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Dealertrack Reviews?

started at a dealer 3 months ago who is on dealer track i am a parts manager
dealer track basics a very easy to use and their reports are clear and easy to read
going beyond the basics is where i get hung up it seems very limited and you can not do everything that adp and reynolds can do
their customer service is also extremely hit or miss sometimes you get someone very good and others not so good
i was shocked to find out they are using early 90's and 80's order cards for sop's because they say it is to difficult to order parts on the system...3 months in and nobody at dealer track has helped me....
i am going to a 2 day class on it next month so maybe i'll have a better understanding of it
excellent reports and basics are easy but extremely limited
 
It sucks. The product sucks, and the service sucks. My advice: Don't buy dealertrack. The F&I forms/programming sucks, don't put your dealerships cash flow in the hands of this crackerjack DMS system.

Ryan, you've posted only three times and all 3 post today are all negative against Dealer Track. You seem to really have a dislike for the product, but you've not explained anything. What are the things that "suck" in your opinion? Where are the issues, please give us examples. There might be some here that can help you!
 
Ryan, you've posted only three times and all 3 post today are all negative against Dealer Track. You seem to really have a dislike for the product, but you've not explained anything. What are the things that "suck" in your opinion? Where are the issues, please give us examples. There might be some here that can help you!

I'd like to hear more about this too.
 
I would be happy to elaborate, but I don't have all day so I will give an example of a typical experience. I noticed that the system was not charging sales tax on maintenance agreements. Because this is technically a contract for service, and I'm in Indiana, that needed to get changed so I picked up the phone and made a call. Problem solved? No. 3 days later I found it was adding the tax in the system, but not to the buyers order. I called again. 3 days after that I noticed it was not showing the proper tax amount on the installment contract. I had to call again. Everything was fine for about 2 weeks, then all of the sudden all the fixes seem to get cancelled. Had to call again. Every time I called I had the luxury of spending 20-30 minutes on hold. Some of the problems I caught and addressed, some of the problems resulted in returned contracts, slowing down funding and requiring me to re-sign contracts. This has been my typical experience. I have yet to send in a form and have it done right the first time, and I am constantly on hold with these guys trying to get problems addressed with itemizations on my forms. It seems like every time they get it down, 2 weeks later someone goes in, adjusts it and I get to start all over. There is no end in sight, and I really would like to see my dealer allow me to switch DMS providers. Some days it seems like I spend more time on the phone with dealertrack than I do delivering cars.
 
I would be happy to elaborate, but I don't have all day so I will give an example of a typical experience. I noticed that the system was not charging sales tax on maintenance agreements. Because this is technically a contract for service, and I'm in Indiana, that needed to get changed so I picked up the phone and made a call. Problem solved? No. 3 days later I found it was adding the tax in the system, but not to the buyers order. I called again. 3 days after that I noticed it was not showing the proper tax amount on the installment contract. I had to call again. Everything was fine for about 2 weeks, then all of the sudden all the fixes seem to get cancelled. Had to call again. Every time I called I had the luxury of spending 20-30 minutes on hold. Some of the problems I caught and addressed, some of the problems resulted in returned contracts, slowing down funding and requiring me to re-sign contracts. This has been my typical experience. I have yet to send in a form and have it done right the first time, and I am constantly on hold with these guys trying to get problems addressed with itemizations on my forms. It seems like every time they get it down, 2 weeks later someone goes in, adjusts it and I get to start all over. There is no end in sight, and I really would like to see my dealer allow me to switch DMS providers. Some days it seems like I spend more time on the phone with dealertrack than I do delivering cars.

Ryan, are the problems with DT just F&I related, or do they exist like this in service, parts and accounting. Was this a new form or vendor on the maintenance agreement?

Have you expressed these problems to your rep and have they offered any solutions or reasons to the issues?

I am curious cause I am looking at DT. By the way, what is your position in the dealership, just wondering so if you have had experience with the system as a whole throughout the dealership in fixed and accounting.

I think we all have experienced these kids of issues when it comes to programming at times with different states and different contracts. I am not sure if that is reason to say the entire system sucks, there is no perfect system, they all have their flaws.

What DMS are you wanting your dealer to switch to?
 
I posted this in another thread. We use them at our store, but we don't have a parts department, so I can't speak for parts. It gets the job done, and it is inexpensive. The support is iffy, but we don't rely on our vendors to help us with every little problem. Someone at our dealership is very IT savvy, and we develop subject matter experts that really understand our systems and can solve problems without utilizing support about 90% of the time. You have to understand what you want out of the DMS before you buy it. We wanted open access to data so we could design our own reporting, low cost, and strong interoperability with third party vendors for things such as CRM and our key system. Dealertrack DMS fit the bill for us perfectly. We didn't care about integration with manufacturers (independent store) or highly accessible support. Just be up all the time and perform the basics at a good price. We have been very happy.

As to Ryan's issue, it doesn't seem to be a problem with the system's functioning but with the forms not getting programmed and configured correctly. The forms getting changed back two weeks later is curious, though. Possibly a poor job of managing versions of your forms by the support guys? I have had to be careful in testing forms after changes to be sure the version of it was correct. This could also be bad luck in getting a person in forms that isn't as competent?

I really have had very, very few problems with the actual nuts and bolts of the DMS. Sometimes I cap a deal and it still shows only accepted. Then, I have to void the original accounting transaction and recap the deal. Sometimes I accept a deal and the trade vehicle doesn't show as being in inventory but instead owned by the person that traded it in. Again, unaccept and reaccept solves the problem. It is a mild nuisance. Very rarely, outside lienholders are added but don't show up on the screen (they do print on paperwork). I remove the lienholder and readd and it shows back up.

To compare to a car, my problems with DTDMS are rarely with the A/C or transmission or engine. Maybe a radio button breaks and has to be replaced, or the gas cap cord breaks easily, or the cupholder gets stuck easily. Also, the ride isn't super smooth, but I get from place to place effectively. Much more tiny nuisances than serious functional problems. Of course, I haven't used ADP or ReyRey, so I don't know if they have similar problems. You are buying a Nissan, not an Infiniti. And you are paying Nissan prices, not Infiniti prices.
 
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It sucks. The product sucks, and the service sucks. My advice: Don't buy dealertrack. The F&I forms/programming sucks, don't put your dealerships cash flow in the hands of this crackerjack DMS system.

Ryan - I was wondering if you are still on DT and if you are still experiencing the same problems and have the same opinion you had last year. Our store is looking to switch DMS systems and we are frankly have trouble separating all we are hearing from DT, ADP, and R&R. If you still are on DT and still think the same way now I'd be obliged to know it.
 
anyone have current info on their experience with dealertrack? Looking at upgrading our pre owned dealership dms that intergrates with quickbooks. Looking at Automate, autosoft & dealertrack. hearing good things about mate & soft but mixed reviews on dealertrack.