Dealer software firm says outage from cyberattack to be resolved this week

A digital management system provider to thousands of automotive dealers says its services should be operating again by Thursday, two weeks after being hit with two cyberattacks.

The June 19 attacks against CDK Global Inc. resulted in some dealers resorting to pen and paper for vehicle sales, having to run documentation to the secretary of state or department of motor vehicles by hand, and being unable to access service history and appointment logs. Dealers alone are estimated to have lost millions of dollars in revenue.

“We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process and are rapidly bringing dealers live on the Dealer Management System (DMS),” CDK spokesperson Lisa Finney said in a statement. “We anticipate all dealers connections will be live by late Wednesday, July 3 or early morning Thursday, July 4. Our Customer Care channels have also been restored and customers can call, chat or submit eCases if they need assistance.”

The company said it’s also working to bring other applications live, including its customer relationship management, One-Eighty customer engagement, and service products. A small initial test group of dealers went live on the digital management system last week.

East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group last week estimated a $605 million direct economic loss to dealers in the first two weeks from the shutdown. If the services were to remain out all this week, the consulting firm projected an additional loss of $339 million.

Some dealers reported services were coming back on Monday. Thad Szott, dealer partner at the Szott Auto Group with locations in Oakland County and president of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, said half of its operating system was working again on Monday. It still was waiting on its customer relationship management system and the webdesking tool it uses for leases.

Dealers have found workarounds to keep some parts of their businesses moving as smoothly as possible. The Preston Automotive Group with 21 dealer rooftops in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia uses some CDK products, though everything integrates into its digital management system.

One of the biggest issues is not being able to access a vehicle’s service history or what a service appointment is for, said David Wilson, the group’s chairman and also chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council. The service outage also will leave June and July with unreliable historical data that will make forecasting more difficult in the future.

Wilson said his biggest frustration is the lack of communication from CDK. The dealer has sought out information from CDK and received replies with available information, but CDK hasn’t proactively reached out to his company.

“We’re flying blind,” he said. “It’s the lack of transparency, the lack of communication. If they survey us after, there won’t be a score low enough.”

[email protected]

@BreanaCNoble