Before DealerTrack, a car dealer faxed a buyer's credit application to lenders one at a time and waited. DealerTrack's network let the dealer send it to many lenders at once and get answers back in minutes. By 2005 a large share of American franchised dealers used it. DealerTrack was now selling more software to run the rest of the dealership.

Backed by the Lenders

DealerTrack was formed in 2001 with backing from several large auto lenders. The bet was that a neutral online network for credit applications would speed up car sales for everyone. Lenders paid a fee for each application. Dealers signed on because the system was simple and saved time on the showroom floor. Every new lender made the network more useful to dealers, so scale became an advantage.

Joining Autotrader and Kelley

DealerTrack priced its IPO at $17 a share in December 2005 on the Nasdaq, as it pushed beyond credit applications. It grew through many acquisitions, adding dealer management systems, compliance tools and Dealer.com. In 2015 Cox Automotive bought DealerTrack for about $4 billion. Cox combined it with brands such as Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, building one of the largest companies in automotive software.

Cover: The Races at Longchamp, Édouard Manet. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a horse race (the dealership track).