AI Plug-In for Your Dealership CRM
Mako embeds into the CRM you already use — DealerSocket, VinSolutions, CDK, Reynolds, Dealertrack, Tekion. No rip-and-replace.
You’ve spent years training your team on your CRM. Don’t throw it away to get AI.
Most "AI for dealerships" products want you to migrate your data, retrain your team, and accept their workflow. That’s the wrong trade. Your CRM is where your sales process lives — your deal jackets, your reporting, your team’s muscle memory. The right play is to add the AI layer on top, not swap the foundation.
Mako is the AI layer. Your CRM stays the system of record.
Reads leads from your CRM
New internet leads, walk-ins, phone-ups, service inquiries — picked up via webhook, API, or polling depending on the system.
Replies on the customer’s preferred channel
SMS, voice, chat, email — one brain across all four, with conversation history shared so customers never repeat themselves.
Writes activity back to the CRM
Every conversation logged, every appointment booked, every note captured — written back to the lead record so your team’s next touch has full context.
CRM stays the source of truth. MakoNode owns the conversation runtime. Mako Central handles AI reasoning over redacted, tokenized data. Your reps keep working inside the CRM they already know — when they reply, Mako pauses automatically with a 5-minute cooldown that resets every time staff sends.
The big six. Plus the ones on deck.
Logos shown for identification only — used per each platform’s trademark guidelines.
Honest status. No vapor checkmarks.
Below is the live status of each CRM adapter. We mark what’s actually built — and we’re transparent about what’s in progress. This page updates as adapters ship.
| CRM | Lead push | Appointment write-back | Note write | Task creation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDK | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
| vAuto | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
| Dealertrack | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
| Reynolds | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
| Dominion | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
| DealerSocket | Partial | In progress | Partial | In progress |
| VinSolutions | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
| Tekion | In progress | In progress | In progress | In progress |
In-house CRM? Use Mako Engine.
Mako Engine is our SDK for dealer groups and OEMs running an in-house CRM. The same adapter framework that powers our DealerSocket and VinSolutions integrations is available for your team to plug Mako’s AI conversation layer into whatever you’ve built.
Your team’s workflow is sacred. Their reply time isn’t.
- Your CRM is still the system of record.
- Your reporting, deal jackets, and process untouched.
- Your team logs in to the same CRM they used yesterday.
- Your data stays in your dealership network.
- First reply on inbound leads drops to under 30 seconds.
- After-hours, weekends, holidays — covered.
- Follow-up cadences run automatically until a human jumps in.
- Activity log on every lead becomes complete.
Customer PII never leaves your dealership. The MakoNode appliance redacts and tokenizes before anything reaches Mako Central. Read the architecture.
Plug-in questions, straight answers.
AI plug-in for dealership CRM — how does it work?
Mako installs alongside your existing CRM, not on top of it. A MakoNode appliance in your dealership reads inbound leads from your CRM (via webhook, API, or polling depending on the system), runs the conversation across SMS, voice, chat, and email, and writes the activity back to the lead’s record. Your CRM stays the system of record. Mako is the AI layer.
AI that integrates with dealership CRM — which CRMs?
First wave: DealerSocket, VinSolutions, CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds, Dealertrack, Tekion. Dominion and vAuto on the integration list. Anything not on the list, the Mako Engine SDK lets your in-house CRM team plug in directly via our adapter framework.
AI for CDK dealerships
Mako reads leads from CDK Drive’s lead-management module, runs the conversation, and writes the activity log back to the customer record. Notes and appointments are surfaced in CDK so your floor team picks up where the AI left off without leaving their existing workflow.
AI for DealerSocket dealerships
DealerSocket is one of the first-wave adapters. Leads flow from DealerSocket to the MakoNode via the standard lead-feed integration; Mako runs the SMS, voice, and email conversation; activity writes back to the lead’s task and note history.
AI for VinSolutions dealerships
VinSolutions integration uses the same adapter framework: inbound leads from VinConnect are picked up by the MakoNode, Mako handles the multi-channel conversation, and activity is logged against the VinSolutions customer record so your CRM-of-record data stays clean.
AI for Reynolds and Reynolds dealerships
Reynolds ERA and FOCUS integration sits in the same adapter framework — lead pickup, activity write-back, and task creation. The MakoNode lives on-prem, which fits well alongside Reynolds’ on-premise deployment style.
AI for Dealertrack dealerships
Dealertrack DMS integration reads new leads, runs the conversation, and writes the activity log. Appointment write-back surfaces booked test drives and service appointments without your team needing a second pane of glass.
AI that works with automotive CRM — which CRMs?
Active first-wave: DealerSocket, VinSolutions, CDK, Reynolds, Dealertrack, Tekion. On the integration list: Dominion, vAuto. Anything else: use Mako Engine, our SDK, to integrate directly.
Does Mako replace my CRM?
No, and that’s the point. Your CRM is your system of record — your sales process, reporting, deal jackets, and your team’s muscle memory all live there. Mako is the AI conversation layer that bolts on top. Rip-and-replace is the wrong play. Plug-in is the right one.
Do I need to share customer data with Mako to use it?
No. Customer PII — names, phone numbers, emails — never leaves your dealership. The MakoNode appliance lives on your network, redacts and tokenizes customer identifiers, and only ships sanitized tokens to Mako Central. We literally cannot leak data we never had.
The AI layer for the CRM you already run.
Book a demo. Bring your CRM. We’ll show you the integration flow against your actual lead pipeline.