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Automotive eCRM: email, SMS and MOT reminders
Automotive eCRM is the cheapest lead you will ever get: a customer you already have, reminded at the right moment. MOT due in four weeks. Service interval reached. Finance agreement ending. Part-ex due a valuation. We build the data, the automations and the messages, connected to your DMS, garage management system or store, so it runs without anyone pressing send.
Who we do this for
- Car Dealers
- Garages & MOT Centres
- Car Parts Retailers
- Tyre & Exhaust Centres
- Leasing & Finance Brokers
- Bodyshops & Accident Repair
Native data integrations
Most dealers and garages have years of customer data in a DMS, a garage management system or a spreadsheet, and use none of it. The customer who bought a car three years ago is now looking at Auto Trader. The one who had an MOT last March will book wherever Google shows first. A reminder from you, with their reg in it, beats both.
We connect the source: Keyloop, Pinewood, Dragon2000 or Click Dealer for dealers; Garage Hive, Autowork Online, Motasoft or Techman for workshops; Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento for parts stores. Vehicle records get enriched with DVSA MOT history so the due date is real, not guessed. Then we build the automations in HubSpot, Klaviyo, Dotdigital, Mailchimp or your existing tool, with SMS where the message is urgent.
Messages are written in your voice and personalised with what we know: their car, their reg, their last visit, what they bought. Campaigns cover MOT and service reminders, aftersales retention, finance-end and equity mining, lapsed customer win-back, new stock alerts, parts replenishment and abandoned baskets. Every send reports bookings, sales and revenue, not opens.
Sound familiar?
You probably need this if
- Customer records live in the DMS and nobody has emailed them since the car was sold.
- MOT reminders go out by post, or by a text from a system nobody has updated in years.
- Aftersales retention drops off a cliff after the warranty ends.
- Your newsletter is a monthly offer blast with no segmentation.
- The parts store has thousands of customers and no replenishment or abandoned basket emails.
- Finance-end customers are contacted by the lender before you.
Deliverables
What you get
- Data audit and integration with your DMS, garage management system, CRM or store.
- Vehicle record enrichment with DVSA MOT history for accurate due dates and DVLA data for tax and vehicle details.
- MOT and service reminder automations by email and SMS, with online booking links that carry the reg.
- Aftersales retention journeys: post-sale, first service, warranty end, finance end, part-ex valuation.
- Parts store automations: welcome, abandoned basket, replenishment, back in stock, fitment-based recommendations.
- Platform set-up in HubSpot, Klaviyo, Dotdigital, Mailchimp or your existing tool, with GDPR-compliant consent handling.
- Templates and copy in your voice; reporting on bookings, sales and revenue per campaign.
MOT reminders by email and SMS
A good MOT reminder knows the real expiry date, not the one written down at the last visit. We check each reg against the DVSA MOT History API, send an email at four weeks and an SMS at one, link straight into online booking with the reg pre-filled, and stop the sequence the moment the customer books.
Aftersales retention for dealers
The three years after a sale are where dealers lose customers to fast-fit chains and independents. We build the journey: welcome and handover follow-up, first service reminder, MOT reminders from year three, warranty-end and finance-end conversations, and a part-ex valuation when the equity position makes a change attractive.
Dealer CRM and DMS integration
Email is only as good as the data behind it. We integrate with Keyloop, Pinewood, Dragon2000 and Click Dealer so vehicle, sale and service records flow to the email platform, and enquiries and bookings flow back. Where the DMS cannot expose data directly we build a scheduled export and a middleware layer to keep it in sync.
Process
How we approach it
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Data audit
Where customer and vehicle data lives, how clean it is, what consent you hold and what the systems can export or expose by API.
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Integration
Connect the DMS, garage system or store to the email platform; enrich vehicles with MOT history; set up the sync.
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Journeys
Map the customer journeys worth automating, write the messages, build them, test with real records.
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Launch
Go live in stages, starting with the highest-value reminders; monitor deliverability and replies.
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Optimise
Monthly review of bookings and revenue per journey; copy, timing and segments refined.
Email & CRM: common questions
How do MOT reminders work?
We hold each customer's reg, check the expiry date through the DVSA MOT History API, and send an email or SMS a few weeks before, with a booking link that already knows the car. If the customer's MOT date changes because they went elsewhere, the next reminder updates.
Can you integrate with our DMS?
Yes. We have connected Keyloop, Pinewood, Dragon2000 and Click Dealer, plus garage systems including Garage Hive, Autowork Online, Motasoft and Techman, by API, scheduled export or middleware depending on what each system allows.
Which email platform do you recommend?
HubSpot for dealers who want a CRM and email in one, Klaviyo for parts stores on Shopify or WooCommerce, Dotdigital or Mailchimp where you already use them. The integration and the journeys matter more than the platform.
Is this GDPR compliant?
It has to be. Service and MOT reminders to existing customers usually fall under the soft opt-in; marketing to new prospects needs consent. We audit what consent you hold and build the flows to respect it, with unsubscribe and preference handling.
What is aftersales retention?
Keeping the customer who bought a car coming back for servicing, MOT, tyres and eventually their next car, instead of drifting to a fast-fit chain. The journeys cover the first service, warranty end, finance end and part-ex valuation.
Can email work for a parts store?
Yes. Welcome, abandoned basket, replenishment for consumables, back-in-stock and fitment-based recommendations, all driven from the store data. For most parts retailers it is one of the highest-return channels after search.
Sectors
Who we do this for
Car Dealers
Car dealer marketing that does not rent all your traffic from Auto Trader.
View servicesGarages & MOT Centres
Garage marketing that fills the diary: local SEO, garage website design with online booking and MOT reminders from DVSA data.
View servicesCar Parts Retailers
Car parts marketing agency built on fitment: TecDoc K-Type, reg lookup, eBay and Amazon feeds on Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento.
View servicesTyre & Exhaust Centres
A tyre website with booking for independents: tyre size by reg, live wholesaler pricing, fitting slots and local SEO.
View servicesLeasing & Finance Brokers
Car leasing website design, deal feeds and FCA-compliant marketing for leasing and finance brokers.
View servicesBodyshops & Accident Repair
Bodyshop marketing that cuts insurer dependence: retail leads for repairs, SMART, wraps and PPF, photo estimates and ADAS pages.
View servicesRelated services
Integrations
DMS Integration
DMS integration connects your dealer management system to your website, apps and marketing tools so stock, customers, vehicles and bookings flow both ways without re-keying.
Read moreGrow
Local SEO
Local SEO for garages is mostly about the map pack: when someone types 'MOT near me' at 8am, Google shows three businesses, and the phone rings for those three.
Read moreSoftware
Software Development
Automotive software development is what we do when an off-the-shelf DMS, booking plugin or spreadsheet has run out of road.
Read moreBuild
Car Parts eCommerce
Car parts eCommerce has one rule the rest of retail does not: the customer must know the part fits before they buy.
Read moreTalk to the pit wall
Talk to us about email & crm
Tell us what you sell, fix, break or race and what is getting in the way. We will come back within one working day with a straight answer and, if it fits, a fixed-price scope.