Automotive dealers
Two-way radios for automotive dealers
The customer is waiting, the car is somewhere on the back lot, and the person with the keys is in the service drive. We put sales, service, parts, detail and porters on separate Zello channels, so the right person hears the request and the showroom does not.
Short answer
Can sales and service be on separate channels?
The problem
What gets in the way
A dealership is several businesses sharing one lot. Sales needs a car brought up front, the service drive needs a status on a repair, parts is looking for whoever ordered the part, and detail wants to know which vehicle is next. Most of that runs on overhead pages, desk phones and people walking the lot. The PA interrupts every customer in the building and can still miss someone out back. A phone call goes unanswered when a technician is under a car, and a text sits unread. Consumer radios do not reach an overflow lot down the road, and every store in a group ends up with its own system. While it gets sorted out, the customer is standing at the desk waiting.
How we set it up
How the channels are set up
We set up one Zello channel per department, plus a store-wide channel for anything that needs to reach everyone at once.
Sales asks the lot channel for a vehicle and the nearest porter answers. Service advisors reach parts and the shop without leaving the customer in the drive, and detail calls out when a car is ready for delivery. Staff in customer areas wear an earpiece, so the traffic stays out of the showroom. Radios work over cellular and the store’s Wi-Fi, which covers the back lot and an overflow lot, and inside a steel-built shop we confirm signal on site before you buy. Live location shows where shuttle drivers and porters are when they are off the property. In a dealer group, each rooftop gets its own channels on one account, with one bill and one place to add or remove people as staff change. Every radio is enrolled in device management, so a lost one can be locked, wiped or located.
Example channels and calls
What each channel sounds like
Sample traffic, written to show how each channel gets used. Your channel names and groups are set up to match your crew.
LotSales staff and porters
“Can someone bring the silver pickup from row C up front? Customer’s waiting.”
Service and partsService advisors, technicians and the parts counter
“Do we have brake pads for the blue sedan in bay 4? Customer’s in the drive.”
DetailDetail crew and sales
“Red SUV is out of the wash and ready for delivery. It’s parked by the front door.”
ShuttleShuttle drivers and the service drive
“Shuttle leaves in five with two customers. Anyone else going downtown?”
Store-wideEvery department in the store
“All departments, doors open in ten minutes.”
Typical use cases
Where it gets used day to day
Getting a vehicle brought up front while a customer waits
Service advisor questions to technicians and parts
Parts counter to runner pickups
Detail and wash status ahead of a delivery
Customer shuttle pickups
Moving inventory between the main and overflow lots
Dealer trades and parts transfers between rooftops
Store-wide calls at opening and close
The radios
A typical dealership setup
Porters and detail crews usually carry the Inrico T522A, sales and service advisors the Inrico T640A with an earpiece, and managers the Inrico S380. Customer shuttles and parts trucks take the Inrico TM-7Plus. A Zello Dispatch Hub seat at reception reaches any department at once, and live location in Managed Zello Core shows who is closest to a car.
Stores with radios they like can keep them in the conversation through radio interoperability. See business two-way radios for every handheld and vehicle option.
Handheld radio
Inrico T522A
No screen, one big button. The simplest radio to hand someone.
$220.00
Handheld radio
Inrico T640A
A slim everyday radio with a screen. Our lowest-priced handheld.
$199.00
Handheld radio
Inrico S380
For supervisors and patrols who need a screen, a keypad and NFC check-in.
$360.00
Vehicle and mobile
Inrico TM-7Plus
A cab-mounted radio with a touchscreen, a 20 W speaker and camera inputs.
$299.00
Recommended solution
What we would recommend
Managed Zello Core on rugged two-way radios is the usual fit for a single store. Dealer groups and stores with staff working alone on an overflow lot often choose Plus for Emergency Alerts, Translations for multilingual crews and a searchable Message Vault, and a busy reception desk adds a Dispatch Hub seat.
Questions
Questions dealers ask us
What general managers and service directors want to know before they replace the PA and the old radios.
Will customers hear the radio traffic?
Not if staff wear an earpiece. Each department also has its own channel, so sales is not listening to the shop all day and nothing has to go out over the overhead PA.
Do the radios reach our overflow lot?
Yes, if there is cell service there. Zello runs on a multi-carrier SIM and your Wi-Fi rather than an antenna at the store, so a lot down the road is on the same channels as the showroom. We check coverage against your actual addresses before you commit.
Can several rooftops share one account?
Yes. Each store gets its own channels, with a shared channel for managers or dealer trades if you want one. You get one bill and one place to add or remove people across the group.
Can radios be used in the body shop and paint booth?
Standard radios are not rated for hazardous areas. Paint booths, fuel storage and similar locations need hardware certified for that area's classification. The Sonim XP Pro carries Class I, II and III Division 2 non-incendive ratings, and we confirm suitability against your area classification before an order goes out.
What happens when someone leaves or a radio goes missing?
Tell us and we remove the user from the Zello network. Because every radio is enrolled in device management, we can also lock, wipe or locate it, then set it up for the next person without anyone at the store touching a settings menu.
Related
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Facilities and property management
Maintenance teams cover several buildings on one managed Zello account, reachable at every property without a radio system at each site.
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