The map
Missing a company? Suggest it.
Why some OEM programs show as gated
OEM programs: we show only provider lists a manufacturer makes public, and we won't share a gated list without that manufacturer's go-ahead. OEMs are encouraged to open their lists and send approval through Suggest a Change.
Additional vendors
Companies that sell to dealers but are not on the main map, because they are newer, more specialized, or outside its sections. Each links to its own website, where the description comes from. Listing is not an endorsement.
Why a company is here and not on the map. Every company here sells to dealers and describes its product on its own website. It is listed here for one of three reasons: it sells outside the map's sections, it serves dealers outside the US, or its own website does not yet show its reach.
How a company moves to the map. Show your reach on your own website: a manufacturer dealer program you are certified in, or how many franchise dealers use you. Then send that page through Suggest a Change. It is the only evidence a placement can rest on.
Coming soon
What comes next for Open Hood. Each will follow the same rule as the map: every claim traces to a public source, and no company pays to appear.
Buyer checklists
The same five questions for every company in a section, such as whether a dealer can export its own data or keeps its ad accounts. Every answer will link to the company's own documentation.
Dealer ratings
Scores from verified dealership staff on fixed questions, shown only once enough stores have rated a tool that no single rater can be picked out. No vendor can pay for, edit or remove a rating.
Stack check
A private list of the tools a store pays for, showing where two products do the same job and which questions each one leaves open. Your list stays yours and is never shown to anyone else.
Suggest a change
Suggest a missing company, report a wrong placement or an out-of-date product, or raise anything else. A link to the page on the company's own website that shows it is the fastest way to a change, because that is the only evidence a placement can rest on.
About Open Hood
Open Hood is a free, public map of the companies that sell technology to car dealers, built for new automotive digital marketers and operators who want a clearer picture of the space.
It uses publicly available information only, and it is not monetized. No company pays to appear, to be placed, or to be left off. Listing a company is not an endorsement or a recommendation.
Visits are counted with a one-way code that changes daily and is deleted after two days. Open Hood never stores your IP address, sets no tracking cookies and runs no ads.
How a company gets on the map
- It sells to dealers in one of the map's sections: dealer systems, customer data, websites and online retailing, inventory, AI, advertising, reviews, measurement, credit and F&I, or service and parts.
- It has real reach: a listing on a manufacturer's dealer program, wide use among franchise dealers, or a leading position in its category.
- Its own website describes the product. A sales pitch or a social post on its own is not enough.
How the tags work
Each company appears once, in its main business. A tag under its logo marks another section where it sells its own product, and each tag links to the page on the company's website that says so. Pages were read on .
Corrections
Anyone can suggest a change. Every suggestion is read, checked against the company's own website, and either made, declined or merged with another. Changes that are made are listed here with the date.
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Declined and on hold
Suggestions that were not made are listed here with the reason, so every decision is visible. A declined company can be suggested again once its own website shows what was missing.
Declined
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On hold
Waiting on something before a decision can be made or shipped. The date is when the suggestion arrived.
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Built by Trevor Smith. Open Hood started as a vendor map on LinkedIn; thank you to everyone whose comments shaped it.
Use Open Hood with your AI
Ask your AI assistant which companies sell in a section, or what a vendor sells, and it can answer from the map with the same source links. Everything here is read-only and needs no account.
MCP server
Add this address as a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP). It offers four read-only tools: list_sections, search_vendors, get_vendor and list_additional_vendors.
/mcpJSON API
curl /api/vendors?section=ai
What an answer can and cannot say
- A placement means the company's own website describes that product. It is not a rating or a recommendation.
- "No other section found" means no page was found, not that the company does not sell there.
- Answers carry the date the pages were read. Products change, so check the source before you rely on one.