Dealer.com vs DealerFire
Cox Automotive website, media and digital marketing platform. Solera dealership website and digital marketing platform.
Dealer.com and DealerFire both build dealership websites and both sit inside bigger software groups. Dealer.com is a Cox Automotive brand that provides websites, advertising, inventory tools, SEO and digital retailing, with a self-guided demo.
DealerFire says its story began in 1999, that its platform is called Engine6 and that it is now part of Solera's DealerSocket business. For a dealer, the decision combines the website with the group around it: Cox's tools or DealerSocket's.
Choosing between Dealer.com and DealerFire
Ask each whether its site is certified for your manufacturer and what the program requires. Find out how inventory and pricing feeds work and how fast changes show up, and who owns the domain, content and analytics and what happens when you leave.
Ask which SEO and advertising services are included, what they cost with every add-on and how results are reported from your Search Console. Get an answer on whether the CRM and DMS connections you already use are supported and for references in your market.
What to check before you choose
The choice often depends on the brand you sell. Many manufacturers approve a short list of website providers for co-op reimbursement, so start by asking which of the two is on your manufacturer's list. A site that is not approved can cost a store its advertising funds.
Next, compare the sites themselves. Request from each company three live sites of your brand.
Check how fast the inventory pages load on a phone and how many taps it takes to reach a payment estimate. Ask who builds the specials and incentive banners, how quickly a change goes live and whether the cost is in the monthly fee.
Then look at the data. Find out what analytics each provides and who owns the data collected on your domain. Ask what happens to your domain, content and search history if you move.
Finally, ask about the people. Find out who your account contact is, how many stores that person serves and what the average reply time is. A strong platform with a distant account team can feel worse than a modest one with an attentive team.
Price both over three years, with every add-on you expect to buy. Compare the totals, not the headline fee.
Migration deserves a plan before you sign. A site move touches your domain, your search rankings, your inventory feed and your tracking tags.
Request a written launch schedule from each company, with the date your old site goes dark and the person responsible for redirects. A rushed launch can cost weeks of search traffic.
Check the specials process as well. Dealers change offers every month, sometimes every week. Time how long each company takes to publish a new incentive on the home page and on the matching vehicle pages, and note whether that work is billed by the hour.
Put the support promise in writing, with a named contact and a reply time.
| Field | Dealer.com | DealerFire |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence status | Verified | Reviewed |
| Corporate parent | Cox Automotive | DealerSocket (Solera) |
| Primary market | US & Canada | US |
| Typical segment | Franchise and groups | Franchise and groups |
| Product records | 4 | 3 |
| Mapped categories | 4 | 3 |
| Integration records | 3 | 0 |
| Public pricing | Not published: quote per configuration | Not published: quote per configuration |
| Contract term | Not established in this record | Not established in this record |
Named product lines on each side
Inside the shared categories, Dealer.com fields 4 named lines against it (Dealer.com Websites, Advertising, Managed Services, Digital Retailing); DealerFire fields 3 named lines against it (DealerFire Websites, Digital Marketing, Content).
Dealer.com
- Dealer.com Websites: Dealership websites & CMS
- Dealer.com Advertising: Digital advertising
- Dealer.com Managed Services: Dealership websites & CMS
- Dealer.com Digital Retailing: Dealership websites & CMS
DealerFire
- DealerFire Websites: Dealership websites & CMS
- DealerFire Digital Marketing: Dealership websites & CMS
- DealerFire Content: Dealership websites & CMS
Buying guides for the shared categories
Connection records touching either company
Scoped records only.