DealerSocket Plans to Acquire Auto/Mate

Automotive software provider DealerSocket says it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Auto/Mate, a dealership-management-system software supplier.

“Bringing together DealerSocket and Auto/Mate will be a game changer for our customers, our companies, and the entire industry,” says DealerSocket CEO Sejal Pietrzak.

The plan is to unite Auto/Mate’s DMS technology with DealerSocket’s dealer-oriented products that include customer-relationship-management software.

“For a long time, DealerSocket has believed that combining our companies could offer dealers a much-needed new choice for a full platform solution,” Pietrzak says, foreseeing “tremendous opportunities for innovation.”

Auto/Mate and DealerSocket have been partners for years, with many joint customers, says Auto/Mate CEO Mike Esposito. “We could not have found a better home for our technology, employees, and customers than DealerSocket.”

In 2018, dealership information technology provider CDK Global was finalizing an announced acquisition of Auto/Mate.

But the Federal Trade Commission stepped in, declaring its intention to block the Goliath-and-David union. That killed the deal. CDK and competitor Reynolds & Reynolds dominate the dealership IT marketplace.

“It became obvious the FTC felt CDK was buying from a defensive point of view; that we were having a disproportionate effect on their business,” Larry Colson, Auto/Mate chairman, managing partner and chief technology officer, told Wards in an interview last year.

DealerSocket and Auto/Mate will continue to operate separately until an official close has been announced.

If this deal goes through, unlike the abandoned CDK-Auto/Mate proposal, the combined company will have more than 9,000 dealership customers and 300,000 active users.

“I am excited to welcome Auto/Mate’s team to DealerSocket, and we look forward to investing further in our joint products and our teams as we continue to deliver for our customers,” Pietrzak says.