@Brad Burlingham This is still a relevant question in 2026. For 12 stores on Elead, the switching cost isn't just the software — it's the 6-12 months of retraining your BDC and losing institutional knowledge baked into your templates and workflows.
VinSolutions has the widest adoption so finding staff who already know it is easier. DriveCentric has a genuinely better UI but thinner support infrastructure for larger groups. DealerSocket has struggled with stability post-merger.
For a 12-store group the real question is whether your variable ops leadership can enforce a consistent process across all stores in the new system — most CRM migrations fail on adoption, not technology.
@DealerInt don't take this the wrong way, but that is a very narrow world-view of CRM changes in today's automotive retail world. We went from VinSolutions to DriveCentric years ago because I knew we NEEDED TO LOSE INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE, TEMPLATES, and WORKFLOWS. They have a completely different view of what automotive CRM and process look like, and it's refreshing. We only have 7 rooftops but the change was great, adoption from all was the fastest thing we'd ever seen and accountability for all, even those that were hanging on to the "comfortable" previous system, was key is a smooth transition. DriveCentric is by far our best adopted and engaged tool within our dealership software and tools lineup. New hires take to it immediately whereas it did take someone 6 months or more to get used to VinSolutions, eLead, and before that DealerSocket.
Your comment of "...but thinner support infrastructure for larger groups." is based off what? They have the best and most responsive support team and channel we have ever seen. Basic users have direct and immediate access to their support team in St. Louis for issues.
Oh, and your comment here is spot on. Drive's adoption is crazy high with sales teams. Like I said, best I've ever seen in my 25 years in auto.
most CRM migrations fail on adoption
Our only issue is the Tekion pairing is limited with the DMS integration compared to if we still had a CDK, Reynolds, etc. They're working on expanding that so we can get our Service integrations and desking push perfected. More than happy to give you a tour from a dealer view if you want.
