Lightspeed NXT API
The 3PA program exposes a REST API with OData queries over sales, parts, service, financial, and rental data. Access is certified-vendor only and dealer-funded: reported fees run $190 to $300 per dealer monthly plus setup quotes near $2,000 per location. No sandbox or self-serve signup exists.
Frequently asked questions
Lightspeed NXT scores F on the API Report Card. The 3PA program exposes a REST API with OData queries over sales, parts, service, financial, and rental data. Access is certified-vendor only and dealer-funded: reported fees run $190 to $300 per dealer monthly plus setup quotes near $2,000 per location. No sandbox or self-serve signup exists.
Without a usable official API, teams fall back on manual exports, file drops, or one-off vendor integrations. The other option is an unofficial API layer like Supergood that automates the authenticated web app directly.
Lightspeed NXT is the long-running dealer management system (DMS) published by CDK Global Recreation (formerly Lightspeed DMS, now branded simply 'Lightspeed') for specialty-vehicle retailers.
Auto Dealer Management, specifically the specialty-vehicle DMS sub-segment: powersports (motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs, snowmobiles, personal watercraft), marine (boats, outboards, slip/marina operations), RV (Class A/B/C, towables, parts and service), trailer, outdoor power equipment (mowers, generators, chainsaws) and golf-cart dealers. A customer walks into a powersports dealership interested in a new side-by-side.
Very high inside specialty-vehicle retail.
Lightspeed NXT holds the operating record of a specialty-vehicle dealership: every customer (name, address, ID, deal history, F&I products), every unit in inventory (VIN/HIN/serial, OEM costs, floorplan status, aging), every deal jacket (trade, lender, F&I product detail, signed contracts), every repair order (technician time, parts, warranty lines, customer-pay vs OEM-pay vs internal), every parts SKU (multi-location stock, OEM supersession history, vendor costs), every accounting transaction (full GL, AP/AR, bank reconciliations, payroll posts), every rental reservation and marina slip assignment, and every OEM warranty claim.
Mature and showing it. Lightspeed DMS has been in market since the early 2000s, was acquired by Internet Brands, then sold to CDK Global, and now sits inside CDK Global Recreation.
Lightspeed charges the dealer (not the vendor) a flat monthly integration fee per integration, publicly reported at $190/month for NXT and $300/month for EVO, to access their own dealership data via API. Dealers report Lightspeed quoting $2,000 per location in setup fees plus $175/month per location to maintain API access, resulting in $8,000 upfront and $700/month for a 4-store group. Full sourced list under Sources below.
Common alternatives include Lightspeed EVO (CDK Global Recreation), Dealertrack DMS Recreation (Cox Automotive), IDS (Integrated Dealer Systems, Constellation), Blackpurl, Talon DMS (CDK), DX1 (Dominion Powersports Solutions). Graded alternatives appear under "More from the report card" below.
Grades measure one thing: can a customer's engineering team get their own data out programmatically? We check six things (whether a real API exists, how access is gated, data coverage, auth quality, docs and developer experience, and stability) and roll them into a letter grade. Grades get re-verified, and they only move on evidence.