# Excel and HubSpot vs CARRUSLiNK: what does it really cost, and what do you get back?

> Most independent car dealers run on a mix of Excel, a shared Outlook calendar and either HubSpot or a generic CRM. It looks cheap on the invoice, but typically costs DKK 600,000–1,200,000 a year in lost revenue. Here's the honest comparison, with price, ROI and time-to-value.

**Source:** https://carruslink.com/en/guides/carruslink-vs-excel-hubspot
**Sidst opdateret:** 2026-05-25

## Short answer (TL;DR)

Excel costs DKK 0 in licences and 12-18 hours/week in manual work + 20-30% lost leads. HubSpot costs DKK 6,000-25,000/month plus DKK 100,000-500,000 in implementation, and still doesn't cover vehicles, contracts, service contracts or DMS. CARRUSLiNK costs tiered pricing from DKK 2,299/month based on fleet size (DKK 6,000 on annual billing) for the whole business + 5% of service contracts generated through the system. Typical ROI: 8-14× in year 1, driven by +20-40% lead conversion and 60-80% service-contract conversion on deliveries.

## What you're really paying for the Excel + HubSpot setup

- The salesperson spends 12-18 hours a week on manual work across 4 systems, costs ~DKK 250,000/salesperson/year
- Lead response time of 17 hours = 20-30% of your listing-portal traffic never converts
- Service contracts convert at 15-25% (vs. 60-80% when built into the delivery flow), direct MRR loss
- Trade-in customers are identified by chance, usually when they call to sell the car
- HubSpot licences, implementation and connectors quickly reach DKK 200,000-700,000 in year 1
- When a salesperson leaves, data, contact history and pipeline often walk out the door, because they live in Outlook and Excel

## How to calculate your real ROI (7 steps)

### 1. Count your monthly leads

Pull numbers from listing portals, your website and inbound calls. Example: 250 leads/month = 3,000 leads/year. That's the top of your funnel, everything else hangs off it.

### 2. Measure your current lead conversion

How many leads become a test drive? A sold car? Industry average with manual follow-up: 8-12% to test drive, 2-4% to sale. Top dealers with automation run 2-3× higher.

### 3. Calculate the value of 20% more converted leads

Example: 3,000 leads/year × +2 percentage points sale rate × average margin DKK 25,000 = +DKK 1,500,000 in gross margin. That's typically the single number that finances CARRUSLiNK 10× over.

### 4. Add service-contract MRR on top

If you deliver 300 cars/year and convert 30 percentage points more service contracts (from 25% to 55%) at DKK 650/month for 4 years: 90 extra contracts × 650 × 48 = DKK 2,808,000 extra CLTV, on one cohort of deliveries.

### 5. Subtract your real Excel/HubSpot cost

Add up licences, connectors, implementation, internal admin and lost sales time. Realistic figure for a dealership with 3-6 salespeople: DKK 600,000-1,200,000/year (most of it 'hidden').

### 6. Compare with CARRUSLiNK

tiered pricing from DKK 2,299/month based on fleet size = DKK 90,000/year fixed + 5% of service contracts generated through the system. Implementation and training included for the first 60 days. No per-seat price, no module licences, no connectors to maintain.

### 7. Calculate payback time

In most dealerships payback lands at 4-8 weeks, driven purely by better lead conversion. Service-contract MRR and the trade-in flow are pure upside in year 2.

## Why the math always lands on CARRUSLiNK

- **One fixed price for the whole business** — tiered pricing from DKK 2,299/month based on fleet size (DKK 6,000 on annual billing). No price increase when you hire the fourth salesperson. No module licences ratcheting up at renewal.
- **+20-40% more converted leads** — Auto-reply under 5 min, sequences day 1/3/7/14, mobile-first for sales. Same traffic, twice as many booked test drives.
- **Service contracts as recurring revenue** — 60-80% conversion when the contract is part of the delivery flow. DKK 650/month × 48 months = predictable MRR for the business.
- **Implementation in 2-4 weeks** — Not 6-12 months with external consultants. We import customers, vehicles and DMS data and train the team, included in the price for the first 60 days.
- **Replaces 4 systems with 1** — CRM, contracts, service contracts, communications and inventory, one place, one login, one customer card. Excel + HubSpot + DMS + accounting files become CARRUSLiNK + DMS + accounting.
- **Mobile-first for sales** — The salesperson works on the lot, creates leads, sends prices and books test drives from the phone in 60 seconds. Neither Excel nor HubSpot delivers that in practice.
- **Your data stays yours** — EU data-processing agreement, EU hosting, national-ID ready, full export. When a salesperson leaves, customer data stays in the business, not in a private Outlook account.

## Excel vs HubSpot vs CARRUSLiNK, honest comparison for car dealers

| Area | Excel | HubSpot | CARRUSLiNK |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Built for the automotive industry | No | No (generic SaaS) | Yes |
| One customer card: customer + vehicles + contracts + agreements | No | Custom objects (complex) | Yes, built in |
| Listing-portal lead integration | No | Manual via Zapier | Yes |
| DMS integration (Keyloop, AD Manager, Autoflex) | No | No | Yes |
| National-ID signature on contracts | No | No | Yes |
| Service-contract generation and renewal | No (Outlook reminder) | No | Yes |
| Mobile-first for salespeople | No | Partial | Yes |
| Time to go live | 0 days (but no system) | 3-6 months + consultants | 2-4 weeks |
| Setup cost | DKK 0 | DKK 50,000-500,000 | DKK 0 |
| Price per month (10 reps) | DKK 0 | ~DKK 12,000-25,000 | tiered from DKK 2,299/mo + 5% of service contracts |
| Hidden cost: lost leads/year | ~DKK 150,000-600,000 | ~DKK 80,000-300,000 | ~DKK 0 (auto follow-up) |

_Prices as of May 2026. HubSpot Sales Hub Pro, 10 users. Lost leads based on industry avg. response time and conversion._

## Frequently asked questions about Excel/HubSpot vs CARRUSLiNK

### What does Excel + Outlook really cost a car dealer?

The licences themselves are near zero (Microsoft 365 is typically DKK 70-150/user/month). The real cost is manual work and lost leads: 12-18 hours per salesperson per week on follow-up emails, contract typing and service call rounds + 20-30% lower lead conversion. For a dealership with 4 salespeople that's realistically DKK 600,000-900,000/year in combined labour cost and lost revenue.

### What does HubSpot cost a Danish dealership?

HubSpot Sales Hub Professional starts at ~DKK 6,000/month for 5 users and quickly grows with Marketing Hub, Service Hub and Operations Hub add-ons. Partner implementation: DKK 100,000-500,000. Connectors to listing portals, DMS, accounting and mobile payments: DKK 2,000-8,000/month or build-it-yourself. Realistic total: DKK 150,000-400,000/year when everything is included, and you still don't have vehicles, contracts or service contracts as a data model.

### What does CARRUSLiNK cost exactly?

tiered pricing from DKK 2,299/month based on fleet size on monthly billing or DKK 6,000/month on annual billing, for the whole business, all salespeople and all modules. Plus 5% of service contracts generated through the system (only what actually creates new MRR). Implementation, import of customers/vehicles/DMS, and training of the team are included for the first 60 days. No per-seat price, no module licences.

### How fast do we see ROI?

Typically payback in 4-8 weeks, driven purely by better lead conversion. A dealership with 250 leads/month that lifts the sale rate by +2 percentage points with an average margin of DKK 25,000 brings in ~DKK 125,000 extra per month. CARRUSLiNK costs tiered pricing from DKK 2,299/month based on fleet size. Year 1 ROI typically lands at 8-14×. Service-contract MRR and the trade-in flow are pure upside in year 2.

### Can you prove the numbers before we buy?

Yes. We run the demo on your own data: send 10 real leads and 5 real customers in a CSV, and we'll show exactly how the lead reply, follow-up, contract and service-contract flow looks in your dealership, and what it returns per month in your numbers. No polished screen recording.

### Do we need to replace our DMS to use CARRUSLiNK?

No. CARRUSLiNK sits on top of Keyloop, AD Manager, Autoflex, AutoIT and others. Workshop, inventory and accounting stay where they are. We replace the Excel sheet, the HubSpot licence and the 'email-to-myself' flow, not your workshop system.

### What if we've already invested DKK 200,000 in HubSpot?

Sunk cost. The question isn't 'what have we spent so far', but 'what does it cost to continue vs. switch'. A typical dealership switching from HubSpot to CARRUSLiNK saves DKK 150,000-300,000/year in licences + connectors and brings in DKK 600,000-1,500,000/year in extra gross margin. Even if you write off the original HubSpot investment 100%, the math turns positive within 3-4 months.

## Get the ROI math on your own numbers

30 minutes. We take your lead volume, average margin and service-contract rate and show exactly what CARRUSLiNK costs, and what it returns, in your dealership. Not pitch-deck estimates.

— CARRUSLiNK · https://carruslink.com/en/guides/carruslink-vs-excel-hubspot