Illustrative scenario · modeled on founding-cohort inputs
AM
1 rooftop · 142 vehicles
Acme Motors
Independent · Toyota / Honda focus · Miami, FL
Replaced 6 vendors, picked up 11 after-hours test drives in the first 21 days.
“In three weeks Herald booked eleven test drives outside business hours. The math on this is silly — that's a sale every other week we didn't have to chase.”
Before
CRM ($900/mo), call tracker ($450/mo), AutoTrader ($1,200/mo), CarGurus ($900/mo), Cars.com ($600/mo), service scheduler ($300/mo) — total $4,350/mo before any vehicle data tools
Receptionist managed 9-to-5 phone; everything outside that hit voicemail
3-day average response time on web leads
F&I disputes monthly because desking math didn't match the bank
After
One platform: $489/mo Independent plan, all features included
Herald handles 24/7 — 38% of calls now arrive after business hours
<5 minute response time on web leads (Concierge auto-drafts the SMS)
F&I desking calculator is the source of truth — bank disputes near zero
The numbers
Vendor monthly cost
$4,350
before
Vendor monthly cost
$489
after — −89%
After-hours test drives
0 → 11
in 21 days
Days to ROI
8
covering monthly fee from one extra deal
Web-lead response time
3 days → 4 min
auto-draft SMS
F&I disputes / mo
~3 → 0
desking transparency
CSI score
4.7 → 4.9
first 60 days
Staff training time
<2 hours
concierge handles the rest
Illustrative scenario, modeled on founding-cohort inputs — dealer names and figures show how the platform behaves at this profile, not a named customer's audited results. Run your own numbers on the ROI calculator.
Time to live
8 days from kickoff to first test drive booked by Herald
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