CDK's car dealer software still not fully restored after cyberattack

CDK Global continues to struggle with the aftermath of a major cyberattack , with some of the software services the company provides to thousands of car dealerships around the U.S. still not fully functional.

CDK told CBS MoneyWatch on Monday that it expects all of its dealer customers to have access to the company's management platform by no later than July 4, meaning some businesses can still expect to be down for several more days.

"We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process and are rapidly bringing dealers live on the Dealer Management System," the company said in a statement. "We anticipate all dealers connections will be live by late Wednesday, July 3 or early morning Thursday, July 4."

Fallout from the ransomware attack has dragged into a third week for the 15,000 car dealerships that rely on CDK's sales, inventory management and customer relations systems to run their businesses. CDK on Saturday said the company was making progress in restoring its systems for all of its clients.

"We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process. We have successfully brought two small groups of dealers and one large publicly traded dealer group live on the Dealer Management System," a CDK spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "We are also actively working to bring live additional applications — including our Customer Relationship Management and Service solutions — and our Customer Care channels."

In an automated recording on a helpline for dealership clients, the company also said that it has resumed fielding customer service calls.

"We are happy to report that our customer care support channels are now live. As of today, you can call us for assistance," the company said in the recording. CDK noted added that beginning Monday it will offer extended hours for customer service calls.

CDK said last week in a statement and recorded message to dealers that it did not expect services to be restored for all clients before June 30.

Car dealers say the CDK outage has hurt their business. The attack is expected to cut dealerships' June sales by about 100,000 vehicles, or more than 7%, compared with the same period in 2023, according to a forecast from J.D. Power. And an analysis from Anderson Economic Group estimated dealer financial losses stemming from the CDK outage at $944 million over the first three weeks following the attack as a result of business interruptions.

The disruption comes at an inopportune time for car buyers and sellers, slowing business during the traditionally busy summer selling season.

"June is one of the most important selling months for the auto industry, and we were expecting sales to be fairly strong," Tyson Jominy, vice president of data & analytics at J.D. Power, told CBS MoneyWatch.

However, many of the transactions that were not completed in June due to the attack could be finalized in July.