Auto Dealerships
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 17,000 new car dealerships in the US typically manage five distinct departments: New Vehicle Sales, Used Vehicle Sales, Finance and Insurance (F&I), Parts, and Service. One-third of all US new car dealerships also offer collision and body shop services. Used car sales, financing, and parts and repairs tend to be more profitable divisions for dealers.
Low Profitability
Customers are increasingly savvy about the true price of a vehicle, using the Internet as a tool to find the best price and to sniff out extraneous up-sells.
Dependence on Financing
Dealers purchase vehicles at the time of acquisition, not when a car is sold to a customer.
Industry size & Structure
A typical new car dealership employs around 50 people and has total annual revenue of over $64.7 million.
- There are about 17,000 new car dealerships in the US with total annual sales of over $1.1 trillion.
- The average new car dealership sells just over 1,000 vehicles per year. The average price of a new vehicle is about $47,200, a figure that generally has tracked closely with inflation over the past decade but accelerated during the pandemic.
- Traditionally, franchised dealers held around 2 million domestic vehicles in inventory and 1.7-1.9 million imports. A typical dealer had a 65-75-day supply of domestic vehicles in inventory and a 50-55-day of imports. Post-pandemic, franchise dealers are holding some 1.8 million domestic vehicles and about 430,000 imports. Now, a typical dealer has a 44-day supply of domestic vehicles in inventory and a 35-day of imports.
- Popular brands include GM (16.7% of total new car sales), Toyota (14.5%), Ford (12.5%), Hyundai (10.7%), Stellantis (Fiat Chrysler, PSA Group – 9.8%), and Honda (8.5%).
- The largest auto dealership groups in the US include AutoNation, Lithia Motors, Penske Automotive, and Sonic Automotive.
Industry Forecast
Auto Dealerships Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Oct 18, 2024 - Prices Fall for New Cars and Trucks
- In September 2024, prices for new cars and trucks declined by 1.9% and 1.2%, respectively, compared to the previous year, according to Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Compared to August 2024, prices for new cars and new trucks were each down 01% in September 2024. Producer inflation for auto dealerships declined 19.4% in July 2024 compared to a year ago, according to producer price data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Employment by auto dealerships grew 2.4% in August 2024 compared to a year ago. Average wages for nonsupervisory employees at auto dealerships reached $28.09 per hour in July 2024, a decline of 2.6%. Consumer spending, a key indicator for the industry, grew 2.6% in June 2024 compared to a year ago and increased 0.2% from the previous month, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
- The US auto dealerships industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5% between 2024 and 2028, according to a forecast from Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. The expected growth rate is faster than the overall economy‘s anticipated growth. The report noted that consumer confidence is expected to improve in the forecast period, which bodes well for the retail and wholesale industries. Factors that continue to limit consumer spending are lower consumer sentiment levels, higher interest rate levels, and elevated price levels. According to the report, “Auto sales have been limited by supply constraints and more recently by higher financing costs, but vehicle sales may continue to rise as supplies improve and the Federal Reserve eventually reduces policy interest rates.” In addition, inflation is subsiding, which supports a moderate increase of real disposable income by about 1.9% in 2024 and 2.4% in 2025.
- Consumers pre-ordering build-to-order (BTO) vehicles in North America direct from OEMs continued to grow in 2023, though slower than expected, according to new survey data by Cox Automotive in Wards Auto. According to the survey of 1,932 consumers in February, 221 consumers bought from legacy OEMs such as Ford, and 46 bought from start-ups such as Rivian and Tesla in the previous 12 months. That equated to 14% of new build-to-order vehicle buyers in 2023, compared to 17% in 2022 and 9% in 2021. According to Sean Tucker, a senior editor at Cox's Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, "We'll see more 'build-to-order' over time, but I think it's taking a lot longer than most people thought, especially during the pandemic." The report also showed that nearly three-quarters of build-to-order and dealer buyers were happy with their purchase. US start-up Lucid Motors offers consumers choices online for color, appearance, and extras such as heated seats, sound systems, and driver-assistance systems with transparent pricing. Offering customers additional customization options may help automakers charge more for extra accessories.
- Auto dealerships have been reporting their losses stemming from a recent cyberattack of software provider CDK Global, with Sonic Automotive projecting $30 million in losses, according to Repairer Driven News. The cyberattack, which lasted for 12 days this summer, caused a massive disruption to car dealers’ operations and customers’ ability to purchase cars. AutoNation reported a $42.8 million cost associated with the outage. Some dealers have filed lawsuits against CDK with certain lawsuits seeking class-action status, saying CDK Global did not adequately protect customer data. CDK Global’s 15,000 clients in the US and Canada were impacted by the outages, which forced car dealerships to take manual steps to process purchases, drastically increasing the amount of time needed to complete a purchase. According to the Repairer Driven News report, Sonic Automotive spent $11.6 million in excess compensation expenses related to the outage.
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