What is speed-to-lead, and why five minutes is the line for car dealers

Speed-to-lead is the elapsed time between a buyer submitting an enquiry and the dealership making genuine contact: a call, a text, an email a human (or an AI) actually sends. It is the single most controllable lever on whether an internet lead becomes a booked test drive.

Why five minutes is the line

The MIT / InsideSales lead-response study found that leads contacted within five minutes are 21× more likely to qualify than those contacted after 30 minutes, and that the odds drop sharply with every extra minute. The mechanism is simple: a car buyer who has just enquired is at peak intent and is usually enquiring on several cars at once. The first dealer to respond with the right answer frames the conversation; everyone after is chasing.

Why dealers struggle to hit it

It isn't effort. Enquiries arrive 24/7, but sales desks work business hours, and a third of enquiries land at night or on weekends. Covering that with people is brutally expensive: genuine round-the-clock human coverage takes several full-time staff. So the late-night enquiry waits, and waiting is what kills it.

What to measure

• Median first-response time, by hour of day and day of week (the after-hours number is the one that hurts).
• Contact rate: how many enquiries you actually reach.
• Appointment-set and show rate: speed is only worth it if it converts to a drive.

For the full picture of where the gross leaks, and the cost of the enquiries that go unanswered, read the Australian dealership speed-to-lead guide.

Figures are cited from research summarised in our white paper, Closing the Loop, including a carsales study of 32,000+ enquiry responses and the MIT/InsideSales lead-response study. Stats are industry findings, not Dealerloop customer results.