Charlotte car dealerships confront cyberattacks that hit auto outlets nationwide

Cooper Metts
·3 min read

If you looked at some Scott Clark Automotive Group websites Tuesday, you would’ve noticed a prominent statement in a big red banner on your screen warning about a global computer system outage impacting its ability to access online forms.

The severity of the system outage led Sonic Automotive to file a statement Friday with the SEC Friday, stating it had not determined if the incident might have a material impact on its financial condition or results.

And some auto dealers nationwide even resorted to old school pencils and paper to deal with all their paperwork, like invoices and scheduling, Tribune News Service reported.

Here’s what happened. Last Wednesday, one of the largest auto dealer management systems suffered two cyberattacks, sending much of the automotive business to a screeching halt.

CDK Global serves over 15,000 automotive retail locations across North America. The software helps automotive retailers automate the acquisition, sale, financing, insuring and maintenance of vehicles.

Information including full names, Social Security numbers, financial information and dates of birth may have been accessed during the two cyberattacks, according to Federman & Sherwood, an Oklahoma City-based law firm investigating CDK Global.

CDK Global suspended its systems in response to the attacks.

This impacts automotive retailers’ ability to process payroll, access customer information, fill out forms, acquire parts and manage inventory, North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association President John Policastro said.

“When they’re selling a car, they would normally input all that data to their system, and they would process various forms ...that are necessary to process with DMV,” Policastro said. “And a lot of that stuff they’re having to just do manually and maintain records and databases manually.”

Policastro said he can’t recall a previous cyberattack of this magnitude on a dealership management system.

Sonic Automotive, told the SEC it experienced disruptions to its sales operations, inventory and other system as a result of the cyberattacks on CDK Global.
Sonic Automotive, told the SEC it experienced disruptions to its sales operations, inventory and other system as a result of the cyberattacks on CDK Global.

Charlotte automotive retailers react

The extent to which automotive retailers rely on CDK Global’s software varies, but Policastro said that “a lot of dealers use these systems for virtually everything operationally.”

Charlotte-based Fortune 500 company Sonic Automotive experienced disruptions to its sales operations, inventory and accounting functions, and customer relationship management system as a result of the cyberattacks on CDK Global, it said in an SEC filing Friday.

All of Sonic Automotive’s dealerships stayed open using workaround solutions to minimize the impact of the CDK Global outage, according to the Friday SEC filing

Policastro said automotive retailers may be using other computer software such as Excel to make temporary databases. He also said he’s heard some automotive retailers have closed, but none that he knows of in North Carolina.

Sonic Automotive, Scott Clark Toyota and Keith Hawthorne Automotive could not be reached for comment Hendrick Automotive Group declined to comment.

Policastro said he’s heard no official word on when CDK Global’s software will be operational again but said the software may be suspended for several more days.

Scott Clark’s notification to customers in the wake of cyberattacks on CDK Global
Scott Clark’s notification to customers in the wake of cyberattacks on CDK Global

About CDK Global

The Illinois-based company was the largest IT solutions provider in the dealer management system industry last year, a 2023 CDK Global study found.

CDK Global’s parent company is Brookfield Business Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in Bermuda.

CDK Global is part of Brookfield Business Partners’ business services segment, which generated $32 billion in revenue last year. This made up over half of Brookfield Business Partners’ revenue.

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