DealersThink and Car Wars Cari
Facts verified October 2026. Tell us if anything changed. Last updated October 18, 2026.
Cari Phone Assist is a 24/7 AI receptionist and service scheduler with warm transfers, on Car Wars’ site. Car Wars announced a CDK integration through the Fortellis Marketplace for Cari Service Scheduler on October 10, 2025, and also names Auto/Mate, Dealer-FX, and myKaarma. DealersThink’s CDK integration is certified and reads history. Riley books in Xtime.
What Cari is
Car Wars describes Cari Phone Assist as a 24/7 AI receptionist and service scheduler with warm transfers. On October 10, 2025, Car Wars announced a CDK integration through the Fortellis Marketplace with Cari Service Scheduler. The same materials say Cari also integrates with Auto/Mate, Dealer-FX, and myKaarma.
Source, retrieved October 17, 2026: Car Wars, Cari Phone Assist; Car Wars, October 10, 2025.
Xtime booking and Spanish are not stated in those sources. Warm transfer is stated. A human BDC desk included as the store’s own staff, in the same product, is not stated, so the desk column stays not stated. We are not treating a warm transfer and a staffed desk as the same fact.
Where Cari is strong
Cari is a serious service-line option for a store that wants a 24/7 receptionist and scheduler, wants warm transfer written down, and wants a vendor that has already announced a CDK connection through Fortellis. The extra scheduler names, Auto/Mate, Dealer-FX, and myKaarma, matter if Xtime is not your only board. DealersThink does not claim those three.
How DealersThink differs
DealersThink leads with certified CDK and Xtime integrations. Certification was confirmed on October 17, 2026. Riley books, moves, and cancels appointments in Xtime, 24/7, in English and in Spanish at a store that has turned Spanish on. The CDK integration reads customer, vehicle, and repair-order history for caller lookup and for BDC Customers. It does not write the appointment into CDK. The BDC desk is the store’s own staff, in the same product, with a handoff and a Leads to recover queue. Casey answers after-hours and overflow sales calls and works from your vAuto inventory. Wholesale units on the nightly report are not offered. The product is live at a 16-rooftop dealer group. That group’s name is not published here.
We do not claim a Reynolds, Tekion, or Dealertrack integration. We do not claim a scale figure or an award on this page. vAuto is not described as certified. Public Xtime directory and Fortellis Marketplace listings for DealersThink are the subject of the Xtime and CDK pages. A public listing was not something this research could point at on October 17, 2026.
Who should pick which
Pick Cari if that Fortellis announcement and the warm-transfer receptionist are the proof you want in the folder, especially if you schedule somewhere other than Xtime. Pick DealersThink if the service appointment must be booked, moved, and cancelled in Xtime under a certified integration, and the CDK read is customer, vehicle, and repair-order history for your own desk. Both vendors can point at CDK. The booking system they write is the question to ask out loud in each demo.
Book a demo.
See Riley on the service line and Casey on after-hours sales. Contact us on the form.
FAQ
Does it work with CDK?
Yes. DealersThink has a certified CDK integration. It reads customer, vehicle, and repair-order history from CDK. When a service call comes in, caller lookup uses that history to show who is calling, which vehicles are on those repair orders, and what was done. BDC Customers searches the same history by name, phone, or vehicle. Riley books the appointment in Xtime. The CDK read does not write the appointment into CDK.
Are your integrations certified?
Yes. DealersThink has certified CDK and Xtime integrations. That certification was confirmed on October 17, 2026. The integration pages describe each one.
How does the handoff to my BDC or advisors work?
The BDC desk is your own staff, in the same product as Riley. When a caller asks for a person, or when Riley should not book the request, she hands the call to that desk. A request she could not finish is left in Leads to recover so a coordinator can call back.
What does it cost?
Pricing depends on rooftops and products. Book a demo. This page does not list a price.