Beth Adler/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File
Paragon Honda and Acura auto dealership in Queens, New York City, July 15, 2021.
CNN
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Auto dealerships in the U.S. and Canada remained largely offline on Thursday after a second cyber incident at data provider CDK Global, whose software is used by 15,000 auto dealerships. The outage could last for days and hit sales over the first official weekend of summer.
On Wednesday, CDK spokesperson Lisa Finney said in a statement shared with CNN: “We are actively investigating the cyber incident. Out of an abundance of caution and consideration for our customers, we have shut down most of our systems and are working diligently to restore everything as quickly as possible.”
Later that day, the company said most of its critical computer systems were back online, but on Thursday morning it sent another message to dealers indicating the situation had worsened.
“Late in the evening on June 19th, we experienced a further cyber incident and proactively shut down most of our systems. We are working with third-party experts to assess the impact and are providing regular updates to customers,” CDK said in a statement Thursday morning. “We remain committed to restoring service as quickly as possible and enabling dealerships to return to business as usual.”
The company then told dealers the systems could be out of service for several days, according to two sources briefed on the situation.
CDK operates a variety of products that auto dealers use to do everything from keeping records of negotiated deals to scheduling and communicating about service. While not all dealers use CDK's products, and those that do not use them for everything, system shutdowns are an issue for many dealers.
“We have customers coming in today who have transactions saved in our system,” said Jeff Ramsey, executive director of Maryland-based Aurisman Auto Group.
To protect customer privacy, customer details are no longer written on a piece of paper lying around the desk. Instead, information about transactions and customer bookings is stored in a It is stored on a server that sales reps cannot access.
Ramsey said he understands that CDK feels it has to do this to protect this sensitive data, but it's a huge hassle in the meantime and could hurt his dealership's business. Customers who are experiencing slow sales at his dealership could instead find a nearby dealership that doesn't have these issues and buy their new car there.
It's car buying season so I'm really worried.
“It's summer,” he said, “and we need the system to work now.”
Ramsey and Brian Benstock, general manager of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura in Long Island City, New York, said they are continuing to do business and sell vehicles despite the problems.
“My sales team can handwrite orders for buyers,” Benstock says.
But dealers interviewed by CNN said salespeople may not have access to previously negotiated customer contracts, making it harder to close sales. Those contracts may include discounts and incentives that customers must prove they qualify for, so it's not just the negotiated car price that's at stake.
Ramsey, who runs a number of dealerships, said automakers including Kia, Toyota and Stellantis, which makes Jeep and Dodge cars, have been very supportive in figuring out how to serve customers despite all the technical issues.
Ford also said dealers affected by the CDK outages have alternative ways to serve customers.
“While some dealers using CDK are experiencing an industry-wide system failure, alternative processes available to dealers ensure Ford and Lincoln customers can receive sales and service support. While a customer's local dealer is the best place to get information about their sales or service needs, customers can always contact the Ford Customer Relationship Center at 1-800-392-3673,” Ford said in a statement shared with CNN.
Sales of vehicles, as well as parts and services, may be disrupted.
It will be a bigger problem for dealership accountants and businesspeople, Mr. Benstock said. Many of his employees have been in the business since before it was networked and computer-dependent, but the problem remains and he remains concerned about customer data.
