Priority Expands Presence in Auto Dealership Sector With DMS Acquisition

Priority Technology Holdings has completed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Dealer Merchant Services (DMS), a vertically focused reseller in the auto and truck dealership sector.

The acquired assets include revenue agreements and customer relationships, and the DMS leadership team of Amberly Allen and Laura Sherman will join Priority, Priority said in a Thursday (Oct. 2) press release.

Priority, which offers a payments and banking solution, will benefit from the addition of the DMS team, vertically focused integrated software and distribution in the automotive dealership arena, Priority Chairman and CEO Tom Priore said in the release.

“We believe that emerging trends for auto ownership among consumers and the evolving needs of dealerships as the community consolidates, position the combination of our payments and banking technology to deliver exceptional value to the dealership community that DMS serves and tremendous growth to our investors,” Priore said.

Allen said in the release that the combination of DMS’ compliant surcharge program and Priority’s payable and treasury management solutions will help dealers increase their profitability.

“Our dealers expect white-glove service and a partner focused on their growth and our combination with Priority will help to deliver on those promises,” Allen said.

In its own Thursday press release, DMS said it specializes in credit card payment processing for auto dealerships and supports more than 1,000 dealerships nationwide.

DMS added that with the average age of vehicles on the road hitting a record high, consumers are spending more to maintain them, and dealership service centers are becoming more important to the automotive business.

“We are thrilled to deliver next-generation payments technology and expanded solutions to everything with an engine,” Allen said in the release.

Priority announced another acquisition in August, when it purchased the revenue agreements and customer relationships of one of its reseller partners, Boom Commerce.

Priore said at the time that Boom Commerce is “a seamless addition to our direct sales channel.”

In January, Priority announced its acquisition of Rollfi, a company that enables banks, accountants, vertical software-as-a-service providers and other financial service providers to add payroll and benefits to their offerings through white-label solutions and application programming interfaces.