CLEVELAND, Ohio — Many of Greater Cleveland’s dealerships had to resort to using pen and paper in June amid , and it showed in June’s sales figures. Dealerships in and around Cleveland sold 16,438 new vehicles in June, down 16% compared to the 19,401 sold in June 2023, according to the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association’s monthly reports covering 21 counties. “The disruption of the dealership DMS (Dealership Management System) for those on the CDK platform definitely had an effect on new and used vehicle sales at the end of June,” said Louis Vitantonio, president of the Dealers’ Association CDK Global is a company that provides software to 15,000 dealerships across North America.
It was hit with two cyberattacks in June, which led to many dealerships having to do things the old-fashioned way on pen and paper, instead of using a computer. The company’s software is used for everything from financing loans to calculating the cost of repairs — and dealerships are still without it. “We expect the systems to be back online in the next few days, which pushes recording of many sales into the month of July,” Vitantonio said in the monthly report.
Despite the dip in June, for the car dealerships are still positive. Combined Greater Cleveland’s car dealerships sold 106,924 new vehicles through six months, up from 105,220 at the same time in 2023. It’s the best sales have looked at the six-month mark since 2021.
Sales from 2021 are a bit of an a.
