Buyer Guide
DMS integration guide for car dealers
Every dealer-tech vendor lives or dies by its DMS integration. Here is a neutral map of how CDK, Reynolds, Dealertrack, and Tekion actually expose data — and what it costs vendors (and, indirectly, you) to plug in.
INTEGRATION MODELS AT A GLANCE
Certified marketplace
CDK Fortellis, Dealertrack Opentrack
Certified interface
Reynolds RCI
Native REST API
Tekion ARC
Direct / file drop
Auto/Mate, PBS, Advent, DealerBuilt
DMS-by-DMS comparison
| DMS | Model | Stability | Vendor cost | Data access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDK Global — Fortellis | Certified marketplace (API) | High | $$ — per-integration certification fee | Read + write via Fortellis APIs; scope-gated |
| Reynolds & Reynolds — RCI | Certified interface (proprietary) | High | $$$ — highest per-vendor cost in the industry | Restricted; Reynolds gatekeeps schema and refresh cadence |
| Cox — Dealertrack Opentrack | Open certified program | High | $ — low or no per-vendor fee | Read + write; broadest certified vendor list |
| Tekion — ARC | Native REST API | High (cloud-native) | $ — no per-integration certification | Real-time read + write; modern OAuth2 |
| Auto/Mate, PBS, Advent, DealerBuilt, others | Direct API or file drop | Varies | Varies | Typically read-focused; write access negotiated per vendor |
What dealers should ask a vendor
- Which of our DMS platforms are you certified on today?
- Is data flow bidirectional, or read-only?
- What is the refresh cadence — real-time, hourly, or nightly batch?
- Who pays the certification fee — you, us, or both?
- What happens to the integration if we switch DMS?