit, AI action, agent action.
Email + call captured; in-store activity manual.
First-class mobile app (iOS + Android) PWA + native shell — installable on any device, no app-store gate.
Soft-delete with full audit trail Every Lead/Customer carries deletedAt + audit log — never hard-deleted.
Audit log exists but is gated to admin/Cox support.
Communication
SMS, email, calls, dynamic number insertion. Where most of the day actually happens.
AI-drafted text replies under 30 seconds Claude Sonnet 4.6 drafts every reply; Haiku 4.5 for sub-second classification. Default speed-to-lead < 30s.
Auto-text templates; AI drafting via add-on (Cox ProActive).
Templated, not generative.
Templates only — no LLM generation in base plan.
DriveCentric advertises generative AI replies as core to its stack.
AI voice agent (inbound + outbound) Maria — Haiku-4.5-driven voice receptionist, books appointments, transfers warm. RAG over inventory + dealer policy.
No native voice AI as of 2026; partners with 3rd-party AI calling vendors.
AI BDC voice in beta / select partners.
Native templated + AI email React Email + Resend; AI subject/body generation in every send dialog.
Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) included Twilio-backed DNI on every source, no per-number surcharge.
Cox CallTrack add-on, ~$300–500/rooftop/mo on top of CRM.
3rd-party integration (CallRevu / CarWars).
Call recording + transcripts (no add-on fee) Twilio recording + Claude transcript scoring in base plan.
Cox CallTrack or CallRevu — separate vendor.
Unified inbox (SMS + email + call) — base plan /floor cockpit is the unified inbox.
Available with Connect Texting add-on.
AI Intelligence
Where AI shows up beyond a chat bubble.
Predictive lead intent scoring (live, not batch) Sentiment + intent + best-time-to-call scored on every inbound message in <2s.
Cox Lead AI scores at ingest; intent re-score is daily batch.
Score at ingest; no streaming re-score.
Live intent scoring is a DriveCentric headline.
AI receptionist that books appointments unattended Maria handles inbound voice + SMS off-hours; founder-tunable persona per rooftop.
Limited to messaging, voice is beta.
AI desking (live pencil + payment scenarios) /pencil + Public Pencil — Opus 4.7 drives lender-aware payment scenarios in real time.
Desking lives in Cox VinDesking — separate product.
DealerSocket desking module is rules-based, no LLM.
Modern frontier-model integration (Claude / GPT-4 class) Tier router: Opus 4.7 for reasoning, Sonnet 4.6 default, Haiku 4.5 for latency.
Cox 'AI Assistant' — model undisclosed; not extensible.
Smart-task heuristic (right task, right rep, right time) Smart Tasks engine surfaces the next-best action per lead, per shift.
Task templates, not heuristic.
F&I + Desking
Payment math, lender connections, deal jacket.
In-CRM desking calculator Built-in /pencil — lease, finance, cash, with reserve and pack visible to GM.
VinDesking is a separate Cox product.
Elead desking module — add-on tier.
DealerSocket has native desking.
No native desking; relies on integration.
Customer-facing payment quote link (shareable, signable) /portal/[token] payment portals — public, signed, no app install.
Available via DealerSocket Digital.
Lender connection routing RouteOne / DealerTrack pass-through Dealer brings their existing RouteOne/DealerTrack credentials; we don't act as the credit bureau.
Via VinDesking add-on
Via Solera lender net
Native RouteOne integration
3rd-party integration only
F&I reserve + pack visible to GM in real time /desking view shows reserve, hold-back, pack, and net per deal — auditable.
Reserve is buried in DMS — not visible at CRM layer.
Reserve visible in DealerSocket desking module.
Inventory + DMS
Stock, merchandising, and the bridge to your DMS.
Bidirectional DMS sync (CDK, Reynolds, Tekion, Dealertrack) 4 DMS providers + nightly cron; deal write-back on signed contract.
Cox owns half the DMS market; sync is the strongest selling point.
IDMS — DealerSocket's own DMS.
DMS integration via 3rd-party middleware (DealerVault).
Vehicle merchandising (photos, descriptions, AI captions) AI-generated descriptions + caption library; founder-editable templates.
Marketplace inventory bridge (live syndication) Marketplace Poster engine — pushes to Cars.com, Autotrader, FB Marketplace, dealer site.
Sales-floor stock search with AI vehicle matching /stock — AI-ranked alternatives when a customer's unit is gone.
Payments
Where the dealer actually collects money.
Native Stripe Connect (per-rooftop payouts) Each dealer onboards their own Connect account; payouts flow to the dealer's bank.
Cox doesn't operate as a Stripe processor.
Customer deposit / hold collection Public deposit links + Apple/Google Pay; reservation hold flow built-in.
DealerSocket Pay — limited launch.
Reservation / layaway hold tracking Reservation table + auto-expiry cron + customer SMS reminders.
In-CRM refund + dispute flow Stripe refunds + dispute evidence packaging from the deal jacket.
Defense + Security
FTC Safeguards is mandatory. Most CRMs treat it as paperwork. We treat it as a feature.
Live CISA-KEV / CVE pattern coverage (AWAIS engine) GladiusDefense + Sentinel — 66 rules, 53 sigs, 261 root-cause patterns; cron-monitored.
Vendor SOC reports only, no embedded live-pattern matching.
Embedded AWAIS (Autonomous Web App Intelligence System) Sentinel scans every PR + every prod merge. Locked-surface guardrails enforced via CI.
SOC 2 Type II In progress Q4 2026 target; audit window opened. Public attestation page coming with the report.
Cox Automotive SOC 2 Type II.
Field-level PII encryption (phone, email, DOB, SSN) Per Gladius CRM PII encryption track — PRs #56→#75 shipped foundation, dual-write, backfill, read cutover.
Encryption at rest (DB-layer); no field-level scheme.
Auditor-grade tenant isolation (every query carries dealerId) tRPC middleware enforces dealerId on every read/write; Sentinel runs a tenant-isolation audit on every cron.
Homegrown TOTP MFA (no Clerk / no vendor lock-in) RFC 6238, AES-GCM-wrapped secret, bcrypt backup codes — shipped 2026-05-27.
MFA via Cox SSO — tied to Cox identity.
Pricing
Real dollars. Real terms. No 'call for quote'.
Monthly $/rooftop (published) $1,997/mo · Professional Three tiers, posted publicly at /pricing. The selected tier in the toggle above drives this cell.
$1,500 – $3,000+ Cox doesn't publish. Range from G2 + dealer surveys 2026.
$1,200 – $2,500+ Solera doesn't publish; G2 + dealer interviews.
$1,200 – $2,800+
$1,500 – $3,000+
Per-user / per-seat fee Tier defines a user cap; you don't pay per seat inside it.
Per-user pricing on top of base.
Contract length 90-day min, then annual Real terms. No 36-month traps.
36 months typical Per dealer surveys 2026.
36 months typical
12–36 months
12–36 months
Setup / onboarding fee Included in first month Onboarding labor is included in your first month. No surprise PSO bill.
$3k–$8k implementation fee typical.
$2k–$5k implementation fee.
Add-ons hidden behind the base price Texting, call tracking, AI, payments, DMS — all in the base.
Connect Texting, CallTrack, Lead AI, VinDesking — separate line items.
Texting, AutoData, AI, desking — separate.
PrecisePush, Pay, Inventory+ — separate.
Voice AI, DMS bridge — separate.
Implementation
Go-live, migration, training. Where most CRMs die.
Typical go-live timeline 14 days Operator-built migration tooling; standard go-live in 2 weeks.
45–90 days Cox-published implementation SLA range.
45–90 days
60–120 days
30–60 days
Data migration handled by vendor team Our team does the migration. Done-for-you, not done-by-you.
Solera-managed but billed.
Training included in base price Live sessions + Gladius University self-serve + per-tenant walkthroughs.
Training credits — additional billed.
Named operator-class CSM, not a ticket queue Every dealer gets a named ex-floor operator on their account.
Tiered CSM — depends on contract size.