Cox Automotive and VINCUE issued statements to CDG News responding to last week’s news that the two would cut direct ties effective March 31.
Cox Automotive said it must act when terms of its data ecosystem are violated, the company wrote in an emailed statement to CDG News on Monday, though it didn’t name any specific entity.
“Our approach to data governance is straightforward: when misuse of our data or platforms is identified - whether through unauthorized credential access, misuse of API agreements, or use of data outside agreed terms - we work directly with the party involved to address and remedy the issue,” Cox representatives said in an emailed statement.
Full statement shared with CDG News by Cox Automotive
Meanwhile, VINCUE CEO Chris Hoke told CDG News via text that it has “always operated in good faith and in full compliance with the terms of its data supplier agreements.”
“We stand behind that record without reservation,” Hoke wrote. “Genuine contract compliance concerns are resolved through direct dialogue. We continue to leave that opportunity open.”
How we got here: Dealers using VINCUE learned last week that they would need to access Manheim Market Report (MMR) and Kelley Blue Book (KBB) data through direct links, as it would not be available natively in VINCUE after March 31.
VINCUE shared this news with dealers in a letter dated March 19 that was shared with CDG News the following morning.
The letter also contained VINCUE’s announcement of a new suite of tools launching April 1 at no additional cost, including a Predictive Market Report (PMR), an AI-driven wholesale valuation tool built to replace MMR’s offerings.
Early reactions: The day the news broke, Andy Wright, managing partner at Vinart Dealerships, appeared on Daily Dealer Live to share his thoughts. He also shared a public post to LinkedIn, calling the situation “frustrating news this week for my stores and for any dealer using VINCUE.”
"There's really no plausible explanation, or I should say, there's no express explanation for why. I think we could all speculate," Wright told Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc at the time, emphasizing that his comments were just speculation.
Andy Wright
He wondered whether the change extended beyond MMR and KBB and would also include removing Autotrader VDP and SRP data from native VINCUE integration.
Many dealers and industry folks responded to Wright’s March 20 LinkedIn post, which had garnered (by publication time) 194 reactions, 41 comments, and 19 reposts, with dealers and operators largely echoing Wright’s sentiments.
OUTSMART THE CAR MARKET IN 5 MINUTES A WEEK
Get insights trusted by 55,000+ car dealers. Free, fast, and built for automotive leaders.
Looking ahead: Whatever happens next, one commenter on CDG’s LinkedIn post about the news said the situation raises the question of who really controls the data that dealers rely on.
CDG News reached out to the commenter, Todd Smith, CEO of QoreAI, who told us that though most dealers think they have control, they're actually operating inside vendor-defined walls.
"If the data can't move freely, it's not yours," Smith said, and shared these points to measure data control:
Raw data access, not just UI access: If a dealer can't extract clean, structured data from their DMS or CRM without friction, they're renting, not owning.
An independent data layer: A separate system consolidating sales, service, CRM, website, and inventory data outside of any single vendor.
Identity resolution: Most dealers have three to five versions of the same customer across systems. Real control means one unified customer record.
No single point of failure: If one vendor gets shut off and operations break, that's exposure, not control.
Portable intelligence: Audiences, segments, and insights should travel with the dealer. If a dealer switches vendors, the data and intelligence should go, too.
For added framing: Smith shared a hypothetical situation to help explain.
Pretend a customer named Sarah browses a Tahoe on the dealer's website. She's serviced there before. She has equity. She lives nearby.
"That's a deal sitting in your data," Smith said.
The problem, as he explained, is that at most dealerships today, Sarah’s story is split across four systems with no connection. Meaning, Sarah gets a generic email, maybe a random call, but there’s no context, leaving the dealer to think more leads are needed.
In a dealership with real data control, however, all of that is unified from the start, Smith explained. The system recognizes Sarah as a known customer, an active shopper, with a strong trade position.
From there, sales gets a task with context. Messaging matches her actual behavior. And everyone sees the same profile.
"Disjointed is reacting to fragments," Smith said. "Controlled is acting on a complete picture."
Editor’s note: Given the interest expressed by dealers in Cox Automotive’s response, CDG News has opted to include the full statement in this article, though that is not common for editorial pieces.
A quick word from our partner
Relying on paid search to sell cars is getting more expensive (and less predictable).
Cars.com puts your inventory in front of 26 million monthly shoppers who are actively in-market.1 That’s why referrals from our site to yours convert at an 89% higher rate than traffic from Google Ads.2
And here’s what most dealers miss: 64% of Cars.com shoppers don’t visit CarGurus and 69% skip AutoTrader.3 That’s incremental demand you can’t reach anywhere else.
1 Cars Commerce Internal Data, FY 2025, 2 SimilarWeb Audience Overlap, Q1 - Q3 2025, 3 DI website GA4 data, Q2 2025
