Template: Car & Truck Dealership Main Line + After Hours
This template gives a car or truck dealership separate business-hours and after-hours call handling in one Flow. During staffed phone hours, callers can reach Sales, Service and scheduling, Parts, Finance, Collision and Body Shop, dealership information, or a scheduled consultation. After hours, department-specific inquiry mailboxes keep Sales, Service, Parts, Finance, and Collision messages separate while public hours and approved links remain available.
The Flow routes calls and captures inquiries. It does not reserve a vehicle, confirm inventory or price, create a service or collision appointment or repair order, verify parts availability, approve financing, quote final loan terms, take a payment, authorize collision work, dispatch towing or roadside help, or guarantee a callback.
Car & Truck Dealership Main Line + After Hours
How the Flow Works
The first action is a Dealership Open Hours Check Condition. The template starts with Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and Saturday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, in the America/Los_Angeles timezone. Replace this schedule with the hours when the dealership can actually answer department calls.
The Condition and both Direction and Hours actions ship with the same schedule and timezone. Dealership departments often keep different hours, so the greeting, current-update Message, and caller-requested text must clearly state any Sales, Service, Parts, or Finance differences. Do not make the routing schedule and the spoken public schedule contradict each other.
During staffed phone hours
Callers hear the open greeting and then this menu:
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales | Rings the approved Sales group simultaneously. If nobody answers, the Sales inquiry voicemail explains that no vehicle, availability, price, or appointment has been confirmed. |
| 2 | Service and scheduling | Tries approved Service advisors in sequence. If nobody answers, the Service inquiry voicemail explains that no appointment, diagnosis, repair order, estimate, or completion time has been created. |
| 3 | Parts | Distributes calls across the approved Parts group. If nobody answers, the Parts inquiry voicemail explains that no part, fitment, availability, price, or order has been confirmed. |
| 4 | Finance | Tries approved Finance and Insurance staff in sequence. If nobody answers, the Finance inquiry voicemail rejects sensitive financial information and directs callers to the approved secure process. |
| 5 | Dealership information | Opens the information submenu. |
| 6 | Scheduled consultation | Connects a caller who already has an approved virtual Sales or Service consultation to the configured Phound meeting, with a general inquiry fallback when it is unavailable. |
| 7 | Collision and Body Shop | Distributes calls across the approved Collision and Body Shop group. If nobody answers, a safety and privacy notice leads to the dedicated inquiry voicemail; no appointment, estimate, repair authorization, insurance coverage, towing, or emergency response is confirmed. |
| 0 | General voicemail | Records a general message after explaining that voicemail does not complete a sale, appointment, order, financing application, or payment. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the menu options. |
The three group-dialing modes are deliberate examples: Sales uses simultaneous ringing, Service uses sequential ringing, and Parts uses distributed ringing. Finance also uses sequential ringing, while Collision and Body Shop uses distributed ringing. Confirm that each group, member order, timeout, and availability rule matches the dealership's staffing model before activation.
Dealership information submenu
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Directions and hours | Reads the approved public address and dealership schedule, then returns to this submenu. |
| 2 | Public department directory | Lets callers search only the dealership contacts approved for public discovery. |
| 3 | Text public dealership links | Sends a one-time, caller-requested text with approved inventory, service-scheduling, parts-request, financing, and Collision and Body Shop links, waits briefly, plays a confirmation, and returns to this submenu. |
| 4 | Current dealership update | Plays an owner-approved Message such as a holiday-hours or department-status notice, then returns to this submenu. |
| 9 | Main menu | Uses Go To to return to the staffed-hours menu. |
| 0 | General voicemail | Records a general inquiry with the same no-transaction warning. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the submenu options. |
The caller-requested text must contain public dealership information and public HTTPS links only. It must not include customer-specific information, an inventory or price guarantee, a preapproval claim, loan terms, payment instructions, a repair status, or a statement that any request was received or confirmed.
After hours
After hours means the staffed phone-routing schedule is closed. It does not necessarily mean every showroom, service lane, website, or self-service system is closed.
| Key | Option | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales inquiry | Records a Sales inquiry after stating that no vehicle, price, availability, or appointment is being held or confirmed. |
| 2 | Service inquiry | Records a Service inquiry after stating that no appointment, diagnosis, repair authorization, estimate, or completion time is being created. |
| 3 | Parts inquiry | Records a Parts inquiry after stating that no fitment, stock, price, or order is being confirmed. |
| 4 | Finance inquiry | Records a limited callback request after instructing the caller not to leave sensitive or application information. |
| 5 | Directions and hours | Reads the approved public address and schedule, then returns to this menu. |
| 6 | Text public dealership links | Sends the same one-time public-links text, uses Wait, plays a confirmation, and returns to this menu. |
| 7 | Collision and Body Shop inquiry | Plays the safety and privacy notice and records an inquiry in the dedicated Collision and Body Shop mailbox. It does not dispatch help, authorize work, or confirm an appointment, estimate, insurer coverage, or towing. |
| 0 | General voicemail | Records a general inquiry after the no-transaction warning. |
| * | Repeat | Repeats the menu options. |
The after-hours greeting should direct anyone facing an active crash, fire, medical emergency, immediate danger, or unsafe roadside situation to 911 or the appropriate emergency service. The dealership Flow is not an emergency or roadside-dispatch system.
Safe no-answer and inquiry behavior
Every department mailbox is inquiry-only. The selected mailbox may also play its own greeting, so test the complete caller experience and remove duplicated or contradictory language.
Suggested Service inquiry structure:
No service appointment or repair order has been created. After the tone, leave your name, callback number, vehicle year, make, and model, and a brief non-urgent reason for your call. Do not leave payment information. Messages are reviewed under the dealership's approved procedure, but a response or timing is not guaranteed.
Suggested Finance inquiry structure:
This voicemail cannot accept a credit application or payment. Leave only your name, callback number, and a request to speak with the Finance team. Do not leave a Social Security number, date of birth, income, bank information, payment-card number, credit details, or other sensitive information. Use only the dealership's approved secure financing process.
Suggested Parts inquiry structure:
This message is an inquiry only. Availability, fitment, price, and ordering have not been confirmed. Leave your name, callback number, and non-sensitive vehicle and part details. Messages are reviewed under the dealership's approved procedure, but a response or timing is not guaranteed.
Suggested Collision and Body Shop inquiry structure:
If anyone is in immediate danger or needs police, fire, or medical help, hang up and call 911. This voicemail does not dispatch towing or roadside assistance. No appointment, estimate, repair authorization, insurer coverage, or completion time has been confirmed. Leave only your name, callback number, and a brief non-sensitive reason for your call. Do not leave driver's-license, insurance-policy, claim, payment, or medical information.
Flow Settings Included
Flow Settings apply across the entire Flow; they are separate from the actions on the graph. Review them after import even if the defaults appear correct.
| Setting | Shipped value | What to review |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | Jane | Choose the available voice the dealership has approved for its caller experience. |
| Dial timeout | Auto | Confirm Sales, Service, Parts, Finance, and Collision calls ring long enough without leaving callers in silence. Individual Dial actions can use their own timeout. |
| Max loops | 3 | After the final unsuccessful attempt, each Menu follows its configured inquiry-only fallback. |
| Menu timeout | 15 seconds | Confirm callers have enough time to hear and select each option. |
| Repeat key | * |
Keep this key out of numbered menu choices. |
| No input prompt | Please make a selection | Keep this global prompt neutral because different Menus have different fallbacks. |
| Unsupported option prompt | Your input is invalid | Replace it only with another neutral, approved prompt. |
| Max attempts prompt | Menu maximum loops reached | Do not claim that the dealership accepted or confirmed a request. |
| Internal error prompt | Internal error has occurred | Consider an approved plain-language alternative that gives the public phone or website without promising service. |
| Notification on hangup | Off | This would notify a configured recipient after every call. Leave it off unless the dealership deliberately approves the recipient, message, and data handling. |
| Admin PIN | Blank | A PIN permits telephone re-recording of Play Message actions and is stored in exported files. Set a unique PIN after import if needed; never publish it in a shared template. |
The Open Hours Check and both Direction and Hours actions have separate serialized schedule and timezone fields even though the shipped values match. Verify all three individually after import.
Actions Used in This Template
| Action | Purpose in this template |
|---|---|
| Menu | Staffed-hours, dealership-information, and after-hours choices |
| Go To | Returns callers after public information, update Messages, texts, and submenu choices |
| Dial Someone | Routes Sales, Service, Parts, Finance, and Collision and Body Shop to approved people or groups using all three group strategies |
| Play Message | Greetings, transfer explanations, current updates, inquiry safeguards, and text confirmation |
| Direction and Hours | Reads the approved public address and dealership schedule |
| Company Directory | Exposes only approved public dealership contacts |
| Record Voicemail | General, Sales, Service, Parts, Finance, Collision and Body Shop, and meeting-fallback inquiries |
| Connect to Meeting | Connects callers who already have a scheduled Sales or Service consultation |
| Condition | Separates staffed phone handling from after-hours handling |
| Notification | Sends approved public dealership links only after the caller requests the one-time text |
| Wait | Adds a deliberate short pause after the text is sent |
Why Podcast is not included
Podcast is the only currently available Flow action intentionally omitted from this template. A generic feed could contain outdated inventory, prices, incentives, financing claims, service offers, advertising, music, or third-party material that the dealership does not control or have permission to play. It is not a good default for transactional dealership routing.
If the dealership owns or controls an HTTPS feed and has approved every episode, advertisement, rights clearance, and update process, it can add Podcast as an optional dealership-information choice. Give it a tested Go To return and test empty, unavailable, and malformed-feed behavior. Never treat an RSS episode as the authoritative source for current inventory, vehicle condition, price, incentive eligibility, financing terms, parts availability, service status, warranty coverage, recall status, or department hours.
Before You Go Live: Exact Setup Checklist
Every action beginning with [Edit] must be opened. Replace these account-specific settings and destinations:
- [Edit] Open Hours Check: the staffed phone schedule and timezone
- [Edit] Dial Sales Team: the approved Sales group, simultaneous-ringing membership, and timeout
- [Edit] Dial Service and Scheduling Team: the approved Service group, sequence order, and timeout
- [Edit] Dial Parts Department: the approved Parts group, distribution membership, and timeout
- [Edit] Dial Finance Team: the approved Finance and Insurance group, sequence order, and timeout
- [Edit] Dial Collision and Body Shop: the approved Collision and Body Shop group, distribution membership, and timeout
- [Edit] Sales Inquiry Voicemail: the inquiry-only Sales mailbox and monitoring owner
- [Edit] Service Inquiry Voicemail: the inquiry-only Service mailbox and monitoring owner
- [Edit] Parts Inquiry Voicemail: the inquiry-only Parts mailbox and monitoring owner
- [Edit] Finance Inquiry Voicemail: the limited callback mailbox and its no-sensitive-information greeting
- [Edit] Collision and Body Shop Inquiry Voicemail: the inquiry-only mailbox, monitoring owner, safety direction, and no-insurance/no-authorization wording
- [Edit] General Dealership Voicemail: the general inquiry mailbox reached from staffed and after-hours menus
- [Edit] Connect to Scheduled Sales or Service Consultation: the intended Phound meeting destination; the unavailable path uses the general inquiry voicemail
- [Edit] Approved Public Dealership Department Directory: a limited group containing only people approved for public discovery
- [Edit] Dealership Hours and Directions and [Edit] After-Hours Dealership Hours and Directions: the public address, matching schedule, and matching timezone
Open and approve every [Edit] content action as well:
- [Edit] Open-Hours Greeting and [Edit] After-Hours Greeting: dealership name, schedule, transactional limitations, and emergency direction
- [Edit] Current Dealership Update: an owner-approved update with a named owner and expiration or review date
- [Edit] Text Public Dealership Links and [Edit] Text Public Dealership Links After Hours: caller recipient, public details and URLs, one-time-text explanation, and approved opt-out language
Replace every bracketed content token:
- [Edit: Dealership Name] in greetings, Messages, and the caller-requested text
- [Edit: Dealership Address] in both Direction and Hours actions and the text
- [Edit: Dealership Phone] in the text and any approved fallback Message
- [Edit: Dealership Hours] and [Edit: Time Zone] wherever hours are spoken or sent
- [Edit: Inventory URL], [Edit: Service Scheduling URL], [Edit: Parts Request URL], [Edit: Financing URL], and [Edit: Collision and Body Shop URL] in the public-links text and relevant Messages
- [Edit: Current Dealership Update] in the update Message
- The starting Monday-through-Friday and Saturday schedule and America/Los_Angeles timezone in the Open Hours Check and both Direction and Hours actions
Also confirm:
- Every public link belongs to the correct dealership location, uses HTTPS, and is actively maintained.
- The inventory link does not imply that a displayed vehicle is held, available, or offered at a final price until dealership staff confirms it.
- The Service link uses the dealership's approved scheduling process; the Flow and voicemail do not state that an appointment or repair authorization exists.
- The Parts link uses the approved request process; fitment, stock, price, shipping, and ordering remain unconfirmed until staff responds.
- The Finance link points to the approved secure process. No voicemail, Notification, Message, directory entry, or general Meeting requests sensitive application or payment information.
- The Collision and Body Shop link points to the correct location and approved secure process; the Flow does not imply that it opened a claim, authorized work, or dispatched towing.
- Voicemail access and notifications are limited to the staff authorized for each department.
- The public directory does not expose personal numbers or employees who should not receive unsolicited calls.
- The scheduled Meeting cannot place an unscheduled caller into the wrong consultation or expose another caller's conversation.
- Messaging registration, caller request/consent language, opt-out handling, and applicable requirements have been reviewed before Notification is enabled.
- The Current Dealership Update has an owner and removal date so holiday hours, closures, incentives, and operational notices cannot remain stale.
Do not go live with placeholders. Resource identifiers in a shared template exist only to make the Flow portable. Every destination and token must be replaced and tested in the importing account.
Dealership Privacy, Transaction, and Emergency Review
The FTC's automobile-dealer Safeguards Rule FAQ explains that most dealerships that finance or lease vehicles are covered financial institutions and must maintain safeguards for customer information. Treat the Flow, its voicemail boxes, notifications, directory, meeting destination, recordings, access permissions, retention, and connected staff procedures as part of the dealership's data-handling review.
The Flow must never be presented as a secure credit application, payment channel, final offer, repair authorization, purchase agreement, parts order, or reservation system. The dealership's compliance and operations owners must approve every statement about vehicles, prices, incentives, fees, financing, warranties, service, parts, trade-ins, callbacks, and availability for the dealership's jurisdictions and systems.
At minimum:
- Do not ask for or accept Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver's-license numbers, income, bank information, payment-card data, credit details, or other nonpublic financial information by voicemail or caller-requested text.
- Keep Finance voicemail to a name, callback number, and request to speak with the approved Finance team; move any application or payment into the dealership's approved secure process.
- Do not tell callers that the dealership services their loan unless that statement is verified for the caller's account. The CFPB explains that the lender or servicer is often not the dealership even when financing was arranged there; route account-specific questions through the approved Finance process.
- Do not state or imply that a call, text, voicemail, Meeting, or public website guarantees vehicle availability, pricing, incentives, financing approval or terms, service or Parts availability, a completion time, warranty coverage, or a callback deadline.
- Do not treat a voicemail as approval for diagnostics, repairs, parts, charges, towing, storage, or other work.
- Do not collect driver's-license numbers, insurer policy or claim numbers, payment information, crash-scene photos, or medical details through a general Collision voicemail or caller-requested text. Move those details into the dealership's approved secure process.
- Direct active crashes, fires, medical emergencies, immediate danger, and unsafe roadside incidents to 911 or the appropriate emergency service. The National 911 Program directs callers who need immediate police, fire, or ambulance help to dial 911; the dealership Flow cannot dispatch emergency assistance.
- Re-review the Flow whenever department hours, staffing, pricing systems, inventory feeds, service or parts systems, financing processes, privacy requirements, messaging procedures, or emergency instructions change.
Activate the Flow
Importing the Flow does not make it live:
- Go to Account → Personas and select the Persona that owns the dealership's number.
- Open Incoming Calls.
- Choose Custom Flow and select Template - Car & Truck Dealership Main Line + After Hours (or the name you gave the imported Flow).
Custom Flows only work with numbers purchased through Phound or ported into Phound. Linked numbers cannot be assigned a custom Flow. Flows requires a Business plan.
Activate it first on a non-production test number or Persona. Switch the public dealership number only after the complete test and the dealership's operations, privacy, finance, and emergency-language review pass.
Test Every Path
Call from a phone that is not one of the configured destinations and verify:
- The staffed-hours and after-hours branches switch at the correct local times, including Monday-through-Friday, Saturday, closed Sunday, and the exact opening and closing boundaries
- The Open Hours Check and both Direction and Hours actions use the intended address, identical starting schedule, and timezone
- Every staffed-hours key (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 0, and *) reaches the documented destination
- Every dealership-information key (1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 0, and *) returns or exits correctly
- Every after-hours key (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 0, and *) reaches the correct inquiry or information path
- Sales simultaneous ringing behaves correctly when members answer, decline, are busy, or do not answer
- Service and Finance sequence order is correct and each step observes the intended timeout
- Parts distribution reaches only approved members and follows the dealership's distribution expectation
- Collision and Body Shop distribution reaches only approved members, and both staffed no-answer and after-hours paths use the dedicated inquiry-only mailbox
- Each failed Dial reaches the correct department inquiry voicemail and never a different department's mailbox
- Every department voicemail states what has not been confirmed and reaches only its intended recipients
- Finance voicemail and text contain no sensitive application or payment data, and the public Finance URL opens the approved secure process
- No input, an unsupported key, maximum attempts, and
*play the expected global prompts and inquiry-only fallbacks on every Menu - The public address, phone, departmental hours, timezone, inventory URL, service-scheduling URL, parts-request URL, financing URL, and Collision and Body Shop URL are correct for this location
- The caller-requested text is sent only after the caller chooses it and contains only approved public links and information
- The text arrives on supported mobile numbers and has an acceptable failure experience
- Each Wait is brief, leads to the intended confirmation and Go To return, and does not sound like the call disconnected
- The Current Dealership Update is current, approved, and free of expired hours, offers, or availability claims
- The Public Department Directory exposes only approved people and routes every listing correctly
- The scheduled consultation cannot expose another caller's meeting and uses the intended inquiry fallback when unavailable
- Go To returns to the correct staffed-hours, dealership-information, or after-hours Menu without creating an unintended loop
- Emergency wording sends immediate danger and active incidents away from the dealership Flow without suggesting that voicemail is monitored for emergencies
- Notification on hangup remains off and no Admin PIN is present in the shared download
- Dealership operations, Sales, Service, Parts, Finance, Collision and Body Shop, privacy, and compliance owners approved the final destinations and wording
Repeat the most important tests from a mobile phone and a landline or VoIP service to confirm keypad input and audio timing.
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