3 ms·

That 90% is for both of the two biggest DMSes, CDK and Reynolds & Reynolds. Both DMSes have been around since the '70s or so, so they're probably considered a

That 90% is for both of the two biggest DMSes, CDK and Reynolds & Reynolds. Both DMSes have been around since the '70s or so, so they're probably considered a safe option by a lot of dealers.

n4r9 2y ago
Ah, you're correct. However, the linked litigation doc argues that the two have an agreement not to compete with each other. It also explains that it's very disruptive for a dealership business to transition to a new data management system.
- juliangoldsmith 2y ago
  I believe the litigation was about data integration, due to the mentions of Authenticom. Authenticom was a vendor my company used until we needed to start getting data directly from R&R. (IIRC we were a third party on a lawsuit related to that.) Switching DMSes is likely disruptive, but is still pretty common. We've had dealerships do it every now and then.
blorenz 2y ago
Is R&R still that large? A few NADAs ago I approached them to see about getting a direct integration. Only one of my customers was R&R at that time. ReyRey acted very elitist and told me that they had no interest. Fast forward to this last NADA where I approached ReyRey again with only three customers. I asked them if we could integrated with three and they stated that they would even do a single customer. Quite the change of tune. I asked ballpark what it would be and they said "low 5 digits". Not even CDK is that expensive with their certification process. This will also be interesting to see how it affects their their long in-development and repeatedly stalled Fortellis product. They are attempting to release it as a DMS agnostic solution which I did not think that other DMSes will gravitate to just because it comes out of CDK. This attack is just another reason for a competitor DMS to not use it.
- juliangoldsmith 2y ago
  R&R is still one of the largest. The elitism was definitely something I saw when I wrote the RCI integration at Dealer Wizard around 2014. I've heard they've been trying to change the culture internally. I'm not sure how that's going, but it'd certainly be welcome. Does Fortellis even accept other DMSes? I've dealt with it a bit to integrate with eLeads (now CDK CRM), but there didn't seem to be much on there apart from CDK's APIs.
  - reaperman 2y ago
    From a hiring standpoint, the culture at R&R is “beyond absurd” / “jumped the shark”. They utilize an IQ test which has many extremely “cultural” questions — quite a few questions have nothing to do with IQ, just trivia you’d only know if you’re from a very specific background (white, old). Things along the lines of “What celebrity died in 1997 in a car crash involving paparazzi?” (Princess Diana) … “what sport did Jack Nicklaus play?”. I fit the profile they are looking for, and knew all the answers to these questions, but I still felt they were "beyond the pale". This is for software programming. Their salary ranges are also unbelievably low and they avoid interviewing anyone with even moderately strong qualifications (which would be considered "mediocre" qualifications in any tech hub).

That 90% is for both of the two biggest DMSes, CDK and Reynolds & Reynolds. Both DMSes have been around since the '70s or so, so they're probably considered a safe option by a lot of dealers.

n4r9 2y ago

Ah, you're correct. However, the linked litigation doc argues that the two have an agreement not to compete with each other. It also explains that it's very disruptive for a dealership business to transition to a new data management system.

juliangoldsmith 2y ago
I believe the litigation was about data integration, due to the mentions of Authenticom. Authenticom was a vendor my company used until we needed to start getting data directly from R&R. (IIRC we were a third party on a lawsuit related to that.) Switching DMSes is likely disruptive, but is still pretty common. We've had dealerships do it every now and then.

blorenz 2y ago

Is R&R still that large? A few NADAs ago I approached them to see about getting a direct integration. Only one of my customers was R&R at that time. ReyRey acted very elitist and told me that they had no interest. Fast forward to this last NADA where I approached ReyRey again with only three customers. I asked them if we could integrated with three and they stated that they would even do a single customer. Quite the change of tune. I asked ballpark what it would be and they said "low 5 digits". Not even CDK is that expensive with their certification process. This will also be interesting to see how it affects their their long in-development and repeatedly stalled Fortellis product. They are attempting to release it as a DMS agnostic solution which I did not think that other DMSes will gravitate to just because it comes out of CDK. This attack is just another reason for a competitor DMS to not use it.

juliangoldsmith 2y ago
R&R is still one of the largest. The elitism was definitely something I saw when I wrote the RCI integration at Dealer Wizard around 2014. I've heard they've been trying to change the culture internally. I'm not sure how that's going, but it'd certainly be welcome. Does Fortellis even accept other DMSes? I've dealt with it a bit to integrate with eLeads (now CDK CRM), but there didn't seem to be much on there apart from CDK's APIs.
- reaperman 2y ago
  From a hiring standpoint, the culture at R&R is “beyond absurd” / “jumped the shark”. They utilize an IQ test which has many extremely “cultural” questions — quite a few questions have nothing to do with IQ, just trivia you’d only know if you’re from a very specific background (white, old). Things along the lines of “What celebrity died in 1997 in a car crash involving paparazzi?” (Princess Diana) … “what sport did Jack Nicklaus play?”. I fit the profile they are looking for, and knew all the answers to these questions, but I still felt they were "beyond the pale". This is for software programming. Their salary ranges are also unbelievably low and they avoid interviewing anyone with even moderately strong qualifications (which would be considered "mediocre" qualifications in any tech hub).