in Newswire Published on February 2, 2018

Another Class Action Alleges CDK Global, Reynolds and Reynolds Co. Fixed Market for Auto Dealer Data Systems [UPDATE]

Last Updated on September 5, 2024

Massey Chrysler Center, Inc. et al. v. CDK Global, LLC et al.

Filed: January 25, 2018 ◆§ 2:18-cv-00042-GMB

CDK Global and the Reynolds and Reynolds Company face a second antitrust class action claiming they fixed prices for car dealerships' data management.

Defendant(s)

CDK Global, LLC The Reynolds and Reynolds Company

Law(s)

State(s)

Alabama

September 5, 2024 – CDK, Reynolds Settle Dealer Management System Lawsuit for Combined $130M

CDK Global and the Reynolds and Reynolds company have agreed to two separate settlements that together total nearly $130 million to resolve the proposed class action detailed on this page, which was consolidated with similar lawsuits to form multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Are you owed unclaimed settlement money? Check out our class action rebates page full of open class action settlements.

The $100 million CDK settlement received preliminary approval from the court on August 23, 2024. The $29.5 million Reynolds and Reynolds settlement received final approval from the court on January 23, 2019.

According to court documents, the CDK deal covers all individuals and entities in the United States who are engaged in the retail sale of automobiles and purchased a dealer management system from CDK and/or Reynolds, or any predecessor, successor, subsidiary, joint venture or affiliate, from September 1, 2013 through the date of the executed settlement agreement.

The Reynolds deal covers a class of dealerships that meet near-identical criteria, except dealer management system purchases must have been made from January 1, 2015 through October 23, 2018.

The official settlement website, DealershipClassDMSSettlement.com, says that notices about the CDK deal will start going out to class members on September 23, 2024. At that time, members of the CDK and Reynolds classes will be able to begin to submit claim forms on the official settlement website or by mail.

Reynolds settlement class members should have received notice of the deal in 2018, court documents say.

Class members who submit a timely, valid claim with supporting documentation will be eligible to receive a pro-rated share of the settlement fund based on the estimated damages they incurred during the relevant time period.

A final approval hearing for the CDK settlement is set for February 25, 2025. It is typically after a settlement receives final approval from the court, and any appeals or objections to the settlement are resolved, that payment begins to be distributed to class members.

ClassAction.org will update this page with any new settlement developments, so be sure to check back often.

Are you owed unclaimed settlement money? Check out our class action rebates page full of open class action settlements.

A second car dealership has filed an antitrust complaint against CDK Global, LLC and The Reynolds and Reynolds Company over allegations that the parties are behind a conspiracy to reduce competition and fix prices in the market for car dealerships’ data management systems (DMS).

The lawsuit explains a DMS is crucial to a car dealership’s operations in that it manages and tracks inventory, parts sales, customer information and even payroll, accounting and human resources details. Filed in Alabama, the proposed class action alleges the defendants have colluded to effectively lock auto dealers into long-term DMS contracts that sometimes last up to seven years. The terms for these deals, the complaint says, make it “inordinately difficult and expensive” for proposed class members to switch DMS providers.

The plaintiffs additionally allege the defendants’ competition-fixing conduct extends to the subsidiary data integration services (DIS) market, which applies to the data stored within auto dealers’ data management systems. The defendants, recognizing that dealers have a proprietary interest in their own information, aim to control said information by restricting access to integrators data that “extract, format, integrate, and organize data contained with DMS.”

“Both CDK and Reynolds have data integration products. The defendants misuse their control over dealers’ DMS data to dominate the DIS market,” the complaint asserts. “As evidenced by a written agreement, CDK and Reynolds conspired to cease competing with each other in order to bolster their own DIS products and to drive smaller data integrators from the DIS market.”

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