Picture two calls coming in while everyone's busy. One's about a car in your advert, and the other's an MOT booking. They need different handovers. Sales needs to know which vehicle the caller means and when they want to see it. Service needs the registration, the work requested and the preferred date. And both need a number to call back.
Sayora is worth trying when capturing those details is enough: £49 a month for AI answering, unlimited minutes under fair use, and a summary by text, email or both. If a caller needs a slot confirmed in your dealer management system, or a person put on the line, shortlist a service that can complete that step.
I'll show you what a good handover looks like for both calls, what the alternatives add and what 120 calls a month would cost.
Full disclosure: we make Sayora, so bear that in mind as you read. Provider facts and prices were checked on 22 September 2026, and the recommendations use what each service publishes. The examples and bills are illustrations, and nothing here claims to have tested anyone's call quality.
Pick the service for the handover
- Sayora, for sales and service enquiries your team will confirm. One fixed monthly bill, answers specific to your business and a summary after the call. Sayora doesn't look up live stock, book into your DMS or transfer calls.
- Answer, for simple human message taking with no monthly plan. Its pay-as-you-go rate is easy to model. Just don't assume the wider automotive features come at that rate.
- Jodie, for AI with a transfer option. Basic matches Sayora's £49 headline, and its plan comparison puts bookings and transfers on the £99 Professional tier.
- Moneypenny, for human automotive reception with access to your systems. A stronger place to start when calls need to end in a confirmed booking or reach your team. Get the actual workflow priced.
If you run a breakdown or recovery line, sort out how it reaches a person before you buy enquiry cover. A text summary isn't a staffed recovery service.
A sales call and a service call, step by step
Sayora learns from your business information and instructions. So give Sayora your opening hours, location and services, plus the details your team needs for a callback. Sayora can then answer those general questions and screen out cold sales calls.
Let's take an example sales call first. Someone asks about a specific car in your advert and wants a test drive on Saturday. The useful result is a message that identifies the vehicle, the caller and the time they asked for. Sales still checks the stock and confirms the appointment.
A workshop call needs something different: the registration, the work they want, their preferred date and a callback number. Your service adviser checks workshop capacity and confirms the booking. When you test it, make sure Sayora keeps “requested” and “booked” clearly apart.
You keep your current number and forward calls to a dedicated Sayora number. The diversion options and charges depend on your phone provider. The £49 early-access plan has no setup fee, your seven-day trial starts when you claim your receptionist, and you can cancel at any time. Demo test calls are capped.
Sayora books into a connected Google Calendar or Cal.com, which helps if one of those calendars shows the availability you actually sell. What Sayora can't do is create a workshop job in your DMS, reserve a courtesy car or check whether an advertised car has already sold.
Where the alternatives are stronger
Answer: the rate card and the wider service
Answer's pay-as-you-go service prices human message taking at £2.20 a call for new customers, excluding VAT, with a £25 minimum credit purchase. There's no monthly subscription fee. Email delivery is included, and SMS is an optional 10p per message.
That suits a garage that wants a person taking basic messages. Its automotive page describes a broader offer, including system connections and transfers. Get those tasks priced explicitly, though, and don't attach them to the £2.20 headline until Answer confirms them.
Jodie: compare the tier that does the job
Jodie describes capturing vehicle details and garage enquiries by AI. Its pricing comparison lists unlimited minutes and email notifications on Basic at £49, with bookings and transfers on Professional at £99. Prices exclude applicable taxes.
For enquiry capture, Basic is the direct price comparison with Sayora. If you want AI to transfer a caller, Professional is the one to trial. Either way, check the actual calendar connection and what happens when nobody picks up a transfer. Having a booking feature doesn't mean it can reach your DMS.
Moneypenny: price the completed workflow
Moneypenny's automotive service describes human receptionists who book services and test drives, capture leads into your CRM and transfer calls. It's priced by quote.
Ask for a demonstration in your own sales or workshop system, and include a slot that's just become unavailable. Make sure the quote covers the hours, transfer charges, minimum term and notice period. The Moneypenny comparison covers the wider differences between the two services.
What 120 calls a month would cost
Let's price an illustrative month of 120 answered calls. Compare the message-taking options first, then add the price of any extra step you need.
| Service and plan | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Sayora | £49 |
| Jodie Basic | £49 |
| Jodie Professional | £99 |
| Answer (email) | £264 |
| Answer (email + SMS) | £276 |
| Moneypenny | Quote required |
Answer works out as 120 × £2.20, plus another 120 × 10p if you choose one SMS per call. Both totals exclude VAT, and Jodie's prices exclude applicable taxes. Sayora is shown at its published early-access price, with unlimited minutes under fair use.
If you only need occasional overflow, though, Answer can cost less than a subscription. Ten calls at its new-customer rate use £22 of credit, although the minimum purchase is £25. At sustained volume, the flat-price AI plans are easier to budget. You can explore selected human plans at your own volume in the cost calculator.
Keep stock, finance and urgent help with the right person
Sayora should capture stock and parts enquiries for your team to check against what's actually available. Spell that out in your instructions. A confident guess about a car that's already sold makes more work for sales than an honest callback request.
On finance, the FCA's motor-dealer guidance explains that the permissions a firm needs depend on the activities it carries out. The practical line for Sayora is simple: capture the enquiry for your approved finance process. Sayora doesn't advise on credit, quote personalised payments or decide eligibility.
And remember, Sayora has no live transfer. Keep recovery and urgent assistance on the route you've arranged for them. If a supplier offers transfers, test who answers outside office hours and what happens when that person isn't available.
Judge it by the message your team gets
For your trial, try four calls: an enquiry about an advertised car, an MOT request, a finance question and a request for a part nobody's sure you have. Check that the service captures useful details and leaves anything uncertain for your team to confirm.
Make sure sales and service each own their callbacks. And before you divert real calls, use the trial sheet to record what the caller heard, what reached your team and what still needed doing.