This article is part 2 of our annual series analyzing the results of our dealer clients for the first nine months of 2017 versus 2016.
As noted in our previous article, new vehicle year to date sales are down slightly from 2016. A stronger than expected September narrowed the gap and year to date 2017 sales were only 1.7% behind the same period for 2016. This equates to a decrease of approximately 30,000 new vehicles. The September surge was fueled by new truck and SUV/crossover sales. A good portion of the increase was a result of the natural disasters in Texas and Florida, where consumers needed to replace vehicles.
New Unit Sales
- Overall, our dealer clients experienced a 1% increase in unit sales.
Vehicle Profitability
- Over 63% of dealers showed declines in their gross profit dollars from new vehicle sales.
- Our findings indicate that dealers averaged $1,196 in gross profit per vehicle for 2017.
- That was a decrease of $45 compared to 2016.
- In comparison, 2016 gross profit per vehicle was a decrease of $85 from 2015.
F&I Income
While new unit sales were flat, Finance and Insurance (F&I) showed some positive results.
- 54% of dealers reported an increase in F&I income.
- On average, F&I income rose by nearly 6%.
- F&I income averaged approximately $876 per vehicle, an increase from 2016 of $26.
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|
2017
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2016
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Change
|
|
Gross profit/vehicle
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$1,196
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$1,241
|
$(45)
|
|
F&I income/per vehicle
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$ 876
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$ 850
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$ 26
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|
Combined/vehicle
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$2,072
|
$2,091
|
$(19)
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