Marchex, a provider of call analytics, has released an industry index report that benchmarks the call-handling performance of 16 major car brands.

The study used speech analytics to analyze more than 8 million anonymized calls in the United States during the first half of 2017. The results showed that more than 19 percent of calls are unanswered by the dealer or abandoned by the customer. Mishandling calls can result in lost or delayed sales opportunities.Brands were evaluated on their performance across six key performance indicators, including failed calls, unanswered calls, and several forms of abandon rates.

The study also found that more than 10 percent of callers that abandoned did so during the automated routing or voicemail process and that nearly 70 percent of all inbound calls to dealerships were inquiries for parts and service, which is a key revenue driver for brands.

“If you are leveraging call tracking technology in the auto industry, you know these KPIs well, but you probably don’t know how your KPIs compare to your competitors or the industry as a whole,” said Matt Muilenburg, senior vice president, and head of automotive at Marchex.