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With Time Running Out, Auto Dealers Are Counting on Computer Solutions Providers to Help Them Prepare for the New Millennium

12 October 1999

With Time Running Out, Auto Dealers Are Counting on Computer Solutions Providers to Help Them Prepare for the New Millennium

    HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 12 -- As the new millennium fast
approaches, auto dealers are working closely with their computer solutions
providers to ensure their Dealer Management Systems (DMS) are Y2K ready.
    If a dealer's DMS or other in-house equipment is misinterpreting dates, it
can crash or create critical errors in accounting records, invoicing, parts
ordering, payroll and many other vital applications, said John Gray, senior
vice president, Development and Marketing for ADP Dealer Services, a leading
DMS provider.
    "ADP began shipping Y2K-ready upgrades to its DMS customers as early as
1996 and those systems should all now be Y2K ready," Gray said.  "But there
are other computers in the dealership -- in diagnostic equipment, heating
systems, phone and security systems.  Those have to be checked, too."
    While ADP dealers should have received and installed all Y2K-ready
software upgrades for their DMS by now, ADP said it has put in place a plan to
walk dealers through any problems they might encounter when they open their
doors for business on Saturday, Jan. 1.  Company support and system
development offices will be open Saturday and Sunday to handle calls.  And
should power go out at any one office, phone service will be rolled over to
the nearest site that's up and operational, Gray said.
    "We're ready for it," says Eleanor Ziobert, Plan Administrator for
Austintown Chrysler-Plymouth, Youngstown, Ohio.  "My vendor is making sure our
computer system is updated, Y2K compliant and working smoothly."
    Doug Tart, VP and General Manager for Robert G. Waters, Lakeland, Fla.,
began checking into his dealership's Y2K readiness last spring.  Along with
updating his DMS, Tart sent out letters to suppliers, utility companies and
equipment manufacturers, asking them to verify their products as Y2K
compliant.  He also used NADA's management guide as a reference tool to check
equipment vulnerable to the Y2K bug.
    Dealing with DMS Y2K issues is a huge task, even with the help of outside
experts.  Said Brad Gamble, Systems Administrator for Penske Automotive Group,
El Monte, Calif., "Whatever happens, this is one deadline that's absolutely
not going to be extended."
    For more information, see ADP Dealer Services' Web site:
http://www.adp.com/home/dealer.html .