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DealerRefresh — DealerRefresh Vendor Library
DealerRefresh is an independent online community, blog, and forum platform founded in 2004 that serves automotive dealership internet sales, marketing,…
About suggest a correction →
DealerRefresh is an independent online community, blog, and forum platform founded in 2004 that serves automotive dealership internet sales, marketing, and technology professionals. It provides news, best-practice articles, peer discussions, and vendor forums covering topics such as CRM, inventory management, website platforms, DMS integration, and digital marketing. It also offers advertising and sponsored content opportunities for automotive vendors seeking to reach dealership decision-makers.
What you do with it
tap into candid peer knowledge and vetted best practices from experienced industry professionals, so they can make more confident technology and strategy decisions without relying solely on vendor sales pitches
When navigating fast-changing digital retail, CRM, and marketing technology decisions
connect with a standing community of internet sales and marketing peers who understand their world, so they can build professional relationships and a sense of belonging in the industry
When feeling isolated inside their dealership or seeking to advance their career in automotive digital
coordinate in-person meetups and identify fellow community members worth connecting with face-to-face, so they can turn online relationships into real-world professional networks at conferences
When attending major industry events like NADA
Community evidence → Stable
DealerRefresh is broadly valued as a long-standing, collegial gathering place where automotive digital professionals exchange candid peer advice, celebrate milestones together, and coordinate real-world networking — a loyalty reflected in members returning after more than a decade away and in strong NADA meetup threads. The platform's independence and culture of openness are recurring positives. However, the community also surfaces honest friction: some members have felt frustrated by post-moderation delays and perceived declining activity, and the site has suffered meaningful technical disruptions including a server crisis that caused data loss and a redesign that removed valued member features. Founder Jeff Kershner's hands-on, passion-project stewardship earns goodwill even when it creates operational inconsistency.
Community belonging and collegial culture9 mentions
In-person networking coordination (NADA and conferences)4 mentions
Platform technical reliability and infrastructure issues3 mentions
Moderation delays and perceived activity decline2 mentions
Ongoing platform improvements and modernization3 mentions
Founder/community founder credibility and transparency4 mentions
Peer knowledge-sharing on digital marketing and technology5 mentions
Longevity and career growth alongside the platform3 mentions
69 mentions · 31 positive · 5 negative · Scored from 20+ years of candid DealerRefresh discussion. Scores shift as new conversations happen.
POSITIVE
"Community members push back on the vagueness and encourage open ideation per DealerRefresh's culture"
Car Sales Website Startup →
NEGATIVE
"DealerRefresh administrators launched a new forum platform (migrating from Vb to Xenforo) and opened this thread for users to report bugs and missing features. Multiple critical issues were identified including non-functional AJAX calls (affecting stats and hot threads), persistent login requirements, broken social sharing links, missing watched forums data, and an unintuitive multi-quote feature"
New Forum Design - Report Bugs here! →
NEGATIVE
"Jeff Kershner created a poll asking the DealerRefresh community to guess the real identity of "kcar," a member he accuses of trolling and adding little value to discussions."
Guess who kcar is! - POLL →
NEGATIVE
"After a recent server migration, the DealerRefresh admin team brought in outside technical support but couldn't reproduce the issue on their end"
Forum is not keeping me logged in →
NEGATIVE
"It's basically breaking our own DealerRefresh rules for self promoting and advertising within the forums."
QR Codes - In or Out? →
NEGATIVE
"A DealerRefresh user alleged that TK Carsites was purchasing fake Facebook likes through Microworkers"
Caught Buying Fake Facebook Likes & Possible Fake Lead Submissions On Microworkers? →
MIXED
"DealerRefresh completed a major website redesign on 2019 that launched after unexpected downtime, with the admin team working to rebuild lost staging content while addressing design refinements like integrating the blog and forum. Community feedback was largely positive about the cleaner aesthetic and smaller font, though one user requested the restoration of member achievement badges and experience categories that were removed due to platform compatibility issues with Xen2."
Redesign 2019 is LIVE →
MIXED
"DealerRefresh experienced a major server crisis in late January that resulted in lost data and new member registrations, prompting founder Jeff Kershner to spend three days manually recovering what he could. The community rallied around him with offers of help and appreciation, while Jeff worked through technical challenges with the new HiVelocity hosting platform, including database issues and missing comments that proved harder to restore than anticipated."
The shit hit the fan →
MIXED
"Members expressed frustration about post moderation delays and perceived decreased activity on DealerRefresh, with some finding the moderation offensive. Founder Jeff Kershner responded defensively, clarifying that traffic is actually growing and explaining that occasional moderation delays are unintentional byproducts of managing the site as a passion project"
Something new to DealerRefresh? →
MIXED
"Since DR is the only forum NOT sponsoring a conference this fall... some participants suggesting a DealerRefresh conference could offer a more authentic alternative focused on genuine discussion rather than vendor self-promotion."
Since DR is the only forum NOT sponsoring a conference this fall... →
NEUTRAL
"This thread compiles a crowdsourced glossary of automotive and dealership-specific acronyms used across the DealerRefresh forum"
Define the secret Acronyms →
NEUTRAL
"Alex Snyder from Dealer.com teases an unreleased product to be showcased at the NADA show, enlisting fellow DealerRefresh community members to help promote a private preview at their booth."
Screw the rules - I'm advertising! →
NEUTRAL
"A car salesperson struggling to generate leads asks the DealerRefresh community for advice on prospecting strategies and lead sourcing."
I am a salesperson and I need your help →
NEUTRAL
"The thread discusses a proposal to add a vendor rating and directory system to DealerRefresh similar to DrivingSales' model."
Automotive Vendor Ratings →
NEUTRAL
"Automotive industry professionals on DealerRefresh discuss their experiences playing Modern Warfare 2"
Modern Warfare 2 →
NEUTRAL
"a technical test of a comment bridge feature designed to sync comments between DealerRefresh forum posts and blog posts"
testing comment brdige →
NEUTRAL
"A DealerRefresh member shares a video recording from DSMC featuring Dale Pollak and Michael Rose"
Dale Pollak VS Michael Rose AT DSMC →
NEUTRAL
"why automotive internet departments underperform despite abundant knowledge sharing on DealerRefresh"
Why Would Anyone Post Helpful Hints to DealerRefresh? →
NEUTRAL
"Automotive dealers on DealerRefresh discuss the questionable scheduling of the 2009 Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville"
2009 Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville →
NEUTRAL
"Jake L opened his Jubilee Auto Group website for peer review on the DealerRefresh forum"
Review my website? →
NEUTRAL
"A DealerRefresh guest blog on workplace communication in the #MeToo era sparked a heated political debate"
Walking on Eggshells & #MeToo →
NEUTRAL
"Joe Pistell organizes an informal DealerRefresh happy hour for early arrivals to DD9"
DD9 Early Birds →
NEUTRAL
"Members of the DealerRefresh community share whether they're attending Digital Dealer 25"
Digital Dealer 25 Rollcall →
NEUTRAL
"Jeff Kershner explains how to use the ignore feature on DealerRefresh to filter out problematic posts"
How to IGNORE users on DealerRefresh - Settings →
NEUTRAL
"Eley Duke asks the DealerRefresh community for best practices on Google Places optimization"
Google Places for your Dealership →
NEUTRAL
"Dealers on DealerRefresh criticized CarGurus for publishing a blog post that stereotyped dealers as cheats and deceptive"
CarGuru's calls Dealers CHEATS →
NEUTRAL
"Jeff Kershner provides instructions on how to edit your DealerRefresh profile, including accessing settings from the dropdown menu in the upper left corner and editing your signature."
Editing your Profile, Photo, Signature and more... →
NEUTRAL
"Automotive marketing professionals on DealerRefresh organized a collaboration group using Google Wave"
Any other E-Commerce Directors, Internet Sales Managers, SEO's or Marketing Gurus also using Google →
NEUTRAL
"George Nenni asks the DealerRefresh community to share standout dealer examples of new and used vehicle photography"
People's Choice Awards for Best Vehicle Photos? →
NEUTRAL
"Joe Pistell solicited votes from DealerRefresh members for his son James's 2009 Mazda RX-8"
Uncle Joe needs your help →
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