The Best Stella Alternative for Dealership Service Departments
Stella is a voice AI receptionist built to answer dealership phone calls. Kimoby is a service lane operating system where Kimoby Voice is one module inside a full platform, connected directly to your DMS.
Trusted by 1,000+ dealerships across North America.
How is Kimoby different from Stella?
Stella is an AI voice receptionist built to answer dealership calls for sales and service, book appointments, and route customers to the right department. Kimoby is a service lane operating system where Kimoby Voice is one module inside a full platform. It integrates with the DMS to sync customer data, ROs, and appointments, so advisors text, send video inspections, share estimates, collect payments, manage loaners, and follow up on CSI, all from the same system that also handles missed calls.
Because Kimoby Voice runs inside the full platform, a call that gets routed to text continues in the same customer thread as every other interaction on that repair order. A standalone voice receptionist can answer and route the call, but once it ends, that context has nowhere else to go without a separate integration built on top.
What the service advisor gets with Kimoby
Stella handles the phone call. Here's what happens on the same platform once that call is done, and where the call handling itself differs too.
Missed calls handled by Kimoby Voice
Kimoby Voice does what Stella does, catches the call, identifies the customer, routes or offers text, but ties every one of those calls to the same RO your advisor is already working from, not a separate voice dashboard.
Video inspection with AI-generated estimate Not part of Stella
Technicians record a video walkaround. Kimoby turns it into a customer-facing estimate with photos, so the customer sees exactly what's being recommended and why.
Texting tied to the RO Beyond voice
Every text ties to an open repair order, not just a phone number. Advisors see the full thread next to the RO, so nothing gets lost between visits.
Payment collected via text or terminal Not part of Stella
Customers pay by text or at an in-person terminal. Either way, the payment writes back to the RO automatically.
Loaner contract tied to the RO Not part of Stella
Loaner agreements are generated and signed digitally, linked to the same RO as the repair. No separate paperwork trail to track down.
Google review request triggered by CSI score Not part of Stella
A review request goes out automatically after a high CSI score. Lower scores get flagged internally first, before anything reaches a public review site.
Before this, I was seriously looking at hiring someone just to handle our inbound calls. A few months in and I'm really glad we went with this instead.
Andrew Lusignan
Service Manager at Gary Moe Mazda Lethbridge
What you get with Kimoby
One platform, four modules, on the DMS you already have.
Service Lane OS
Where your advisors spend their day. Every module plugs into it.
Voice
The service calls your team can't pick up, answered.
Voice picks up what your advisors miss, takes the message and drops it in the thread. It doesn't book appointments yet.
Pay
Mobile and in-person payments in one place.
Pay from the text before pickup, or at the counter. Surcharge and Affirm built in.
Go
Loaners you can see.
Digital contracts and damage photos on every unit. Tracking through OEM over-the-air connectivity or an OBD-II device.
Grow
Campaigns your team sends.
Reminders, recall, declined work, tire season. Your BDC builds and sends them.
Works with your DMS
OEM approvals
Service lane and communication programs
Loaner programs (Kimoby Go)
Ford: qualifying vendor, submitted for the 2027 list.
Month-to-month, no long-term contract. Setup is $2,000 virtual or $6,000 on-site, first month included.
See pricingHow Kimoby compares, side by side
| Capability | Kimoby | Standalone voice AI agents |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | The full dealership service lane workflow | Answering and routing inbound calls |
| DMS integration | CDK (write-back), Reynolds, PBS, Tekion, DealerTrack, Autosoft, Serti | Often limited to select DMS schedulers |
| Missed call handling | Yes, Kimoby Voice, tied to the RO | Yes, answers and routes inbound calls |
| Books the appointment without a human | Not yet. Kimoby Voice routes the call or switches to text, a person closes the booking today. Autonomous booking is on the roadmap. | Often yes, books directly into the scheduler |
| SMS texting | Yes, tied to the RO | Sometimes available alongside voice |
| Video inspections with AI-generated estimates | Yes | Not typically part of the platform |
| Mobile payments | Yes, text-to-pay and in-person terminals, with CDK write-back | Not part of the platform |
| Loaner fleet management | Yes, with GPS and digital contracts | Not part of the platform |
| Recall and retention campaigns | Yes, Kimoby Grow: declined service, recalls, warranty, tire season | Not typically part of the platform |
| Pricing | Transparent, published, month-to-month | Varies, often sales-gated |
Based on publicly available product information as of this writing.
FAQ
What's a good Stella alternative for a dealership service department?
Kimoby is a service lane operating system where Kimoby Voice, missed-call handling tied to the repair order, is one module inside a full platform. It also covers texting, video inspections, digital estimates, payments, and loaner management, all connected to the DMS, rather than a standalone voice receptionist bolted onto everything else.
Can Kimoby replace Stella at a dealership?
For most of the call, yes: Kimoby Voice catches the call, matches the caller to their open RO, and routes them to their advisor or offers a switch to text, all inside the same platform as texting, video, and payments. One real gap: Kimoby Voice doesn't yet book the appointment on its own the way Stella does, a person closes that loop today. If autonomous booking is the priority, that's worth weighing directly.
Does Kimoby Voice book appointments automatically?
Not yet. Today, Kimoby Voice identifies the caller, matches them to their RO, and routes the call or offers a switch to text, but booking the appointment itself still goes through a person. Autonomous booking is on Kimoby's roadmap.
What does Kimoby Voice do differently from a standalone voice receptionist?
A standalone voice receptionist can answer and route a call, but once it ends, that context doesn't automatically flow anywhere else. Kimoby Voice is built into the same platform as texting, video inspections, and payments, so a call that gets routed to text continues in the same thread as every other interaction on that repair order.
Does Kimoby integrate with the DMS?
Yes. CDK (with write-back), Reynolds, PBS, Tekion, DealerTrack, Autosoft, and Serti. Customer data, ROs, and appointments sync automatically.
Can Kimoby send video inspections?
Yes. Technicians capture photos and video. AI generates a customer-facing estimate. The customer approves or declines each line item from their phone.
Does Kimoby include payment processing?
Yes. Mobile text-to-pay and in-person terminals in one system. Credit card surcharging. Affirm financing. CDK write-back.
How much does Kimoby cost?
Transparent pricing at kimoby.com/pricing. Month-to-month. No long-term contract.
