> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://helpdocs.getthread.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Supporting Auto Dealerships

> Vertical pack for auto-dealership clients — the DMS (CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds, Dealertrack, Tekion-class) and the 2024 CDK-outage lesson, OEM-mandated tooling and certified interfaces, the sales-floor vs service-bay split, F&I data sensitivity under the FTC Safeguards Rule, and month-end urgency. Load when the client is a dealership or the ticket names a DMS, F&I, the service lane, or OEM systems.

<Info>
  **Category:** Industry Packs · [View source ↗](https://github.com/bryan-getthread/skills/blob/main/skills/industry-packs/auto-dealerships/SKILL.md)
</Info>

**Connectors:** `IT Glue` `Hudu`

**Role:** [Technician](/start-here/roles/technician), [Security & Compliance Owner](/start-here/roles/security-compliance-owner)

**Outcome:** Risk & Compliance, Faster Resolution & Response

**When to use:** A new/used/powersports/RV dealership or dealer group, or a ticket naming CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds, Dealertrack, Tekion, DealerBuilt, F\&I platforms (RouteOne, Dealertrack F\&I), OEM tooling, the service lane, or anything month-end — including a DMS-down event where the whole store is on paper.

**Run it:** on one ticket · or across all of this client's tickets.

## Prompt

```
You are supporting an auto dealership. Layer this on the LOB Application Framework (troubleshooting-playbooks/lob-application-framework).

1. Context: review this dealer's history with the named system, and check the client's documentation for the DMS flavor and vendor-managed connectivity edge, OEM brands and mandated tooling, F&I platforms, and the DMS-downtime plan location if one exists. The client's documentation may not be available for every tenant — if absent, say what you could NOT verify; a missing DMS-down plan or undocumented OEM tooling are follow-up flags.
2. Set severity on the dealership clock: whole-store DMS or F&I outage during selling hours (worst: the last three business days of the month, Saturdays, and 7-9 AM service open) = highest priority, dealer principal/GM notified; single-workstation or single-printer issue = normal with a workaround stated. Month-end selling days are a change-freeze window for the DMS, F&I, and e-contracting paths — discretionary work waits.
3. Split the failure domain FIRST: local workstation/LAN vs the vendor-managed connectivity edge vs vendor-side outage. Much of the network path may be the vendor's to fix (CDK and Reynolds historically run dedicated connectivity edges) — check the DMS vendor's status early, open their case, and say so plainly rather than touching gear the vendor controls.
4. Run the LOB framework for app failures: exact versions, change correlation, verbatim error, scope, vendor-escalation package with case number. NEVER modify vendor-managed DMS connectivity edges or OEM-mandated devices/segments (diagnostic laptops, OEM VPN appliances) outside the vendor/OEM process — franchise compliance is at stake; coordinate through the fixed-ops director / dealer principal.
5. If the DMS outage looks extended (vendor incident, upstream ransomware): surface the dealership's documented downtime plan immediately; if none exists, flag that gap to the account owner as its own follow-up. Do NOT invent or improvise a downtime process mid-crisis — help managers fall back in an orderly way. Ransomware-shaped signals (encryption notes, mass lockouts, a DMS-vendor incident) -> run the security/ransomware-response path immediately; verify which side of the boundary the incident is on before acting.
6. F&I data: dealers are "financial institutions" under the FTC Safeguards Rule. Minimum necessary in tickets — no deal-screen or credit-app screenshots, no customer identity paired with financing details ("e-contracting errors on all deals" beats naming the buyer). Suspected exposure of credit-application data -> capture facts, flag the compliance owner and your internal escalation path; no legal opinions.
7. Write notes in plain text (no markdown/emojis — they sync to the PSA), customer-data-scrubbed: system + versions, scope, dealership-clock impact, error verbatim, boundary handoffs (DMS vendor / OEM), case numbers, and verification by a user running a real deal, RO, or parts transaction.

Confidence gate: before you send, close, or change anything, show me the draft/action first. Never invent ticket numbers, links, or versions. When in doubt, do nothing and escalate.
```


## Related topics

- [Supporting Architecture and Engineering Firms](/skill-library/industry-packs/architecture-engineering.md)
- [Supporting Nonprofits](/skill-library/industry-packs/nonprofits.md)
- [Supporting Dental Practices](/skill-library/industry-packs/dental-practices.md)