Digital retailing
Software that lets a car buyer complete meaningful deal-building steps (configure, price, trade value, credit pre-qualification, deposit, F&I product selection, scheduling) online before they arrive at the dealership. Sometimes also used to mean completing the entire purchase online, though in practice most deals still close at the store.
Omni-channel retail
A deal that moves across channels — phone, chat, website, text, in-person — without the customer having to restart. A well-run omni-channel dealership picks up each customer where they left off.
Online-to-in-store (O2S)
The most common version of digital retailing in practice: the customer does some online work, then completes the purchase at the dealership. The job of the dealership software is to not lose the work the customer already did online.
Hybrid deal
A deal where some steps happen online and some in-store. Most 2026 deals are hybrid. The deal jacket has to hold the online pieces and the in-store pieces together.
Lead form, e-lead, web lead
A prospect submission from the dealership website, a third-party marketplace, or a manufacturer lead. The critical metric is first-response time (see the Lead Response Benchmark).
Speed to lead
How quickly a dealership responds to an inbound lead. The industry benchmark is the 15-minute rule; elite dealers respond in under 5 minutes.
ADF / XML
The standard data format used to pass a car sales lead between systems (for example, from a lead source into a CRM). Test Drive Pro emits ADF/XML for every completed drive so the CRM always has a clean record.
Deal jacket
See the full entry on deal jackets.
BDC
Business Development Center — the team at a dealership responsible for working inbound leads, booking appointments, and handling follow-up. See BDC software.
F&I
Finance and Insurance — the department that handles the credit application, lender decisioning, and aftermarket product sales (service contracts, GAP, tire-and-wheel, etc.). See F&I software.
Desk log
The running record of customers who walked the lot (ups), which salesperson worked them, and the outcome. The digital version lives in the CRM and the test drive system.