A study of phone calls to and from auto dealerships shows opportunity to turn the communication channel into more sales.

Fixed-operations calls tend to result in more appointments compared to sales, but both the service drive and the sales department and business development center could better leverage the phone, the CallRevu report says.

The communications data platform provider said its midyear data analysis shows progress on the part of dealerships from a year ago in answering the phone, making more appointments and accomplishing more conversions.

For instance, answered inbound fixed-operations calls held steady from last year at 94%, and about 86% of calls to variable operations were answered after a drop in 2025, according to the data.

But the report says stores must move from simply answering the phone – an expectation today instead of a differentiator – to maximizing those opportunities.

When callers wait on hold for long, the dealership risks losing opportunity. Fixed operations saw about a 3% caller hangup rate, variable operations an 8% rate. Hangups can lead to lost business, the report points out.

Meanwhile, some promised return calls aren’t being made – 22% in fixed operations and 14% in variable operations.

“Dealers that improve follow-through in the second half of 2026 and close the gaps are positioned to create meaningful separation from their competitors,” the report says, explaining that the volume of calls to dealerships tends to rise further into a year.

Conversion of calls to appointments also showed room for improvement. Fixed operations scheduled appointments with 31% of inbound callers, its data show, while just 15% of variable-operations inbound calls resulted in appointments.

The report suggests that fixed-ops must follow through on more promised callbacks while variable operations could convert more of its high-volume outbound calls to scheduled appointments.

It says store representatives who engage in sales-opportunity conversations convert 40% of those into appointments. CallRevu recommends they make more appointment requests of callers to increase that number.