Last updated: October 28, 2026
Quick answer: If you want texting, call automation, digital inspections and estimates, and service marketing in one platform on top of your DMS, shortlist Kimoby and myKaarma. Both cover all four channels on their own sites. CDK and Tekion offer their own versions if you'd rather buy from your DMS vendor. Podium and Numa start from the phone, and their AI books appointments. We make Kimoby, so weigh that.
Your customer doesn't care which vendor sent the text. They care about the service they receive, that they are kept in the loop, and that you answer their questions.
Behind the counter, it's a different story. In a lot of stores, texting lives in one tool, the phones in another, payments at a standalone terminal, and reminders in a BDC tool that your service advisors never used. Four logins. Four places the same customer shows up with a different history.
This guide compares the dealership software that tries to put those four channels in one place. It also covers the point solutions that do one channel well, so you can decide which way to go.
We make Kimoby. We'll say where we fall short, and every claim about another vendor comes from that vendor's own website, checked on October 27, 2026.
Not in the usual sense. When most service managers hear "dealership management software", they think DMS: CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds, Tekion, PBS. The DMS is your system of record. It holds the repair order, the accounting and the customer history.
A communication platform runs on top of the DMS. It reads the appointment and the RO, talks to the customer by text and phone, sends the inspection and estimate, and brings the customer back for the next visit. Your DMS doesn't change.
You'll see both called "automotive dealership software". The difference matters when you shop. Switching your DMS touches your accounting and every department in the store. A communication platform sits on the DMS you already run, so you can change it without touching your books.
Some DMS vendors (CDK and Tekion, for example) also sell communication tools that live inside their own ecosystem. We cover them below.
Four channels. Here's what each one needs to do for a service department, and why it's worth asking about.
Text messaging automation. Appointment reminders, status updates and vehicle-ready texts that send on their own, plus two-way texting the advisor can answer from the RO. Across 871 dealerships in our Cost of Silence report, the median time from a digital estimate to a signed approval was 6 minutes. Phone approvals run 22 to 23 hours.
Call automation. What happens when nobody picks up. Voicemail, an answering service, or an AI agent that answers, identifies the caller and gets the request to someone. Ask whether the AI books the appointment or hands it to an advisor. Vendors differ here.
Digital vehicle inspections with photos and video and digital estimates. The tech records the inspection with photos and video, and the findings become an estimate the customer approves line by line from their phone. J.D. Power found in 2026 that 64% of service customers want photo or video with their inspection, and only 26% of mass-market customers get it. Ask whether approved work reaches the RO in your DMS.
Dealership marketing. Service reminders by mileage or time, declined-work follow-ups and recall campaigns, built from your repair-order data. In the same report, customers who received campaigns were retained at a rate 9 to 10 points higher. That's a correlation from samples above 20,000 customers each, not proof that campaigns caused it.
Nice to have: payments. Payments aren't one of the four channels, but they're worth having. Once the customer approves the estimate from their phone, paying from the same text is the next tap. No line at the counter at pickup. With Kimoby, mobile payments come with Service Lane OS, and on CDK the payment writes back to the RO. Ask every vendor on your list if they do the same.
Loaners matter too. They're covered in our service lane software comparison.
Here's what each vendor says it offers in the four channels. "Not confirmed" means we couldn't find it on the vendor's own site. It doesn't mean they don't have it. Ask them.
| Vendor | Type | Texting | Call automation | Inspections and estimates | Service marketing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimoby | Runs on top of your DMS | Two-way, tied to the RO, automated reminders and status updates | Kimoby Voice: missed calls answered and summarized, caller can switch to text. Doesn't book appointments yet | Digital inspections with photos and video (Pro plan), estimates approved line by line by text. On CDK, pushing approved work to the RO is in beta | Kimoby Grow: reminders, declined work, recalls, reactivation |
| myKaarma | Runs on top of your DMS | Two-way, in a universal inbox with calls and email | ServiceConcierge answers 24/7 and books appointments through its scheduler | Video MPI with a customer-facing inspection. Line-by-line digital estimates not confirmed | ServiceConnect: declined services, open recalls, maintenance |
| CDK Global | DMS vendor suite | ServiceView two-way texting with video | AIVA books appointments 24/7 by phone, chat and text | CDK Inspection: digital MPI with video and eSignature, approvals by text or email, real-time DMS sync | Email and SMS campaigns with declined-work and recall triggers |
| Tekion | DMS with built-in tools | SMS appointment reminders and missed-appointment follow-ups | Service Scheduler AI answers calls 24/7 and books against shop capacity | Customers review and authorize estimates in a portal. Inspection photos and video not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Podium | Messaging and AI, many industries | Unified inbox, booking by text | AI agent answers service calls and books them | Not confirmed | Service Marketing AI add-on: declined service, recalls |
| Xtime (Cox Automotive) | Scheduler with add-ons | Engage add-on: real-time text updates. Two-way not confirmed | Not confirmed | Inspect: photo and video of recommended repairs, online approvals. High-res media is the Multimedia Pro add-on | Invite, plus a Text Marketing add-on |
| Numa | Voice-first point solution | Smart Inbox for calls, voicemails and texts | Voice AI answers and books into open slots | Not confirmed | Declined-work texts (Opportunities) |
Only one vendor on this list publishes prices: Kimoby. The others ask for a demo or a quote.
So what does that tell you? All-in-one isn't rare anymore. The difference is in how deep each channel goes and whether the four channels share one customer record and one RO. That's what to test.
Here's the trade-off between one platform and a stack of point solutions.
| Question | One platform | Point solutions stacked |
|---|---|---|
| Where does a customer's reply land? | In the same thread as the RO, the call summary and the estimate | In whichever tool sent the message |
| How many DMS integrations do you rely on? | One | One per tool |
| How many vendors and contracts? | One | One per channel |
| How deep is each channel? | Varies. Test each one | Often deeper in the one channel they do |
| What does switching cost? | More, since everything moves together | Less, you swap one piece |
That's us. With Kimoby, you run texting, missed calls, inspections and campaigns from one screen on top of your DMS. Service Lane OS is the base: two-way texting tied to the RO, automated reminders and status updates, digital estimates with line-by-line approval, video, mobile payments and CSI surveys. Kimoby Voice, Kimoby Pay's in-person terminal, Kimoby Grow and Kimoby Go (loaners) are modules you add.
With Kimoby Voice, your advisors' phones ring first. When nobody picks up, Voice answers, matches the caller to their open RO, and lets them leave a message or switch to text. The advisor gets the recording, a transcript and an AI summary. At Gary Moe Mazda, 98 of the 224 calls the team couldn't get to in August were customers trying to book, price a repair, order a part or handle a recall.
With Service Lane OS Pro, the tech records a color-coded inspection with photos and video, and each finding becomes an estimate line in one click. The customer approves line by line from their phone and can pay from the same text. Across Kimoby dealerships, $19.6 million in work was approved through digital estimates in 12 months.
Where we fall short: Voice doesn't book appointments yet. It routes the request to the advisor, who books it. Digital inspection is on the Pro plan only. There's no native online scheduler (it's on the roadmap). Write-back to the RO works on CDK only. Payments write back today, and pushing approved estimate lines to the RO is in beta. Tekion is pull only.
Syncs with CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds, PBS, Tekion, Keyloop Serti, Dealer Vu and Quorum. Month-to-month, 30 days' notice. See pricing.
myKaarma covers all four channels on its own site. Two-way texting sits in a universal inbox with calls and email. ServiceConcierge, its AI voice agent, answers 24/7, books appointments through Scheduler+, and transfers to an advisor with the transcript. Its video MPI gives the customer an inspection that explains why each service is recommended. ServiceConnect runs declined-service, recall and maintenance campaigns. It also offers payments and loaner management. We couldn't confirm line-by-line digital estimates on its inspection page.
What to ask: which features sit in which package (it sells Essentials, Advanced and Ultimate tiers plus add-ons) and the contract length. Pricing isn't published. Kimoby vs myKaarma.
If you run CDK and want one vendor for everything, CDK sells its own pieces. ServiceView does two-way texting with video. AIVA books appointments 24/7 by phone, web chat and text. CDK Inspection runs a digital MPI with video and eSignature, sends recommendations by text or email for mobile approval, and syncs with the DMS in real time. Service marketing tools send email and SMS campaigns with declined-work and recall triggers.
What to ask: which of these are separate products with separate fees, and how they share one customer thread. We couldn't confirm photo capture on CDK's inspection page. Kimoby vs CDK Service.
Tekion is a DMS with customer tools built in. Its site describes SMS appointment reminders and missed-appointment follow-ups, an AI that answers every inbound service call 24/7 and books against shop capacity, and a customer portal where customers review and authorize estimates and recommendations. If you're already on Tekion, that's the shortest path to one vendor.
We couldn't confirm service marketing campaigns, declined-work follow-ups or inspection photos and video on Tekion's site. Ask for a demo of that piece specifically. Kimoby vs Tekion.
Podium is a messaging and reviews platform used across many industries, with a dedicated automotive offering. For service, its AI agent answers incoming calls and books them, with the conversation history in one inbox connected to your DMS. Service Marketing AI, an add-on, handles declined-service follow-up and recall campaigns. We couldn't find inspections or estimates on Podium's automotive service page or plans.
What to ask: how inspection findings and estimates would reach your customer, since you'll likely need a separate inspection tool. Kimoby vs Podium.
Xtime, part of Cox Automotive, is built around scheduling. Engage adds real-time text updates. Inspect sends customers photo and video of recommended repairs so they can approve online, with high-resolution photo and video in the Multimedia Pro add-on. Invite targets customers by service history and declined work, with a Text Marketing add-on.
What to ask: the full quote with every add-on you'd need, and how calls are handled, since we couldn't find voice AI on its site. Plenty of stores keep Xtime for scheduling and run the rest of the lane elsewhere. Kimoby vs Xtime.
Numa starts from the phone. Its voice AI answers calls, and its Appointment Agent books into open slots during the call, after hours included. The Smart Inbox puts calls, voicemails and texts in one thread next to the RO. Opportunities sends texts on declined work.
If the phone is your biggest leak, that's a focused fit. We couldn't confirm inspections or estimates on Numa's site, so plan for a separate inspection tool. Kimoby vs Numa.
Loaner software like Dealerware is a point solution in its own lane: contracts, fuel, mileage and toll billing. It doesn't cover texting, calls or campaigns. If you run a loaner fleet, check whether your platform covers it or plan for one more vendor. With Kimoby, that's Kimoby Go. Kimoby vs Dealerware.
Start with the channel that's costing you the most today, then check how the rest fit around it.
1. Count your missed calls first. Pull a month of missed calls from your phone system. If the number scares you, call automation is your first priority, and you'll want to know whether the AI books or routes. Both work. They're different jobs.
2. Ask where the reply lands. Send a test text from the vendor's tool and reply to it. Does the reply show up next to the RO, the call summary and the estimate? Or does the advisor have to look in another tab?
3. Ask what touches your DMS, and how. "Integrates with CDK" can mean it reads appointments, or it pushes approved work to the RO. Ask for each channel: what does it read, and what does it write back?
4. Ask for the full quote. Every module, add-on and setup fee, on one page. Compare it with what you pay today across your current tools, including any answering service.
5. Watch an advisor use it. Ask for a demo on a real RO. Count the clicks to send an inspection video, get a line approved and answer a missed call. The tool your advisors keep open is the one that pays for itself.
If you want a longer checklist, read how to evaluate dealership service lane software.
Two platforms cover all four channels on top of your DMS, according to their own sites: Kimoby and myKaarma. CDK and Tekion sell communication tools inside their own DMS ecosystems. Podium covers calls, texting and marketing for service, but we couldn't find inspections. Numa focuses on calls and texting.
No. A DMS (dealership management software like CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds or Tekion) is the system of record for repair orders and accounting. A communication platform runs on top of it to text, answer calls, send inspections and estimates, and run service marketing. You keep your DMS.
Not yet. With Kimoby Voice, the calls your team misses get answered and matched to the caller's RO. The advisor gets a recording, a transcript and an AI summary, then books the appointment. Several voice tools on this list, including myKaarma, Podium and Numa, say on their sites that their AI books directly.
One platform keeps every text, call and estimate in the same customer thread, with one DMS integration and one vendor. Point solutions can go deeper in a single channel and are easier to swap one at a time. If your advisors already juggle several logins, start with one platform.
It depends on the vendor and the DMS. With Kimoby on CDK, pushing approved estimate lines to the RO is in beta, and payments already write back. On other DMSs, the RO syncs into Kimoby, but nothing writes back yet. Ask every vendor which DMS they write back to, not only which ones they read from.
Kimoby's pricing is published by work-order tier at kimoby.com/pricing. None of the other vendors in this guide publish prices on their sites. Ask each one for a full quote that includes every module, add-on and setup fee.
Vendor capabilities were checked on each vendor's own website on October 27, 2026. Features change. Confirm with each vendor before you buy.