***URGENT*** Call to the industry builder community - It's time for interoperability Please sign the petition!

[MattCopley]

It’s 2026.

Your DMS has an API.
Your CRM has an API.
Your CDP has an API.
AI can apparently write the software.

But publishing a blog to your own dealership website can still require someone to log into a CMS and manually click buttons like it’s 2012.

That feels… fixable.

So we’re putting a pretty simple question to the industry:

Why shouldn’t dealers be able to plug the tools they choose into the websites they pay for?

Open APIs.
Webhooks.
MCP.
Authorized third-party access.
Real documentation.
Dealer choice.

Bring Hrizn. Bring Codex. Bring Claude. Bring whatever your team wants to build with.

We’d much rather integrate than replace.

And I’d genuinely like to hear the counterargument here, because at this point your toaster may have better interoperability than your dealership website.

If you agree, add your name here: Plug into your website backend. Demand open API access.

Plug into your website backend. Demand open API access.
Plug into your website backend. Demand open API access.
We Rise Together.
#Automotive #OpenAPI #Interoperability #AutomotiveTechnology #AI #DealerMarketing #Hrizn

 

[MattCopley]

Are we really serious that not a single person (I may have missed some ) outside of @Jeff Kershner @Jason Monaghan, @Rick Buffkin, and @Zach Hendrix and @Angus Fox from this group of dealership OG builders and hackers isn't onboard with the minimum baseline benchmark level of interoperability enjoyed by your local dog groomer on Wix, Shopify, Wordpress or Adobe Experience Manager?

Come on DR fam? Am I the only live person here talking into the void at everyone's commenting agents?... Humans?... Hello?...

If you believe in open website interoperability please read the demand letter and add your names to the growing list of OG car guys/gals, agencies, dealers, and innovators supporting this movement. Over 42 signatures in 42 hours so far... Can the DR fam blow this thing up? Join us! - Plug into your website backend. Demand open API access.

 

[MattCopley]

Still crickets in the comments. Thanks @DjSec appreciate the OGs recognizing this push. We got it done in DMS we can definitely get it done in websites. It's cool though. I'll keep pushing for this solo but welcome the DR fam to chime in. 54 have signed since Friday night... at least 900 have viewed this thread and done nothing which speaks volumes.

If you want the change y'all talk about them put your name on it. - End of rant. Happy Monday.

 

[DjSec]

Still crickets in the comments. Thanks @DjSec appreciate the OGs recognizing this push. We got it done in DMS we can definitely get it done in websites. It's cool though. I'll keep pushing for this solo but welcome the DR fam to chime in. 54 have signed since Friday night... at least 900 have viewed this thread and done nothing which speaks volumes.

If you want the change y'all talk about them put your name on it. - End of rant. Happy Monday.

I think the problem is bigger than website API access!

The dealership should own their identity, memory, relationships, knowledge and history and all the applications should be interchangeable layers that site on top of it.

If a dealer changes the website, CRM, AI, or marketing vendors, the dealership shouldn't lose what those systems learned.

I believe the dealership should be in total control of their assets and who they work with!

Give developers open APIs, webhooks, MCP and authorized access...however let the dealership own the layer underneath all of it.

In the past, a dealership's main assets were:

1. Location
2. Inventory
3. Customer relationships
4. Reputation

But software has moved the dealership's most important assets into third-party systems!

A dealership could eventually have 20 years of accumulated knowledge, however it is currently owned, controlled and distributed by 15 different vendors, and the dealership owns and controls little to none of it.

 

[AbrahamJaffar]

AI survives on data, and DMS's walled garden approach is killing so many opportunities, add so much overhead over simple operations. Not to mention the bloat on websites built with ancient technologies that make the website load take ages. I think people should support open standards everywhere as consumers. So you can own your data, Not the DMS.

 

[MattCopley]

I think the problem is bigger than website API access!

The dealership should own their identity, memory, relationships, knowledge and history and all the applications should be interchangeable layers that site on top of it.

If a dealer changes the website, CRM, AI, or marketing vendors, the dealership shouldn't lose what those systems learned.

I believe the dealership should be in total control of their assets and who they work with!

Give developers open APIs, webhooks, MCP and authorized access...however let the dealership own the layer underneath all of it.

In the past, a dealership's main assets were:

1. Location
2. Inventory
3. Customer relationships
4. Reputation

But software has moved the dealership's most important assets into third-party systems!

A dealership could eventually have 20 years of accumulated knowledge, however it is currently owned, controlled and distributed by 15 different vendors, and the dealership owns and controls little to none of it.

@DjSec We agree! Cool thing with our platform is we don't hold anything hostage. Dealer can export all of their content and data if they leave.

 

[DjSec]

AI survives on data, and DMS's walled garden approach is killing so many opportunities, add so much overhead over simple operations. Not to mention the bloat on websites built with ancient technologies that make the website load take ages. I think people should support open standards everywhere as consumers. So you can own your data, Not the DMS.

I think the data ownership issue is actually bigger than just being able to get the data out of a DMS.

We're entering a point where the accumulated information about a dealership could become one of its most valuable assets.

Customer history, vehicle history, service history, conversations, website behavior, pricing history, marketing results, employee knowledge, AI interactions, etc.

Today that information is scattered across vendors, and when the vendor changes, a lot of the context and institutional memory effectively stays behind.

I think the long-term goal should be that the dealership owns its identity, data, and institutional memory, while vendors and applications plug into it.

Open standards and APIs are a huge part of that. But I'd argue we need to go one step further: the dealership shouldn't just be able to access its data, it should have a permanent system of record for the intelligence created from that data.

The longer a dealership operates, the smarter its own system should become, regardless of which vendors it chooses to use.