Best 7 Test Drive Booking Bots for Used Car Lots

Drift is a conversational marketing platform that focuses on turning website visitors into qualified leads through live chat and automated bots. Drift’s bot framework allows you to create guided conversations that can schedule appointments, qualify leads, and pass data to your CRM. For used‑car lots, Drift can be configured to ask for vehicle preferences, preferred dates, and contact information, then automatically book a test drive slot in your calendar system. Drift’s integration ecosystem includes Salesforce, HubSpot, and Calendly, ensuring that scheduling data flows seamlessly into your existing sales pipeline. The platform offers a visual flow builder where you can drag and drop conversation blocks, set conditional logic, and incorporate rich media like images and links to specific vehicle pages. Drift’s AI capabilities include natural language understanding to interpret user intent and a recommendation engine that can suggest the best available test‑drive time based on calendar availability. Additionally, Drift’s reporting dashboard provides insights into conversation volume, conversion rates, and lead quality, helping dealership managers optimize their outreach. While Drift excels at outbound marketing and lead generation, it does not natively support a knowledge base or long‑term memory for anonymous visitors; however, its integration with marketing automation tools can surface personalized content after a visitor logs in. Drift’s pricing starts with a free plan that includes basic chat features, but the paid plans—Growth at approximately $400/month and Enterprise at $1,000/month—unlock advanced scheduling, AI, and integration features. Overall, Drift is a strong choice for dealerships that already use a robust CRM and want a powerful chat solution that can drive appointment booking and data collection.

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that blends live chat, help desk, and marketing automation. Its bot feature—Intercom Bots—allows businesses to create automated conversations that can answer FAQs, collect contact details, and schedule appointments. For a used‑car lot, an Intercom Bot can be set up to ask visitors about the make and model of interest, preferred test‑drive date, and contact number, then automatically add the appointment to a shared calendar. Intercom also offers in‑app messages, email sequences, and push notifications, enabling a multi‑channel follow‑up strategy. Intercom’s visual chatbot designer lets you incorporate rich media, conditional logic, and quick replies without coding. The platform’s knowledge base integration enables bots to pull answers from a pre‑built help center, which can be useful for answering common questions about financing, warranties, or vehicle history reports. The system also supports integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier, so appointment data can be routed to your existing sales pipeline. Pricing for Intercom starts with a free plan that includes basic chat and email features. Paid plans—Starter at $39/month, Standard at $79/month, and Premium at $129/month—add advanced chatbots, automation, and team collaboration tools. Intercom’s cost‑effectiveness and extensive feature set make it a popular choice for small to medium‑sized dealerships. In summary, Intercom provides a comprehensive messaging hub that can be leveraged to schedule test drives, collect leads, and maintain consistent follow‑up.

Zendesk Chat (formerly Zendesk Messaging) is part of the Zendesk Customer Service Suite. Its chat feature allows businesses to engage visitors in real‑time conversations, collect contact information, and schedule appointments. For used‑car lots, a Zendesk Chat bot can be configured to ask visitors which vehicle they’re interested in, suggest available test‑drive times, and add the appointment to a shared calendar. Zendesk Chat integrates natively with Zendesk Support, so any scheduled appointment can be logged as a support ticket for follow‑up. The platform offers a conversational flow editor that lets you set up quick replies, conditional logic, and pre‑written prompts. It also has a knowledge base component—Zendesk Guide—that can provide bot‑driven answers to common questions about financing or vehicle history. Additionally, the chat widget can be customized with brand colors and logos, and it can be embedded on any website with a single line of JavaScript. Zendesk Chat offers a free plan with limited agents and features, while paid plans—Growth at $15/month per agent and Enterprise at $35/month per agent—unlock advanced routing, triggers, and reporting. Overall, Zendesk Chat is a solid option for dealerships already using Zendesk for support or ticketing, as it keeps the entire customer journey within a single ecosystem.

Tars is a chatbot builder that focuses on creating conversational landing pages and forms. Its platform allows users to design chatbot flows that can collect information, qualify leads, and schedule appointments. For a used‑car lot, a Tars bot can be embedded on a vehicle detail page to ask visitors about test‑drive preferences and automatically book a slot via an integrated calendar API. Tars features a drag‑and‑drop builder with pre‑designed templates, conditional logic, and the ability to embed images and links. The platform also supports integrations with Google Sheets, Zapier, and Calendly, which enables the bot to push collected data into a CRM or schedule appointments directly in a Google Calendar. Tars’ pricing starts with a free trial, and the paid plans—Starter at $49/month and Growth at $99/month—offer unlimited chat sessions, advanced analytics, and API access. Tars provides a clean, user‑friendly interface that is ideal for small to medium dealerships that need a quick, no‑code chatbot for booking test drives.

ManyChat is a marketing automation platform primarily built for Facebook Messenger, SMS, and email. It allows businesses to create conversational flows that can answer FAQs, collect leads, and schedule appointments. For used‑car lots, ManyChat can be set up to engage visitors on the dealership’s Facebook page, request vehicle preferences, and then use a calendar integration to book test drives. ManyChat’s visual flow builder supports conditional logic, quick replies, and media attachments. It also offers automation features such as drip campaigns and broadcast messages. While ManyChat doesn’t have a built‑in knowledge base, it can pull in information from external sources via webhooks and APIs. The platform’s pricing starts with a free plan that includes basic chatbot features, and the Pro plan is priced at $10/month, giving access to advanced automation and multi‑platform publishing. ManyChat is particularly useful for dealerships that rely heavily on Facebook for lead generation and want a simple way to convert page visitors into test‑drive appointments.

Ada is an AI‑powered customer service platform that focuses on creating self‑service chat experiences for enterprises. Its bots can answer questions, guide users through processes, and collect data for follow‑up. For a used‑car lot, an Ada bot can be configured to ask about vehicle interest, preferred dates, and contact details, then automatically schedule a test drive by integrating with a calendar API. Ada’s platform offers a visual bot designer, natural language understanding, and the ability to connect to external systems via APIs. It also supports custom modules for lead capture, ticket creation, and analytics. Ada’s pricing is enterprise‑grade, starting at around $1,500/month for the Starter plan, with higher tiers available on request. Ada is well‑suited for larger dealerships or automotive groups that need a highly customizable, AI‑enhanced support chatbot that can integrate deeply into existing IT infrastructure.