CDK Global resolves antitrust case with $600 million settlement

Dealership management software company CDK Global has announced on its official Linkedin page that it will be paying $600 million to settle a class action lawsuit that alleges the tech provider engaged in anti-competitive business practices. CDK will pay out the settlement over three years using cash on hand.  

“CDK decided to settle the long-standing case now, while not admitting any wrongdoing in order to move forward and focus our whole attention on our dealers and our OEMs,” CEO Brian MacDonald said in the video announcement.   

Driving the news: 244 software vendors that purchased integrations with CDK as far back as 2013 joined forces to sue the company for allegedly violating antitrust laws and suppressing competition.

• The lawsuit was first filed by software provider AutoLoop in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in 2018, but was only recently certified as a class action last summer.

• The defendants claim that CDK restricted access to data and levied hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges.

• In July 2024, a judge ruled that CDK Global must face the class action lawsuit. 

• CDK Global’s parent-company Brookfield Business Partners, was aware of, and inherited the lawsuit after acquiring CDK in 2022, according to CDK Global.

“The bottom line is that resolving this dispute is a good outcome not just for CDK, but for all players in the industry,” MacDonald added.

Worth noting: A settlement is not an admission of guilt and CDK Global continues to deny any wrongdoing.

Flashback: Last September, CDK agreed to settle an antitrust suit for $100 million that claimed the company was colluding with rival Reynolds and Reynolds to inflate dealership management system (DMS) prices and suppress competition. CDK also settled with Authenticom over similar claims in 2020. And in 2019, CDK settled another antitrust lawsuit with Cox Automotive.

Looking ahead: More recently last December, Tekion, another competitor, is claiming CDK has a history of anti-competitive and unfair business practices to compensate for its “outdated” technology, including an attempt to block dealer group Asbury Automotive from participating in a new Tekion pilot program. CDK called the suit “low on substance and high on rhetoric” and a “marketing stunt." 

*CDK Global has not yet responded to Car Dealership Guy News’ request for further comment.

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