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Dealer.com — DealerRefresh Vendor Library
About suggest a correction →
Dealership website platform and digital marketing solution owned by Cox Automotive.
What you do with it
improve their website's search engine visibility and ranking for local market keywords, so they can capture more organic traffic and inbound leads without paid media spend
When a dealer needs to attract in-market shoppers through organic search
deploy and manage a dealership website with inventory display, promotional content, and lead capture, so they can convert more site visitors into actionable sales leads
When a dealer needs a primary digital storefront to showcase inventory and generate leads
make real-time updates to site content, inventory pricing, and digital advertising from a unified platform, so they can maintain an accurate, on-brand web presence without dependence on vendor support for routine changes
When a dealer or dealer group needs to control website content, pricing rules, and advertising across locations
Community evidence → Stable
The DealerRefresh community presents a sharply divided picture of Dealer.com. On the positive side, specific SEO wins are cited — one dealer reports jumping from position 40 to position 3 in weeks — and the platform is frequently named as a preferred primary website vendor over alternatives like Cobalt. However, persistent and serious negatives dominate the thread volume: dealers report paying premium prices ($599–$1,600+/month, sometimes OEM-mandated with no opt-out) while encountering extra fees for basic content changes, poor support responsiveness, widespread site outages, a critical meta-data cross-contamination bug affecting multiple clients' Google listings, and a URL vulnerability raising SEO and brand integrity concerns. Canadian dealers describe a particularly degraded experience following Auto Trader Canada's involvement. The overall community sentiment is that Dealer.com has strong platform potential but is undermined by reliability, pricing transparency, and service execution failures.
Pricing and fee transparency5 mentions
Support quality and responsiveness6 mentions
SEO performance4 mentions
Platform reliability and uptime3 mentions
Technical bugs and data integrity3 mentions
Dealer control over website content4 mentions
OEM-mandated vendor lock-in2 mentions
Canadian market / Auto Trader Canada degradation2 mentions
Platform preference vs. competitors (Cobalt, DealerOn, Clickmotive)4 mentions
Inventory video and multimedia capabilities2 mentions
Multi-store / group-level access and management1 mention
210 mentions · 42 positive · 42 negative · Scored from 20+ years of candid DealerRefresh discussion. Scores shift as new conversations happen.
NEGATIVE
"struggles with tracking form submissions and abandonment on CDK Global and Dealer.com platforms, which lack standard thank you pages needed for ROI measurement"
Thank you pages, Form abandonment tracking →
NEGATIVE
"We're a HomeNet subscriber, so I doubt dealer.com solution will work."
Mobile Site Suggestions →
NEGATIVE
"A dealer manager seeking to replace Dealer.com due to OEM-imposed limitations discusses alternative website vendors"
Looking for new website vendor. How does DealerOn stack up? →
NEGATIVE
"WordPress has genuine technical advantages—cleaner code, SEO-friendly architecture, ease of use, and better indexing—that give it an edge over dealer-specific CMS platforms like Dealer.com even before accounting for content strategy."
Wordpress, the new 500lb Gorilla? →
NEGATIVE
"Dealer.com's platform was inflating direct traffic metrics in Google Analytics for approximately 16% of their client sites due to tracking code from a third-party Edmunds.com integration that was overwriting Google session IDs with each website event."
Is Dealer.com corrupting your data? →
NEGATIVE
"whether DealerCarSearch.com is a viable alternative to Dealer.com for a group portal website, with nearly unanimous negative feedback citing limitations in platform sophistication, poor technical support knowledge (particularly around analytics tracking), weak backend CMS usability, limited add-ons/integrations, and aggressive/misleading sales tactics that have led clients to switch away"
Experience using DealerCarSearch.com →
NEGATIVE
"A dealer questions whether DDC (dealer.com) is overcharging at $1,000/month in fixed management fees for search and display advertising services compared to competitors in the digital advertising space. The post raises concerns about DDC's pricing competitiveness despite their market-leading position"
Is DDC (dealer.com) charging higher from their clients? →
NEGATIVE
"technical failures in website widgets (like Dealer.com) that don't load properly"
Seriously, Even AutoNation Can't Get Their Specials Pages Right? →
NEGATIVE
"A 100-vehicle independent dealer using Dealer.com seeks vendor recommendations after experiencing slow technical support and unresolved issues."
Website vendor recommendations →
NEGATIVE
"after a poor experience with dealer.com"
Help Needed in Choosing Digital Advertising Company →
NEGATIVE
"A dealer encountered a confusing survey question from Dealer.com/Cox that offered only "Strongly Agree" and "Strongly Agree" as response options, making it impossible to provide a differentiated answer."
Dealer.com / Cox Survey... Nice scale? →
NEGATIVE
"frustrated with excessive fees for basic customizations (like a $299 blog setup and $99/month for social media icons) and lack of control over their own website"
Thinking of dropping Dealer.com →
NEGATIVE
"companies like Dealer.com and Dealer Specialties could face legal action"
SiSTeR Technologies Granted a Patent for the Pictures-To-Video →
NEGATIVE
"his current V-Auto/Conquest system cannot push individual rebates to dealer.com, forcing manual rebate selection across three separate websites. The workflow is inefficient and time-consuming."
Pricing New Car Inventory →
NEGATIVE
"A dealer frustrated with Dealer.com's slow update processes and restricted customization options seeks alternative website providers"
Dealer.com is driving me nuts, what is the best alternative? →
NEGATIVE
"technical frustration with platforms like Dealer.com's separate mobile subdomain that lack proper analytics tracking and responsive design"
The Rise of Mobile In Automotive Shopping →
NEGATIVE
"WordPress emerging as the consensus recommendation over alternatives like Weebly and dealer.com tools due to its flexibility and SEO benefits"
Post your blog - bloggers discussion thread →
NEGATIVE
"I was 8 steps into the Dealer.com party at NADA before some VIN sales guy starts pitching me. I looked at him and said 'are you serious?..I'm at a party and your going to approach me, not even know my name and hard pitch me? Get lost!'"
Silly Shit in the car business! Post your favorite! →
NEGATIVE
"participants identifying and debating several vendors including MakeMyDeal, DealerSuccess Virtual Deal, Shop Click Drive, and Dealer.com's digital retailing product. The conversation reveals skepticism about the maturity of these solutions, with one dealer characterizing them as glorified "make an offer" buttons or clunky combinations of traditional forms that lack meaningful functionality."
Automotive Digital Retailing - Who offers a full solution for dealerships? →
NEGATIVE
"the thread reveals only three to four options exist (CDK, Naked Lime, Search Optics, and possibly Dealer.com), though participants caution these vendors deliver limited results"
Companies for SEO Overhaul on Website →
NEGATIVE
"concern about data consolidation across Cox's portfolio (Dealer.com, AutoTrader, Manheim, XTime, KBB, and others)"
Cox Automotive to buy Dealertrack in $4 bln all-cash deal →
NEGATIVE
"proprietary dealer CMS systems (CDK, Dealer.com, DealerOn), with advocates praising WordPress's creative freedom and ability to add custom code, while critics argue proprietary platforms offer better stability"
Is Wordpress better than the rest? →
MIXED
"An internet manager at a large dealership using Dealer.com seeks ways to gain more customization control, specifically through inline CSS access, and encounters frustration with the platform's limitations... while one user provides the key solution: requesting 'Advanced Composer Access' from Dealer.com, which grants enhanced customization rights under a liability agreement. The thread reveals that while Dealer.com is restrictive by default, in-house technical staff can negotiate greater flexibility if they're willing to take responsibility for changes."
Dealer.com and inline CSS →
MIXED
"An alleged Dealer.com/DDC employee circulated an email warning clients about "drastic changes" starting May 1st, sparking debate about the company's management and account structure. Responses were mixed: some dismissed the complaint as unprofessional whining about manageable workloads and excellent benefits, while others acknowledged underlying issues with organizational change fatigue and constant strategy shifts under Cox Automotive ownership."
Dealer.com Advertising is a no go according to DDC themselves →
MIXED
"Bob George of Dealer.com, with particular focus on Dealer.com's website platform performance and SEO concerns that had generated community discussion... George addresses technical issues and platform challenges raised by dealers."
RefreshFriday - Ep. 1 - Mike Phillips of McCloskey Motors and Bob George of DDC →
MIXED
"A dealer unable to locate the Total Control Dominator feature in Dealer.com's control panel discovers that the "Advertising" tab wasn't displaying in their interface due to a backend configuration issue that required Dealer.com support to fix. The thread reveals that Dealer.com occasionally has account setup and feature visibility problems, though one respondent notes the platform's strength is enabling multi-level access (single store and group level) through a unified login system."
Help with Dealer.com's Total Control Dominator →
MIXED
"Automotive dealers and vendors share overwhelmingly positive experiences with Dealer.com, praising the company's listening skills, flexibility, vision, and account representatives across multiple posts. Key strengths highlighted include customizable site-building tools, an impressive facility in Burlington, Vermont, and reliable vendor support. The main caveat is that Dealer.com's Canadian operations (handled by CanadaTrader/Auto Trader) have received notably poor reviews, suggesting a significant quality difference between their U.S. and Canadian services."
My Visit To Dealer.Com →
MIXED
"Dealertrack Technologies announced its acquisition of Dealer.com for approximately $620 million in cash plus 8.7 million shares, combining two major automotive software providers. Forum participants expressed optimism about the deal, though opinions varied on execution—some hoped Dealer.com's superior design and user interface would improve Dealertrack's products"
Dealertrack agrees to buy Dealer.com? YES →
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