The DMS was built for the office. We sit on top, then underneath.
Tekion, CDK, and Reynolds run the dealership. We do not displace the billing and GL they are bought for. We displace the workflow surface they never built well, and we own the data layer underneath it.
Built for GMs and accountants. Never for the bay.
CDK Global
~15,000 dealers, Brookfield-owned. A 2024 ransomware breach and a ~$630M antitrust settlement now force open third-party data access. The window is open right now.11
Reynolds & Reynolds
The duopoly's other half. Private, accounting-strong, innovation-slow.
Tekion
2,500+ rooftops, $4B+ valuation. Cloud-native and aggressive, but execution is uneven and its native chat sits unused in the bay.
Six things hold a DMS in place. We do not fight the three that matter most.
The GL, OEM certifications, and lender integrations are externally enforced. We leave them in place. The workflow surface, the part dealers use a hundred times a day, is the part the DMS never built well. That is what we take.
We do not fight the DMS. We become the layer it depends on.
Billing, GL, workflow, and whatever data falls out of it. The technician gets a terminal built for the front office.
The DMS becomes a billing and GL backend behind us. We eat ~60 to 70% of the DMS budget over time. Plaid for dealerships.