Switching systems
Changing your DMS, without losing a week of selling.
Most dealers stay on a system they have outgrown because the switch looks worse than the problem. It usually is not - but that depends entirely on questions worth asking before you sign. Here is what actually moves, what to ask any vendor, and how DealersCloud does it.
The real objection
It is never really about the software.
Ask a dealer why they have not moved off a system they complain about weekly and the answer is almost never a feature. It is the fear of losing eight years of customer history, of the lot vanishing from the marketplaces for three days, of a team that knows the old screens standing around on a Monday, and of an invoice for “data services” nobody mentioned during the demo.
Those are all legitimate. They are also all answerable in advance, in writing, by any vendor worth switching to.
What comes across.
- Historical inventory
- Units, their history and the records attached to them, not just what is on the lot today.
- Leads and customers
- The customer records and lead history your follow-up depends on.
- Images and documents
- Vehicle photos and the documents filed against deals and customers.
- Validation checks
- The transfer is checked rather than assumed, with data cleanup handled as part of it.
The checklist
Six questions to ask before you sign anything.
Put these to every vendor on your shortlist, including us, and get the answers in writing. The answers matter more than any feature list.
Who does the migration, and what does it cost?
Some vendors quote migration separately, some hand you an export file and wish you luck. Ask who does the work, what it costs, and what happens if the data comes across wrong.
What exactly comes across, and what does not?
Open inventory is the easy part. Ask specifically about deal history, customer notes, photos, documents, and — if you carry paper — active note balances and payment history.
How long is the store down?
A cutover that takes the store offline for a day costs more than most software. Ask for the actual downtime window, not the project length.
What happens to my website and my feeds?
Your listings on the marketplaces are driven by feeds. Ask how they are re-pointed and whether your inventory disappears from Cars.com or CarGurus during the switch.
Who trains the team, and when?
A system nobody can use on Monday morning is not live. Ask whether training is role-specific and whether it happens before or after cutover.
What does leaving look like?
Ask on the way in, not on the way out: can you export your own data, in what format, and is there a fee. A vendor confident in its product will answer plainly.
Our answers
How DealersCloud does it.
The migration is done by the DealersCloud team, including data cleanup and validation, and it is handled at no extra cost. Historical inventory, leads, customer data, images and documents are transferred and checked, not exported and handed over. The transfer is designed for zero downtime, so the store keeps selling through it.
Implementation runs from demo to go-live in hours rather than months, in four steps: discovery and demo, system configuration, data migration, then go-live with role-specific training so the team is working on day one.
Or do not switch
If the problem is only after-hours leads, there is a smaller move.
Plenty of stores looking at a migration do not actually have a DMS problem. They have a coverage problem: leads arriving at night, calls nobody picks up at lunchtime. DealersAI is sold on its own as well as inside the platform, so you can solve that without touching the system your team already knows.
Questions
Switching, answered.
- Can I migrate from my current dealer management system?
- Yes. DealersCloud supports migration from all major DMS platforms, including DealerCenter and Frazer. The team handles the entire migration process, including data cleanup and validation.
- How long does switching take?
- Implementation runs from demo to go-live in hours rather than months. It follows four steps: discovery and demo, system configuration, data migration, then go-live and training.
- Will my dealership be down during the switch?
- No. The data transfer is designed as a zero-downtime secure transfer of your historical inventory, leads and customer data, so the store keeps selling while it happens.
- What does migration cost?
- Migration is handled at no extra cost, and data migration assistance is part of the platform rather than a separate line on the quote.
- What if I do not want to switch systems at all?
- Then do not. DealersAI is also sold on its own and runs alongside the DMS, website and phone number you already use, so you can fix lead response and phone coverage without a migration.
Ask us the six questions.
A specialist will answer them for your store, in writing, before anything is signed.
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