Car dealerships forced to process orders by hand after cyberattacks shut down computer system

More than 15,000 car dealerships throughout North America scrambled to process orders by hand after cyberattacks shut down their computerized management system this week.

Car dealers in the US and Canada were having difficulty fulfilling orders due to the disruption in the software that is used to manage their business and workflow.

Salespeople and back-office support staff were relegated to writing out orders and filling out paperwork the old-fashioned way — with pen and paper.

“My selling team can hand-write a buyer’s order,” Brian Benstock, general manager of Long Island City-based Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura dealership, told CNN.

CDK Global, the IT firm based in the Chicago area whose software was hacked, said it could be a few more days until it can get its systems back up and running.

A company rep said on Wednesday that it was forced to “shut all systems down” and that it “executed extensive testing and consulted with external third-party experts.”