The car dealership BDC, explained by people who run them.
Dealer's Greatest Assets has operated dealership Business Development Centers since 1993. This guide covers what a BDC does, how sales and service BDCs differ, who works in one, what to measure, how to script it, and when to outsource or automate it.
Fourteen chapters on the dealership BDC.
Why the BDC matters
Most dealerships lose more opportunities on the phone than on the lot. Calls go to voicemail at lunch, internet leads wait hours for a reply, declined services are never followed up, and recall customers are never called. A BDC exists to close those gaps by centralizing every customer contact with one team, one process and one set of numbers.
How a BDC is structured
A typical department has a BDC manager, a team of agents or representatives split between Sales and Service, a phone and texting platform, the dealership's CRM and scheduler, and a set of scripts and follow-up cadences. The manager owns appointment set rate, show rate and speed to answer. Roles in detail →
Three ways to run one
In-house, where the store hires and manages the team. Outsourced, where a BDC company staffs it. Or AI plus live agents, where software answers every contact instantly and people handle the exceptions. Alpha Drive AI is the third model, built by a company that has run the second one for three decades. AI-only tools are a fourth option only if you keep an internal BDC behind them; Alpha is the only dealership AI that removes that requirement while still connecting to your advisors and salespeople. Compare the models →
BDC basics
What is a dealership BDC?
The Business Development Center is the dealership department that owns customer communication: inbound calls, internet leads, texts, chats and outbound follow-up for both Sales and Service. Its output is set, confirmed and shown appointments.
Does every car dealership have a BDC?
No. Smaller stores route calls to salespeople and advisors. Most groups and high-volume stores run a BDC, in-house or outsourced, because unanswered calls and slow lead response cost more than the department does.
Who runs the BDC?
A BDC manager, with agents or representatives handling contacts. In an outsourced model the vendor supplies the manager and agents. In Alpha Drive's model, AI handles volume, Live Assist agents handle judgment, and your managers watch the Command Center.
What is the difference between a BDC and a call center?
A call center answers phones. A BDC is measured on appointments and revenue, works leads across channels and follows a dealership-specific process for Sales and Service. A BDC call center is the phone-heavy part of that function.
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