Victory Automotive Group filed — and days later dismissed — a breach-of-contract lawsuit against dealership technology company DealerSocket related to use of its software.
Victory, with 45 dealerships in 12 states, filed the lawsuit Dec. 10 against DealerSocket in federal court in Texas. The dealership group's lawsuit alleged that DealerSocket "breached the contract between the parties by failing to provide products and services that were functional and that could support the business requirements of the Victory Automotive dealerships."
The group initially asked a federal court "to declare that Plaintiff's decision to terminate the contract between Victory Automotive and DealerSocket was justified and proper."
Victory on Monday voluntarily dismissed the case, according to a court filing. An attorney for the dealership group would not confirm whether Victory dismissed the lawsuit after settling claims with DealerSocket, saying only that the group had no further comment.
The group said in its complaint that it was looking for a new customer relationship management software provider and signed a 60-month contract with DealerSocket starting in September 2019, at a cost of nearly $109,000 a month for a variety of products and services. Victory said in its complaint that it experienced multiple problems with the software and that upgrades from DealerSocket did not resolve the issues.
Victory notified DealerSocket on Oct. 5 that it planned to terminate the contract, according to the complaint. The group alleged in its complaint that DealerSocket responded Oct. 9 "that it did not view Victory Automotive's termination of the contract as excused."
DealerSocket declined to comment to Automotive News. Victory's notice of dismissal Monday says that "no answer was yet due or filed by Defendant."
Victory Automotive Group, of Canton, Mich., ranked No. 13 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups in the U.S, with sales of 39,768 new vehicles and 24,885 used vehicles in 2019.
