# Auto/Mate Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Auto/Mate the right Auto Dealer solution for you? Explore 60 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/51450/DealerSocket/reviews --- Auto/Mate 3.3 (60) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/51450/DealerSocket/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Auto/Mate Ease of use 3.2 Customer Service 3.0 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews CK Cydelle K Office ManagerAutomotive, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Easy to use, flexible for accounting, and reporting is decent“ October 31, 2024 CK Cydelle K Office ManagerAutomotive, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Also, tends to be a little slow responding at time.“ October 31, 2024 GD Gavin D Marketing ManagerAutomotive, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “DealerSocket is our dealership's go-to software for nearly everything, and each of our reps spend at least 6+ hours every day in it with very little complaints.“ August 18, 2020 Geoffrey L Project ManagerAutomotive, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I do not like Auto/Mate, because it's a bit complex, because it's free, it does not have a lot of integration of applications and can access another after culminating one, it's a bit old, but it works.“ March 31, 2022 JB Jon B RsdAutomotive, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I liked the automation and simplicity to set up campaigns along with reporting and alerts when customers engaged“ October 28, 2020 TD Tony D Internet Sales ManagerAutomotive, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Failed to properly print my forms correctly on many occasions.“ September 28, 2020 Geoffrey L Project ManagerAutomotive, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It is an easy-to-use tool that provides support when you need it.“ March 31, 2022 JB Jon B RsdAutomotive, 501 - 1,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It takes a long time to learn and unfortunately most do not even scratch the surface of capability.“ October 28, 2020 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 60 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Geoffrey L. Project Manager Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Excellent tool" March 31, 2022 5.0 Auto-Mate is an automation software of robotic processes through the RPA and BPA platform in order to automate business workflow in a comprehensive manner, it is a center for the perfection of automation to collect people, processes and technology Needed to increase the benefits of the business. automation. It is an easy-to-use tool that provides support when you need it. The Android version contains predetermined elections for beginner users, since as a tool it has a potential to save work time and recoil. Pros I like Auto/Mate, since it is a strategy of automation of companies with flexibility of the critical processes of a company to maximize efficiency in the organization. Cons I do not like Auto/Mate, because it's a bit complex, because it's free, it does not have a lot of integration of applications and can access another after culminating one, it's a bit old, but it works. Review Source GD Gavin D. Marketing Manager Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The Best Automotive CRM, Period." August 18, 2020 5.0 My overall experience has been extremely positive! DealerSocket is our dealership's go-to software for nearly everything, and each of our reps spend at least 6+ hours every day in it with very little complaints. We love DealerSocket! Pros DealerSocket has outdone itself with their fully-loaded CRM. It's simple enough that non-users can jump right in and feel like they know what they're doing, but it's incredibly rich in features that it would take month to learn how to utilize all of them. Cons Some features crash or don't work quite often, but it usually doesn't detract from the overall experience because support has been helpful whenever we call them. Alternatives considered [Dealertrack DMS](https://www.capterra.com/p/100994/Dealertrack-DMS/) Reason for choosing Auto/Mate DealerSocket was more intuitive and was seen as an overall better value than Dealertrack. Review Source DH Daniel H. Marketing Manager Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Do Not Purchase or Use!" August 24, 2018 1.0 Current problems are going unanswered and unsupported. Beyond just minor dealer problems. We found a huge error in the code that was causing vehicles sent to Ebay Motors from INV+ to not be categorized properly. After Ebay and us reported the issue in February, there is still no solution in sight, with Dealersocket sticking to their posistion of no ETA and no idea when an update might occur, since its now in different departments hands. This handing off issues from one product or department seems to be the M.O for Dealersocket. When pressured to give an ETA or answer they try and pass the blame onto another department. Support also seems to not know how one product may work with another. On numerous occasions a support agent would have to stop providing support once the issue would move to another product. With only a select few agents that could assist with a cross software issue. IE. An issue in IDMS that was affecting INV+ may never get a proper support person to help figure out a solution. As many have stated. We were unfortunately sold a product that could do everything. Come to find out Dealersocket can do everything, but nothing well. Save your money and look to another product. Pros As others have stated. The product was SOLD as being a one stop solution to a lot of our problems. However, we have come to find out the sales staff would lie to close a sale and promised functionality that was not available. Cons IDMS: We have been attempting to use IDMS for over a year now and are still running into huge bugs and issues. The most recent being that if a customer has a " ' " in their name then they are unsearchable. We have also been experiening issues with forms coming from the ignite website platform and creating "deals" when it is just a customer asking a simple question. Another glaring issue with IDMS is that you can not delete a customer from the system. So if you have a customer that was accidently entered twice, too bad, that Joe Smith is now in your system twice forever. CRM: We tried the CRM for 6 months and spent hours importing data and creating templates. Come to find out that when it came to emailing a customer a vehicle brochure. The brochure was hosted by a completely different team and therefore a vehicle brochure would never lead a customer to your website. The brochure is also not customizable so your logo and brand identity could never be incorporated. The CRM also allows for custom timed emails to be sent out. These turned out to require so much finessing and time to create for each scenario that in the end a sales person or BDC would have been better off creating an email themselves and tracking it in the CRM opportunity. INV+: We have been using for years. There have been minor problems when it comes to showing vehicles properly and exporting to 3rd party sites. However, most problems started arising when we made the connection to IDMS.... Review Source AF Allison F. Marketing/IT Director Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best Website & Inventory Platforms" March 6, 2019 5.0 Overall, this company is not one to take lightly. These guys are constantly coming out with bigger and better things while also keeping their support team top notch. There is not much more you can ask for from a consumer standpoint. Pros I have used many different inventory and website platforms, and Dealersocket is at the top of the competitors in both areas. This company is so innovative and constantly working to better the products they have to offer. Not to mention the support for all of the different products is the best I have ever experienced. There is no such thing as opening a case and waiting a week until you have to reach back out again and remind them about it. Everything has either gotten taken care of that same day or as fast as they possibly can. When it is not completed that same day, the support rep reaches out to me to update me on the status. That is very rare in this industry and is like a breathe of fresh air! Cons The only complaints I have are the capabilities of the website software and what is able to be changed and created by the dealer. I am very technologically inclined and have many ideas and projects for my websites and I have yet to find a provider that can keep up with my ideas and demands, but DealerSocket comes the closest and will always work with me on an idea and they will try to turn it into a reality for me. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Sales Representative Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "great way to track your store and your people" December 18, 2018 5.0 Very easy to use CRM, Black Bird has made it even easier to print paperwork and search for customer. Pros Dealersocket makes it so easy to track things. We all know if you want it to grow you have to track it. They have reports that can be emailed daily weekly or whenever. You are very easily able to change dates and get the data you want for the date ranges. You can filter things out. Easy to set up email campaigns and black bird makes it easy to complete the task. They have a mobile app that it makes even easier to add people to the CRM. Cons I wish you could make it possible to add text to follow up campaigns after customer has opted in. I would also like to be able to send more than one email per day to a customer. Review Source CV Cody V. Finance Director Automotive Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "AUTO/MATE IS A NIGHTMARE." April 24, 2024 2.0 Very unhappy. Wish my company never signed the contract. Pros The only positive to auto/mate is is at 6:00pm I get to shut it down and not have to worry about it till the next morning. Cons Everything, website feed integration is a nightmare, cannot print certain forms CDK can. Its just a way inferior product o CDK. Switched from [CDK Global](https://www.capterra.com/p/122988/CDK-Global/) Pressure from people who didnt know how to use CDK. Review Source Shelby S. President Automotive Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Worst experience ever" January 3, 2019 1.0 These guys will tell you and promise you anything to get you to sign up. As soon as you sign up, they hand you off to someone completely different and they know nothing about what was promised to you. Pros Nothing. One of the worst experiences I’ve ever had with a company Cons Beware of this company. These guys contacted us about improving our website. We had many conversations and eventually agreed to change to their service. After a couple months of extremely bad service from them including more errors on our website than I can count, not to mention they had a competing dealers info listed within our site, we switched to another company and requested to cancel our services with dealer socket. They have since harrassed us trying to force us to continue to pay for services from them which they failed to deliver. I strongly encourage anyone to stay away from this company. We have been online for over 15 years and never had any experience like this with any other web hosting companies Review Source Christopher B. Client Manager Automotive Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Very Confusing" November 5, 2018 3.0 Pros I like the fact that I can search my inventory fairly easily. I do like that pictures come up with them as well. The DealerSocket University is much needed. Without that, you would never know how to use it. Cons I do not think it is laid out very well. It can be hard to do a simple task like leave a note on a client. It seems very sporadic. The mobile app is actually MUCH easier to use than the actual site itself. If I need to add a customer into my system, I generally use the mobile app for my iPhone Review Source Crista H. Director of Marketing and Business Development Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Overall great CRM for Auto Dealers" December 21, 2018 4.0 Pros DealerSockets software can do a ton! There are a lot of features and it's very easy to use. Cons The wait times for support are sometimes too long. Review Source JB Jack B. Internet Sales Director Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Dealersocket is one of the better automotive vendor companies" July 9, 2018 4.0 Ease of moving inventory between digital retailing platforms. Appraising cars was as simple as a few clicks. Pros Dealersocket offers multiple software packages, from inventory control, used car appraisal to website hosting. This bundling allows for ease of use. Cons Customer support is difficult to reach. They have several barriers in place to actually reach a real person. The customer service agent is not always very understanding of an issue, and this can cost alot of money. Review Source CC Cody C. Owner Automotive Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "HORRIBLE!! SAVE YOURSELF THE FRUSTRATION!!" May 23, 2018 1.0 Honestly, nothing. Pros I wish I could say there was something that we liked but there just isn't. This is by far the most complicated and confusing CRM I have ever used!!!! Cons The system is WAY over complicated. I am on the phone with support on a daily basis. No one I have spoken to has ever been in the car business which is why the verbiage, schedules, templates, etc.., don't make any since. I have come to realize that several features of the software don't work correctly so they show you how to work around it instead of fixing it. Example, when a new lead comes in it is labeled as "unqualified", if you call the customer and try to leave a message on VM but there is no VM or its full; when you select "unable to leave message" it leaves the task open. The only way they tell you that you can complete the task is to select "spoke to customer" or "left message" and add a note that says you were unable to leave a message. This is only one small example of the confusion and inaccuracy of this CRM. On average I have to contact someone at Dealer Socket every other day to address a new issue and spend on average about 1.5 hours on the phone. Please save your dealership the headache and frustration and look into other CRM providers. Review Source JB Jon B. Rsd Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "DS" October 28, 2020 4.0 A good tool which requires time and patience to learn Pros I liked the automation and simplicity to set up campaigns along with reporting and alerts when customers engaged Cons Complicated. It takes a long time to learn and unfortunately most do not even scratch the surface of capability. Review Source CC Cameron C. Marketing Director Automotive Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great Sale - Little Follow Up" February 9, 2017 3.0 When we were looking to switch CRM providers, Dealersocket seemed like the best option after shopping around. During the switch, we lost a lot of notes and information about past customers despite being told that part would be seamless. When trying to fix it, I'd go multiple days without responses and would have to forward the sent email to more and more people. After Jan 1st we were given an account person to oversee us directly but they also aren't responding. They never did a 45 day follow-up in person despite being requested multiple times. I would not have chosen Dealersocket if I had a do-over. Pros Allows for more marketing connection with the customer. Online training was great. Cons Follow-up and follow-through are extremely lacking. Our sales people needed more on-site hands on assistance and we are unable to get it. Review Source MB Matthew B. Owner Automotive Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "HORRIBLE Watch out for the 3 year contract with Dealer Socket iDMS" December 4, 2017 1.0 A lot of frustration Pros They have a smooth sales staff that makes a three year contract. Cons Make sure you're ready for a 3 year commitment because they absolutely will not allow you to cancel unless you go out of business. The biggest and most expensive mistake I have made in the car business was by far signing a 3 year contract with Dealer Socket iDMS. I have requested to cancel my subscription several times because business is slow and the request has been denied. As a small Independent Dealer I would literally have been better off with any other software out there. I have never been treated so poorly like this by any company. Review Source JG Jon G. Parts & Service Director Automotive Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Dealer Socket...more for sales department" April 12, 2017 3.0 I have used Dealer Socket software for an automotive dealer service department. The website is not very user friendly and hard to easily access what you need. The appointment system is their best asset on the fixed operations side. Their follow up, campaigns and marketing features are extremely hard to use. Pros Appointment system Cons Not easy to navigate or set up features. Review Source DB Daniel B. Marketing Manager Automotive Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great product for any dealership! But needs some work." January 5, 2017 5.0 The product is great, we use it for all dealership in our group and it does the job just fine. Support can be a hassle sometimes when wanting to do something custom, but other than that, they are well trained and know their platform in and out. Pros The amount of features and follow up process we are able to do. Cons Needs a UI update. Review Source CR Christian R. Sales Automotive Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Best Dealership CRM I've used to date." October 27, 2016 4.0 Dealer socket is an easy to use feature full CRM! They tell you daily activities and you can chart them for a daily report. Makes it a great way to keep track of all your prospects. Pros easy to use Cons does not always log calls Review Source RU Rukshan U. Sales Manager Automotive Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Lost business" March 12, 2019 1.0 Pros It tried to simplify processes for agents to keep a neat appointment and followup log Cons Very difficult to implement among the team members, not very neat. Ended up not being used by most of sales agents, agents preferred to use their own notes. Review Source KJ Kristina J. Used the software for: ### "DealerSocket Review" February 10, 2017 5.0 Dealersocket is the program used for the Atlantic Auto Group's 22 dealerships. It has great ease of use, functionality, etc. that makes our 700 salespeople and BDC people alike more productive and better at their jobs. The only problem I've ever encountered is that unlike our previous CRM, dealersocket does not have the best calendar reminders. In previous CRM's when one sales associate left their customers would auto import into the sales associates associated with their team and they would be prompted to make calls. I wish dealersocket could integrate that feature into their system. Review Source MD Melissa D. Used the software for: ### "Awesome would tell people to use this!" November 3, 2016 5.0 I use this daily and it is great! Makes time notations of conversations tracks everything! The help line is amazing and friendly they are quick to assist and call you back and follow up with an email. I have complete trust in this system. Review Source CK Cydelle K. Office Manager Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Automate is overall great, but could be better in a few areas. " October 31, 2024 4.0 Pretty good, some changes I don't like, some are ok. Just needs a little bit of improvement. Pros Easy to use, flexible for accounting, and reporting is decent Cons Reporting could be improved, some users need multiple windows open as they work on many things at one time, and it doesn't always allow that. Superusers should be able to work in multiple screens and modules at the same time. Also, tends to be a little slow responding at time. I don't like the university being separated from the program now either. And it is hard to find things there too. Also it would be nice to setup recurring AP invoices too, we have a lot of those. Last request, posting of RO's from Service to accounting would be nice to see them right away instead of delayed. Understandable though. Review Source BW Bobby W. Service Manager Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Company That Cares About Their Clients!" October 21, 2021 5.0 It's been great, they're a great company. Pros There are so many good things about this system, but the one thing as a service manager I like the most is they have the option for a service department to schedule by technician which is something that no one else does and I don't know why. I hope they never get rid of this feature because there are still many departments out there that like to schedule that way and they show that they care about ALL of their customers by allowing this. Cons Really there are none, they could do better on some of their reports but other than that, the dealership I worked for loved this DMS. Review Source JF John F. Owner Automotive Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great for geeks (I guess), Not so great for car dealers" January 11, 2019 1.0 This product may be useful for a large dealership with it's own professional accountants on staff, but it is way too complicated, busy, and confusing for a small company that's just trying to sell cars and service notes. If you're the former, good luck - you're going to need it. If you're the latter, do yourself a favor and find something else. When I retired, I told them to cancel my service. After over a month's worth of emails (they don't return your phone messages), they finally told me I had to pay one more month's bill, because I didn't give them 30 days notice. I asked them to waive that in the interest of good customer relations since I hadn't used the product in over a month and I had been their customer for over 10 years. They refused. Pros After about a three month break-in (learning) period, it was fairly easy to complete a deal in about 30 minutes. That's the only "pro" I can think of. Lots of time spent "chatting" (they don't like to - no, won't - talk to you on the phone) during this break-in period. 95% of the learning was self-taught. Cons Customer support - unable to answer the simplest of questions (example - "How much total interest/principal has this customer paid, year to date?" Answer - "Figure it out for yourself."); unable to reconcile the simplest of problems (example - "What is 'non earning principal' and how do you come up with the amount?" No answer.) Support staff are not trained to talk to car dealers in simple, non accountant, non lawyer, layman's terms. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer IT Project Manager Automotive Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "The most poorly managed company I’ve ever dealt with" September 15, 2018 1.0 DS literally has NO service level agreements, no change management, no release management, they have never been able to give an eta or release date on any fixes. The sales team sold the system with the promise of functionality that doesn’t exist. They do not even know how to convert the data from their old system to the new. The release fixes without ever testing anything. We’ve had critical production issues that have been pending a fix for over 9 months. This is the most poorly managed company I’ve dealt with in 17 years. Pros Some of the project team really tried to help manage the issues with the company Cons \- most features don’t work - they can’t convert from their old software to their new. - not intuitive - missing core necessary data - system doesn’t support clear required compliance requirements for reporting or storing data - system functionality is inconsistent Review Source MD Mike D. G.M. Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Absolutely no support" July 21, 2018 2.0 Pros Buy here pay here program and reports are very good. BUT THAT'S IT!! Have plenty of reports and their custom report builder is good. Their CRM (dealersocket) cannot push all of the credit app. info over to their own dms (finance express). Extremely aggravating. Cons Their own CRM is not even compatible with their DMS? Go figure. Customer support is by far the worst. Used to be a good product 7 to 8 years ago but then the company was bought out. Went downhill from there. Their reps never call. I have left 5 messages. Never a return phone call. Ever!!Their pricing is by far more than the worth of the product. Anything to do with Dealersocket (IDMS, Dealerfire, Finance Express) is expensive. I finally switched to Frazer after warning Dealer Socket for the last 2 years that I was going to. Hated changing just because of all the customer data that is in there but it was well worth the risk because their product and service is that bad. Review Source Similar Products Featured