As Ford Authority reported earlier this week, CDK Global was forced to shut down most of its automotive dealer management systems following a cyberattack, which is notable given the fact that it currently serves close to 15,000 dealerships in the U.S. at the moment. Since then, the company has been working to get those systems back online, but those efforts were hampered by a second cyberattack that occurred shortly thereafter. While some dealers are managing to get by in spite of this big problem, that isn’t the case with at least one Ford dealership, it seems.
That Ford dealership is Village Ford of Dearborn, Michigan, according to Automotive News, which is in the midst of hosting its big annual tent sale that has taken place for 40 years now. The problem for this specific Ford dealership – which uses CDK’s systems – pertains to contracting, meaning that it’s able to complete most of the sales process up until the very end, though it has to rely on other vendors to get there, too. However, without the contracting piece present, it’s also unable to deliver vehicles to customers.
“We have never experienced something like this, where we are just shut out of our operating system for two days,” said Jay Sturtz, Village Ford’s general sales manager. Sturtz admits that this problem has been a “wakeup call” for the dealership, noting that it plans to be better prepared for any future outages. Meanwhile, it continues to hammer out deals and try to figure out ways around its contracting issue. “For us as a dealership, we are always pretty innovative and we can adapt to situations,” Sturtz said. “That’s what dealers do.”
In recent years, as automobiles become more and more connected and digitized, concerns over cybersecurity have followed. Ford has worked to get ahead of potential cyberattacks in a number of ways, while various U.S. government agencies attempt to do the same. Regardless, there’s still some work to be done, as is evidenced by these widespread cyberattacks.
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Comments
You are going down the interstate at 70 mph with your kids in the car and your semi-autonomous vehicle is commandeered by a cybercriminal demanding a ransom. Are you going to pay it? You have 30 seconds to decide.
Wrong article, but somewhat related.
So, does this mean they can’t easily add on additional dealer markup or “service fees” ?
Makes it harder to upsell add on warranties and finance insurance I hope.