Data Management Systems

The overall satisfaction level in this category took a notable drop—not great news in a category that has never in five years seen a group average over 100. This may be due in part to the nature of this product set. Dealers unhappy with their DMS often find their situation compounded by frustration at being locked into a contract and unable to change providers without considerable expense.

However, one of last year’s winners was able to improve its score significantly. Arkona, a DealerTrack product, saw a 10-point bump from last year, enabling the company to pull away from the competition by nearly 17 points and claim the Diamond Award.

ADP was able to move up to take the Platinum Award, edging ahead by a mere three-tenths of a point (91.8) over Reynolds & Reynolds (91.5) who took the Gold Award. Auto/Mate, who was barely edged out, made its DCA debut with a fourth-place finish.