More than a week after a cyberattack on a service provider disrupted their operations, many car dealerships are functioning slower than usual this weekend.

About the Attack

Like many industries, car dealerships today function thanks to specialized software packages. Dealership Management Systems (DMS) software helps service staff book appointments and track and order parts. The software helps sales staff order new cars, track inventory, process payments, and perform credit checks.

Several companies compete to provide dealerships with DMS software. One of the largest, CDK Global, shut down most of its systems on June 18 and 19 after a cyberattack.

The company hasn’t formally explained the problem. Most companies subject to significant cyberattacks don’t. Bloomberg reports that Black Suit, an Eastern European cybercrime group, has demanded an extortion fee of tens of millions of dollars from CDK. As of Monday, Bloomberg reported that CDK plans to make the payment.

Some Dealerships Are Back Online, but Most Are Still Slowed

Paying the ransom demand, however, doesn’t bring systems back online quickly.

“There’s never been a story written on a company that successfully paid a ransom, and then quickly recovered their systems,” Eric Noonan, CEO of cybersecurity provider CyberSheath, told CNN.

Industry publication Automotive News reports that CDK is taking a “phased approach to restoring services.” The company reportedly brought two dealership groups back online, including Group 1 Automotive, which operates over 200 dealerships.

However, the company claimed 15,000 customers on the first day of the outage. So many dealerships remain hobbled.

Most dealerships are open and conducting business even with their systems down. They’ve reverted to paper processes or have engaged separate web services that don’t interact, slowing everything from checking a customer’s credit to ordering replacement parts.

Bring Your Patience to the Dealership

With some dealerships running slower than usual, shoppers should be prepared.

Our recommendations:

• Call Ahead. CDK hasn’t made a list of its clients public. You can’t know if your local dealership has been affected without calling ahead. If you’re spreading your shopping across several days, you might benefit from visiting unaffected dealerships this weekend and saving test drives of cars at affected dealers until after the attack has been resolved.
• Allow More Time Than Normal. If a dealership you must visit is impacted, be prepared for any transaction to take longer than usual. Most dealers can still check credit, accept payments, and generate contracts, but they will be forced to use slower-than-normal processes.
• Consider Shopping on a Weekday Instead. Weekends are the busiest days of the week for car dealers. If you return during the week, you’ll have less competition from other shoppers, and dealers will have more time for you.

Cox Automotive, the parent company of Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, owns CDK competitor Dealertrack.