Dealerships had reported an average pretax net profit of $1.36 million in 2018, reflecting a growing reliance on automaker incentives, which are excluded from operating results. Average pretax net profit rose 4.8 percent to $1.42 million in 2019.
The average dealership’s gross profit in 2019 was $7.06 million, up 2.5 percent. Used-vehicle revenue rose 3.3 percent, and fixed operations revenue rose 4.5 percent from 2018.
Dealership employment again topped 1.1 million workers, according to a separate report, NADA Data 2019, the latest iteration of the association’s annual profile of U.S. franchised dealerships, which was released last week. Dealership employees were paid more than $68 billion in wages last year.
Total advertising spend for dealers slid slightly in 2019, continuing a trend of ad-dollar cutbacks. Advertising is an easy area to slash as dealerships tighten expenses and receive fewer automaker advertising incentives.
The amount of ad dollars dealers spent per…
