CDK auto dealer software unlikely to be restored before June end, memo says

By Nora Eckert and Nathan Gomes

(Reuters) -CDK Global does not expect the cyber attack-led ongoing outage in its dealer management software, used by dealers across the United States, to be restored before the end of the month, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The car industry technology and software provider would not be able to get all dealers live before June 30, and has asked them to make alternate plans for their month-end financial closing processes, the memo CDK sent to dealers showed.

CDK's software is used by over 15,000 retail locations in the United States.

The company, which reported the cyber attack last week, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

In an interview with Automotive News, CDK CEO Brian MacDonald said he was communicating with "many dealers, OEMs and partners directly."

According to the report, CDK was "working around the clock with leading third-party experts to get dealers back to business as usual and as quickly as possible."

The ongoing CDK outage has forced some U.S. auto dealers to switch back to manual paperwork. It has impacted about half of Volkswagen dealers and around 60% of Audi's dealers in the United States, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Honda, Toyota and Hyundai said they were monitoring the situation to understand the impact of the outage.

Honda added it has directed dealers affected by the outage to use alternate tools and processes that would allow them to continue to conduct business while CDK systems remain offline.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes, Nora Eckert and Abhinav Parmar; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)