Franchise vs Independent Dealership: Business Model Comparison

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Franchise vs Independent Dealership: Business Model Comparison Bottom Line Franchise dealerships offer proven systems, brand recognition, and manufacturer support at the cost of higher investment and operational restrictions. Independent dealerships provide maximum flexibility and lower barriers to entry but require you to build everything from scratch without OEM backing. Your choice depends on available capital, … Read more

Cars.com vs AutoTrader: Third-Party Listing Platform Comparison

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Cars.com vs AutoTrader: Third-Party Listing Platform Comparison Bottom Line AutoTrader dominates traffic and leads but demands higher investment — ideal for volume stores and metropolitan markets where you need maximum eyeball count. Cars.com delivers stronger ROI on smaller budgets with better lead quality and conversion tools, making it perfect for single-point dealers or stores prioritizing … Read more

How to Open a Car Dealership: Licensing, Costs, and Setup

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How to Open a Car Dealership: Licensing, Costs, and Setup Opening a dealership isn’t just about securing an OEM franchise and finding a lot — it’s about building a machine that consistently generates profit across all departments while managing massive capital requirements. The dealers who succeed understand that the first 18 months determine whether you’ll … Read more

Dealership CRM Comparison: Top Platforms Ranked

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Dealership CRM Comparison: Top Platforms Ranked for Maximum ROI Bottom Line Up Front Your CRM isn’t just lead management software — it’s the nervous system of your entire operation. The difference between top-decile stores and everyone else isn’t the number of leads they generate; it’s how disciplined they are about working every opportunity through a … Read more

Dealership DMS Systems: Choosing the Right Management Platform

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Dealership DMS Systems: Choosing the Right Management Platform Bottom Line Up Front Your dealership DMS systems choice isn’t just about inventory tracking and deal jackets anymore. The stores pulling away from their competition use their DMS as the operational backbone that connects every revenue stream — new, used, F&I, parts, service, and body shop. They’re … Read more

Hiring Salespeople for Your Dealership: Finding and Keeping Talent

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Hiring Salespeople for Your Dealership: Finding and Keeping Talent Bottom Line Up Front The difference between a mediocre store and a top-decile performer isn’t your location, your floorplan mix, or even your OEM relationship — it’s the quality of your sales team and your ability to keep them. While most dealers are still hiring warm … Read more

Dealership Loyalty Programs: Retention Marketing That Works

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Dealership Loyalty Programs: Retention Marketing That Works The Bottom Line That Drives Your CSI and Retention Numbers Here’s the metric that predicts everything else: repeat and referral business as a percentage of total sales volume. Top-performing stores see 40-50% of their business come from existing customers and their referrals. If you’re below 30%, your dealership … Read more

Floor Plan Financing for Dealers: Managing Your Credit Line

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Floor Plan Financing for Dealers: Managing Your Credit Line Bottom line up front: Your days supply by category determines everything. If you’re over 60 days on used inventory or carrying 90+ days of new units from slow-turning models, your floor plan financing is working against you instead of for you. The dealers who manage inventory … Read more

Buying Cars at Auction: Dealer Guide to Smart Sourcing

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Buying Cars at Auction: Dealer Guide to Smart Sourcing Bottom Line Up Front: Days to Turn Drives Everything Your days to turn metric predicts your month before it happens. Top-performing stores turn used inventory every 35-45 days, new inventory every 60-75 days. When you’re buying cars at auction or sourcing anywhere else, this number should … Read more

Car Dealer Website Design: Features That Convert Browsers to Buyers

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Car Dealer Website Design: Features That Convert Browsers to Buyers Bottom Line Up Front Your website conversion rate from VDP view to lead is probably sitting at 2-4%. Top-performing stores push this to 8-12% with the right car dealer website design and digital strategy. That difference on 10,000 monthly VDP views is an extra 400-800 … Read more

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