Case study · Independent car dealers
Two independent car dealers in Kent, WA: every lead in one inbox, inventory edited once
Smart Motorz and Northwest Auto Broker are independent used-car stores a few miles apart in Kent, Washington. Both run their leads and inventory on Lead Friendly. This page shows what each store set up, in what order, and what the platform recorded, using real numbers read from Lead Friendly on September 13, 2026. No projections, no composites, and a list of what we cannot show yet.
The short version
Between them, the two stores took in 161 new sales leads from CarGurus, Cars.com, Dealer Car Search and their own websites, and every one landed in a single inbox with the vehicle and source attached. Both stores now edit inventory in one place, and Lead Friendly sends their listings to CarGurus (and, for Smart Motorz, Cars.com) twice a day. Smart Motorz's AI agent answered 48 inbound calls between July 22 and August 27.
Smart Motorz
Kent, WA · on Lead Friendly since July 22, 2026 · smartmotorz.com
An independent used-car dealer in Kent, Washington, selling since 2013. Its leads came from CarGurus, Cars.com and its own website, and each arrived somewhere different.
92
new sales leads captured, July 22 to September 13
2,661
website visits, July 31 to September 13
48
inbound calls answered by the AI agent, July 22 to August 27
11
credit applications completed and signed online by shoppers
What happened, in order
- July 13, 2026Account opened. The store's 2026 lead history and 31 funded deals were brought over, so the CRM started with history instead of empty.
- July 22The AI agent starts answering the store's calls.
- July 24Website test-drive, appointment and financing forms start arriving in Lead Friendly.
- July 29CarGurus leads arrive in Lead Friendly as structured ADF leads.
- July 31smartmotorz.com starts reporting visits to Lead Friendly.
- August 11–14First deals desked in Lead Friendly.
- August 12Cars.com and Dealer Car Search leads join the same inbox.
- September 13Listings for 18 vehicles sent to CarGurus and Cars.com, as they are twice a day.
Before, smartmotorz.com carried a hard-coded copy of the inventory that someone had to edit by hand. Now the site reads live stock from Lead Friendly, so a price change or a sold car in the inventory manager shows on the website, and on CarGurus and Cars.com at the next push, without anyone touching three systems.
Of the 48 inbound calls the AI agent answered, 3 ended with an appointment booked, 5 callers asked for a callback, and 4 were transferred to someone at the store. Eight came in before 9am, after 7pm or on a Sunday. Separately, shoppers booked 9 appointments through the store's online booking link, and 20 credit applications were opened, 11 of them completed and signed by the shopper.
The website drew 4,587 page views over 2,661 visits, with the inventory and financing pages the most read after the homepage, and 333 page views arriving from Google search.
Where the new leads came from
| Source | Leads |
|---|---|
| CarGurus | 42 |
| Cars.com | 19 |
| Website financing form | 10 |
| Website credit application | 8 |
| Website appointment request | 5 |
| Dealer Car Search | 4 |
| Website test-drive request | 3 |
| Website trade-in appraisal | 1 |
Northwest Auto Broker
Kent, WA · on Lead Friendly since August 27, 2026 · northwestautobroker.com
An independent used-car dealer in Kent, Washington. Its inventory used to be copied from its old DealerCenter website onto its own site. Lead Friendly is now where the stock lives.
69
new sales leads captured, August 27 to September 13
28
vehicles sent to CarGurus on September 13
3
online credit applications, plus 2 contact forms and a trade-in appraisal
175
website visits, September 3 to September 13
What happened, in order
- August 27, 2026Account opened. Lead email forwarding switched on.
- August 28First CarGurus lead and first online credit application arrive.
- September 3The website starts reporting visits to Lead Friendly.
- September 5Lead Friendly becomes the inventory source for the website, replacing the copy taken from DealerCenter, and the first CarGurus push sends 30 vehicles.
- September 1328 vehicles sent to CarGurus; sold cars drop off on their own.
Sixty-nine sales leads in the first seventeen days, sixty-three of them from CarGurus, landed in one inbox with the vehicle, the source and the shopper's details already filled in.
The bigger change is where the inventory lives. Stock is edited once in Lead Friendly; the website picks it up, and CarGurus receives the listings twice a day. When a car sells, it comes off both without anyone remembering to do it.
Where the new leads came from
| Source | Leads |
|---|---|
| CarGurus | 63 |
| Website credit application | 3 |
| Website contact form | 2 |
| Website trade-in appraisal | 1 |
What this case study does not show yet
- A response-time number. Both stores still reply to leads from their own phones and email, outside Lead Friendly, so we cannot measure how fast they answer. When replies move onto the platform, this page will show it.
- A before-and-after on sales. Neither store tracked lead response or source-to-sale before switching, and we will not estimate one.
- Quotes from the dealers. We will add them when they give them to us in writing, and not before.
How we counted: leads are contacts created by Lead Friendly after each store went live (marketplace ADF leads and website forms). Imported history and emailed inquiries are not counted. Calls exclude test calls. Figures read from the platform on September 13, 2026.
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