You sold the car eighteen months ago and have not spoken to the buyer since. Your DMS holds five hundred people like that, each driving a car that needs tires or an oil change this year and each two or three years from buying again. Franchise stores have a BDC to work that list. An independent lot has a salesperson, a phone, and no time.
This is the playbook for texting that list from the lot's own number: the first-year check-ins, the service-due reminder, and the trade-in offer. Each message comes with the trigger, the wait, and what to do when nobody answers. It is written for an independent dealer sending a few dozen texts a day.
Why the sold list beats any lead source you pay for
A past buyer trusts you, has your number, and has proved they can get financed. S&P Global Mobility put the average age of a light vehicle on American roads at 12.8 years in 2025. Longer ownership means more service visits per car and a longer window in which the dealer who stays in touch gets the trade.
Most lots never work the list because a bulk texting app wants a campaign registration first, and a personal phone works only until the salesperson quits. The fix is a lot-owned Android handset with a shared inbox behind it.
The first year: four texts and nothing else
The later asks only land if the buyer has heard from you since the sale. Four texts is enough.
Day 3: the check-in. From the salesperson who did the deal, on the lot line.
Hi [First name], it's [Salesperson] at [Lot]. How's the [Year Model] treating you so far? If anything feels off, text me here and we'll get it looked at. Reply STOP to opt out.
No reply is fine, and there is no second check-in. Your number is now a thread in their phone with a real name on it.
Day 30: the loose ends.
[First name], quick one from [Salesperson] at [Lot]. Your plates and registration should have arrived by now. Did they show up? If not, reply here and I'll chase it today.
A problem gets a phone call, not another text. No reply, no follow-up.
Day 90: the mileage question. This one times every service reminder that follows.
Hi [First name], [Salesperson] here. Three months in with the [Model]. Roughly how many miles are you at? I'll make a note so I can give you a heads up when it's due for service instead of guessing.
Record the answer on the contact. Miles divided by three is what this buyer drives a month, a better basis for a reminder than a calendar.
Month 12: the anniversary. Nothing is for sale in this message.
[First name], it's been a year since you drove the [Model] off our lot. Thanks again for buying from us. If you ever want a number on it, or know someone looking, I'm here.
Queue the later three in the Android Texter composer's scheduled-send picker the afternoon the car leaves, and cancel from the scheduled messages page if the buyer comes back early.
The service-due text, with or without your own bay
Whether you run a bay or send buyers to a shop down the road, the service reminder gets the best reply rate on the list, because it is useful and asks nothing.
Trigger: the buyer's monthly mileage puts them within about 500 miles of the interval. With no mileage answer, send the first one six months from delivery.
Hi [First name], [Salesperson] at [Lot]. By my math the [Model] is about due for an oil change and a tire rotation. We can do it [Day] or [Day] this week, or I can send you to the shop we use. Want me to hold a slot?
Wait: ten days, then one nudge.
[First name], still have a slot open for the [Model] on [Day] if you want it. If you've already had it done somewhere, just say so and I'll update my notes.
Then stop. Two messages per service event, then wait for the next interval. An "already done it" reply is still a win: the car is being maintained, which matters when it comes back as a trade. Without a bay, "I can send you to the shop we use" makes you the person who knows the car, and the referral costs nothing.
The trade-in offer to a past buyer
This is where the list pays. The buyer is two to three years in, the note has come down, and the car is worth something. The deal jacket (term, down payment, rate) tells you roughly when each buyer's window opens. Work it off your own paper and tag the contacts due this quarter.
Do not lead with "come in for an appraisal." Nobody drives to a dealership to be told a number. Ask for what you need to quote by text.
Trigger: the buyer enters the window and has not opted out. Send Tuesday through Thursday, mid-morning.
Hi [First name], [Salesperson] at [Lot]. The market for [Year Model]s has been strong lately and I'd like to make you an offer on yours. Can you text me the current mileage and a couple of photos? I'll come back with a real number, no visit needed.
On reply: quote within the business day, a range is fine, then ask what they would want to move into.
No reply after seven days: one short follow-up.
[First name], no pressure on the offer. If you'd just like to know what the [Model] is worth right now, send the mileage and I'll tell you. Good to know even if you're keeping it.
No reply after that: stop, tag the contact, and return in six months. One rule on content: a buyer who financed through you may still owe on the car, so keep payoff figures and anything about their account out of texts. Numbers on the note happen by phone or in person.
Who owns the inbox, and what the week looks like
A lot selling thirty to forty cars a month accumulates four to five hundred sold customers a year. Across the touches above, that is a few dozen outbound texts a day and a handful of replies, which one handset carries. The sending limits post has the real per-number numbers.
The handset. One Android phone, bought by the lot, with the lot's advertised number, in a drawer on a charger. Every text goes through the dashboard, so when a salesperson leaves, the threads stay.
Who replies. The salesperson who sold the car owns the thread, service-slot replies go to whoever books service, and payment problems leave the thread for the phone. Build quick-reply slash-shortcuts for the daily answers: the shop's address and hours, "that slot is yours," what to bring to an appraisal.
After hours. An auto-reply after close ("[Lot] is closed until 9am, [Salesperson] will reply first thing") and a forwarding rule that sends inbound from tagged trade-in prospects to the owner's phone or a Telegram channel. A buyer texting photos at 9pm on a Sunday is ready to deal.
The week.
- Monday: review the scheduled queue, pull anyone who has been in, add the week's service-due sends.
- Tuesday to Thursday: trade-in offers, ten to fifteen a day, so every reply gets quoted the same day.
- Friday: tag the no-replies with the date and set the six-month return.
Measuring it. Four numbers, tracked by tag: service replies, service appointments booked, trade-in numbers quoted, cars sold to a past buyer. If the fourth is zero after a quarter, the trade-in text is wrong, not the list.
Clean the list first. A DMS export is full of co-signers, dead numbers and the landline of a buyer's parent. Twilio's October 7, 2026 tutorial on filtering landlines before sending shows how common the problem is. Android Texter's contacts offer carrier and landline detection through the Landline Remover integration, so run the export through it first.
Consent and opt-out, stated once
Everything above assumes the buyer agreed, in the deal jacket, to be texted about their vehicle and about offers. Service reminders and marketing offers are not treated the same way under the TCPA, and a past sale does not by itself make a marketing text safe. The established business relationship post explains what a prior purchase does and does not cover.
The FCC's revocation order, FCC 24-24, adopted February 15, 2024, made "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel" and "unsubscribe" in a reply text a per se reasonable way to revoke consent, required revocations to be honored within ten business days at most, and allowed one confirmation text if it goes out within five minutes and carries no marketing. Android Texter suppresses STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT automatically. A buyer who writes "no more texts please" still counts, and a salesperson has to catch that and suppress the contact by hand. The opt-out rules post covers what actually counts as STOP.
One recent ruling, briefly. On September 18, 2026, a Southern District of Florida court held in Pillips v. GJD Stars that text messages are not "calls" under the TCPA's do-not-call provisions, as reported by TCPA World on October 14. It is one district court, the report's author calls the district "in flux," and it changes nothing a dealer should do. Android Texter does not advise on TCPA compliance and does not change what the law requires.
Where Android Texter fits, and where it does not
Independent dealers are not a blocked category. A franchise store with a registered brand and an approved campaign sending thousands of texts a month through its CRM should keep doing that. At that volume a mainstream A2P provider is the right tool.
The fit is the lot sending twenty to forty texts a day from the number on the sign, where registration, campaign vetting and monthly fees are a poor trade for the volume. Android Texter routes every message through an Android handset the lot owns, so the texts are person-to-person SMS from a real ten-digit number with no campaign to approve. The dashboard adds the shared inbox, tagged contacts, scheduled sends, quick replies, auto-reply and forwarding. If the owner wants a second line, multi-device pairing puts both in one inbox. None of that changes the TCPA.
Frequently Asked Questions
How soon after a sale should a used car dealer text the buyer?
Three days after delivery, from the salesperson who did the deal, asking how the car is treating them. Then thirty days for plates and loose ends, ninety days to ask for mileage, and twelve months for an anniversary thank-you. Four texts in the first year is the whole cadence, and nothing is for sale in any of them.
What should a service reminder text from a dealership say?
Name the salesperson, name the car, say what it is due for and offer two days. Send it when the buyer's own mileage math says they are close, not on a calendar. Follow up once after ten days, then stop until the next interval. Offer a partner shop if you do not have a bay.
How do I text a trade-in offer to a past customer without sounding like spam?
Send it from the same name and number as every earlier text, ask for mileage and photos rather than a visit, and promise a real number by reply. Follow up once after a week. If they stay quiet, tag the contact and wait six months. Never put account balances or payoff figures in a text.
Start with the next car you deliver
Queue the day-3, day-30, day-90 and anniversary texts the afternoon the next car leaves, from a lot-owned Android handset paired to Android Texter, and let the day-90 mileage answer set the clock for the service reminder. The sold list is already yours. Android Texter gives you the number, the shared inbox and the schedule to work it.