Turning Open Recalls into Booked Appointments

Every open recall comes with a letter. And for most owners, that's where it ends.

The letter gets opened, put to one side and forgotten. Not because the owner doesn't care. Because nothing about it makes the next step easy.

BMW retailer Frank Keane knows this well. They'd already tried all the usual routes – letters, phone calls, emails – and still had owners who hadn't booked in. So they brought in their optimAIze® agent. Within 30 days, 34% of already attempted customers were engaged, qualified, and scheduled for the work required.

The Recall Gap

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most recalled cars in the UK never get fixed.

carVertical reviewed vehicle history reports from January 2023 to September 2024 and found only 28% of recalled vehicles had their defects addressed (Fleet News). That leaves nearly three in four still on the road – many with issues affecting airbags, brakes or electrical systems.

These aren't minor fixes, either. BMW recently recalled 24,732 UK cars over a starter motor that could short-circuit, overheat and, in rare cases, cause a fire (AM Online).

The Challenge

So why do so many recalls go unfixed? Auto Data Solutions (ADS) obtained figures through a Freedom of Information request showing more than 3.2 million recalled vehicles in the UK remain uncorrected, with rectification rates dropping sharply in recent years (AM Online).

This points to a breakdown in customer contact, and anyone who's worked a service desk will recognise why:

• Customer data goes stale. Contact details change, and outreach never lands.
• Systems don't talk to each other. Dealer and OEM platforms often aren't connected, so recall information doesn't flow where it's needed.
• Teams are stretched. Between a ringing phone and customers at the desk, chasing recall bookings is easy to deprioritise.
• A letter is a one-way street. It can't answer a question, offer a time slot, or nudge someone who put it to one side.

And it's not just a safety issue. ADS's data shows each recall appointment generates an average of £309 in related revenue – meaning unrectified recalls from 2023 alone could represent more than £120 million in missed income.

The optimAIze® Solution

Frank Keane had done everything a dealer is supposed to do. Letters went out. The team made calls. Emails were sent. But a group of owners with an open recall still hadn't booked in.

So they handed those customers to their optimAIze® engage agent. Instead of another notice, each owner got a personalised conversation with an AI agent – one that treats every open recall as what it really is: a reason for the customer to come back.

• Questions answered instantly. Owners could ask about safety, timing or cost and get a reply straight away, at any hour.
• Persistent without being pushy. If an owner went quiet, the AI agent kept the conversation going, without ever running out of patience.
• Booking made easy. A direct booking link meant owners could act while they were still engaged – no phone call needed.

The Result

Here's how the campaign played out between 21 September and 20 October:

• 166 customers messaged.
• 92% opened the message (153 customers)
• 67% engaged in conversation with the AI agent (112 customers)
• 35% registered interest in getting the work done (58 customers)

Remember, these were owners who hadn't responded to letters, calls or emails. Roughly three in ten of them took a step towards booking within a month – against a national picture where only 28% of recalled cars get fixed at all.

And using ADS's £309 average, those booking clicks could be worth more than £15,000 in related workshop revenue, on top of the recall work itself.

“We'd done everything you'd expect – letters, calls, emails – and we still had BMW owners with an open recall who just weren't getting in touch. Within a month of handing them to our optimAIze® agent, more than 50 had clicked through to book. And the conversations told us things we'd never have known otherwise, like who'd sold their car or already had the work done elsewhere, so our records are in much better shape for next time.”

Robert Dunne, Marketing and Customer Retention Manager, Frank Keane

Every conversation counts – even the ones that don't book

The bookings are only half the story. With optimAIze® insight, ELLA analyses every bit of engagement from the campaign and reviews the conversations themselves – not just who clicked, but what owners actually said.

That's where the real housekeeping value comes in. Remember that stale customer data flagged as a key reason recalls go unfixed? The conversations surface it. Owners reply to say they've sold the car, switched to a different vehicle, or moved out of the area. optimAIze® insight picks those up and identifies the customer records that need updating.

So instead of the same letter going to the same out-of-date record next time, the dealer ends up with a cleaner database, a clearer picture of which recalls are genuinely still outstanding, and a team that only spends time on the customers who actually need them.

Why It Works

The Takeaway

Recalls don't have to be an admin burden. They're one of the few times a customer has a clear, genuine reason to come back to you – including customers you haven't seen in years.

optimAIze® doesn't ask service teams to chase harder. It starts the conversation, keeps it going, and puts the booking in the customer's hands.

Sources

• carVertical recall study, via Fleet News: Majority of recalled cars remain on the road without being repaired
• AM Online: BMW recalls nearly 25,000 UK cars over starter motor fire risk
• Auto Data Solutions FOI analysis, via AM Online: Missed recalls point to failures in customer contact strategies
• optimAIze® engage campaign data, 21 September to 20 October 2026