Most American car dealers are still struggling to sell cars, with the consequences of a cyber attack on software supplier CDK Global is still present two weeks after the infringement.
Hackers took down CDK's sales and customer management software tools two weeks ago, crippling the auto industry in what the company called a “ransom event.”
CDK has not disclosed whether it has paid the group behind the ransom attack, but does say it has managed to slowly restore automated sales tools for its dealer customers.
Still, the hack wiped out a significant portion of auto sales in June — more than 5% compared to June 2023according to an estimate by JD Power.
Tom Maoli, who runs several dealerships, including a Lexus dealership in New Jersey, says the cyberattack has slowed sales in what is normally a very busy month for him and other auto dealers.
“Right now, just on our new car sales, we're down 50 percent this month,” Maoli told CBS senior consumer research correspondent Anna Werner. He has yet to calculate the full financial impact of the CDK Global outage.
Even changing the oil is a challenge
That hack has indeed taken a toll on the approximately 15,000 auto dealerships that rely on CDK Global software to run their service departments, process financing for car purchases, generate sales leads and manage customer relationships. For example, potential car buyers can’t close deals on time because transactions that would normally take just a few hours are delayed while the systems are down.
“The DMS system that is being targeted in this attack is the backbone of an auto dealership,” Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, told CBS News. “It basically ties together all of the sales of new vehicles, used vehicles, along with the finance department and even the service department. So consumers now may have difficulty even getting oil changes and warranty work done at a dealership.
Two customers who visited Maoli's New Jersey dealership on Monday told CBS News they were able to drive a new SUV off the lot in about six hours. The dealership's finance and insurance manager, Tony Carlucci, processed the sale by hand and gave the couple a paper receipt.
“Since the system has been down, it takes at least twice as long to do everything we need to do,” Carlucci told CBS News.
CDK Global expects all dealer systems to be operational again by the morning of July 4. Until then, both buyers and sellers of vehicles are advised to be patient.
