SAN ANTONIO – At least one San Antonio car dealership is feeling the impact of a computer hack that has been affecting a large portion of that industry.
Specifically, a computer system by an Illinois-based company, CDK Global, was hit by ransomware earlier this week.
As a precaution, that company reportedly shut down the system, which it says is used by more than 15,000 auto dealerships across the country.
“CDK makes it really easy for dealers to do business in a short amount of time,” said April Ancira, vice president of the Ancira Auto Group. “So it’s beneficial to the customer, as well.”
Ancira said her dealerships have been working without the all-inclusive computer system since Wednesday.
Dealers throughout the industry used the system to manage everything from car sales to service to keeping track of inventory.
Without it, her employees have had to “go old school a little bit,” relying on some of their former techniques and technology to get by, Ancira said.
“We’re actually able to get some of the information from little bits of different software,” she said. “We’re doing some of that. We’re doing some handwriting.”
Ancira said as a result some of the processes are going a bit slower than normal. She said customers, thankfully, have been patient.
KSAT 12 News also called several other major dealerships in the city. None of them responded to the phone calls.
Some of the smaller car dealers said they do not use the CDK computer system.
Other dealerships across the country, meanwhile, have shut down all together due to the computer system outage.
“There was a moment of, ‘Ok, what’s at stake? What will we be able to do?,” Ancira said.
What does not appear to be at stake, she said, is any personal customer information. She said the ransomware targeted CDK as a company, aiming to stop it from doing business.
However, Ancira said ultimately, ordinary people are inconvenienced by it.
“When something like that happens, (it affects) the employees’ families and their ability to put food on the table,” she said. “Customers need their cars repaired that maybe need to go to dialysis or cancer treatment.”
At this time, there has been no word from CDK on when the outage might end, or when they’ll all be able to put these troubles in their rearview mirrors, Ancira said.
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