Most dealerships already text customers. The question is whether it happens on numbers the store can see and keep, inside rules the store can prove it follows, or on a dozen personal phones.
Why dealerships text
A text gets read when a call goes to voicemail and an email sits unopened. It suits the short questions that move a deal: is it still here, can you send the payoff, does Saturday at ten work. Buyers expect to be able to text the store, and they expect a reply in minutes.
The store's number, or the salesperson's?
A single store number keeps everything in one place but turns every conversation into a ticket. Buyers want to text the person they met. Personal cell phones give them that, and leave the store blind: no history, no shared opt-outs, and the customer leaves with the salesperson.
The setup that holds up is a number for each salesperson that belongs to the store. The buyer texts a person; the store sees the thread, keeps the opt-outs in one list, and hands the number to whoever takes over the book when someone leaves.
Speed to lead
Leads from the store’s website and third-party sites should reach a person in seconds, with the vehicle and the history attached, and a returning customer should go back to the salesperson they know. A first text within five minutes, short and human, answers the question they asked and offers a next step.
What to send
Answers, appointment times, confirmations, trade photos, delivery details, and a thank-you after the sale. Keep marketing blasts separate from conversations, and keep payments out of texts unless the full financing terms come with them. Ready-made wording for each moment is in the text message templates.
The rules that apply
This is a summary, not legal advice. Have counsel review how your store texts.
- TCPA. Marketing texts sent with an autodialer require prior express written consent. The Supreme Court’s 2021 Facebook v. Duguid decision narrowed what counts as an autodialer, but state laws in Florida, Oklahoma, and elsewhere define it more broadly.
- Quiet hours. Federal rules use 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient’s time zone; some states use 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and cap how many messages a person can receive in a day.
- Opt-outs. Honor STOP and any other reasonable way a customer says no, across every number at the store. FCC rules in effect since 2025 require honoring a revocation within ten business days; doing it instantly is simpler.
- Carrier registration. Business texting from local numbers must be registered through A2P 10DLC. The first message should identify the business and say how to opt out.
- Canada. CASL requires consent for commercial messages. An inquiry gives implied consent for six months and a purchase for two years; record it.
- Advertising. A payment, a down payment, or a number of payments in a text triggers Truth in Lending disclosures, the same as in an ad.
Keep the book when someone leaves
Turnover is the quiet cost of texting from personal phones. When a salesperson walks out, every customer they texted walks out with them. With store-owned numbers, a manager reassigns the book, number included, and customers keep texting the same number without noticing anything changed.
What to look for in a dealership texting platform
- Numbers registered for business texting (A2P 10DLC), so carriers deliver the messages
- One opt-out list for the whole store: a STOP to anyone stops everyone
- Quiet hours by the customer's time zone, not the store's
- A number for each salesperson that stays with the store when they leave
- Leads from every provider routed to a person in seconds, with the history attached
- Every message kept with the customer record, visible to managers
- Consent recorded where the law requires it, such as for Canadian customers
Questions
- Can a car dealership text customers?
- Yes, within the rules. Replying to a customer who asked about a car is different from sending marketing to a list. Marketing texts can require prior written consent under the TCPA and state laws, every text must honor opt-outs, and business numbers need carrier registration. Have counsel review your process.
- What hours can a dealership send texts?
- Federal telemarketing rules use 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and some states are stricter. Florida, for example, uses 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Using 8 to 8 by the customer's time zone keeps a store inside the common limits.
- What is 10DLC and does a dealership need it?
- 10DLC is the carriers' registration system for business texting from ordinary ten-digit numbers. Unregistered business traffic is filtered or blocked. Any platform a dealership uses should register its brand and use case and show which numbers are registered.
- Should salespeople text customers from their personal cell?
- It is common and it is a problem. The store cannot see the conversation, opt-outs are not shared, and when the salesperson leaves, the customer relationship goes with their phone. A number per salesperson that the store controls fixes all three.
- How fast should a dealership respond to an internet lead?
- Within minutes. The first reply usually wins the conversation, and a text is often the fastest way to reach a buyer who just submitted a form. Routing the lead to a person immediately matters more than the wording of the first message.
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