Presented by:
Hey everyone,
Ever read a tactic below and think, “That would never work at my store”?
Our insights email is the place to tell us why. We’re always open to pressure-testing the ideas we share and hearing where dealers agree, disagree, or have tried something similar.
— CDG
First time reading a CDG Newsletter?
Welcome to the Market Pulse—your cheat sheet to auto retail, built to help dealers price right, stock smart, and stay ahead.
Monthly payments and insurance costs are pushing annual spend higher: Subprime payments are up from about $400 in mid-2021 to $560+ today, and combined with insurance, annual ownership costs have climbed from $5.9K–$6.4K to $7.8K–$9K.
Fuel prices and maintenance are adding to overall spend too: Maintenance and repair costs are up roughly 45% since 2021, while gas prices remain volatile.
Dealers are reframing the cost conversation beyond price: Best Deal Auto Sales walks customers through what an unreliable trade-in actually costs in service visits, while Jeff D'Ambrosio Auto Group starts every deal with baseline "who, what, when, where, why" questions before getting to price.
(Source: Finsight Auto Loan Level / Insurify / St. Louis Fed / CDG interviews)
Monthly payments and insurance costs alone are pushing annual ownership costs up 32-41%.
Car buyers are paying more to own a vehicle than they have in years, and that's just from monthly payments and average insurance costs alone.
That doesn't even factor in fuel prices, repair costs, or other city-specific expenses, like the cost of keeping your own parking spot in places like Manhattan or San Francisco.
Take a look: As of mid-2026, subprime shoppers are paying (on average) $560+ a month just toward a payment on a used vehicle. That’s up from about $400 in mid-2021.
Custom CDG analysis
For the prime shoppers, used-car payments are averaging $470+, up from $360 during that same period.
At the same time: Monthly insurance premiums are landing at an estimated $180 right now, down from a near $200 peak in 2024, but still elevated compared with averages before.
NOTE TO DEALERS:
Put together, this is how the above factors have altered annual vehicle costs…
Mid-2021: annual costs ranged from $5.9K to $6.4K
Mid-2024: that range jumped to $7.7K to $8.8K
Mid-2026: still elevated at $7.8K to $9K
The lower end reflects prime buyers, while the higher end reflects subprime.
Maintenance, repair, and gas prices are stacking even more cost on top of payments and insurance.
Motor vehicle maintenance and repair costs (purple line below) have climbed steadily for five straight years, up roughly 45% since June 2021.
Average gas prices, as you can see below, are more volatile.
Custom CDG analysis
On the index (where June 2021 = 100), prices spiked above 160 in mid-2022, settled into a lower range through 2023 and 2025, but then surged again in early 2026.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Naturally, rising maintenance costs mean the longer a customer keeps a vehicle, the more expensive it gets to own, which shifts trade-in timing and reshapes demand for CPO or newer used inventory.
Volatile gas prices then add another layer of uncertainty about affordability, especially for payment-sensitive buyers.
A quick word from our partner
The next idea that helps your dealership could come from a conversation in Detroit.
At Digital Dealer, you'll learn alongside dealership leaders from across the industry through practical sessions, hands-on Learning Labs, and valuable networking.
Explore new ideas, share experiences, and return with strategies you can put to work at your dealership.
September 22–23 | Huntington Place | Detroit
CDG readers save 25% — just use code CDG25OFF at checkout.
Bring your team for a generous discount.
There’s one silver lining to all of this, and it’s that there are plenty of ways to navigate ownership costs with shoppers that should leave them in a vehicle they can actually afford… payment, gas, insurance, and everything else included.
Here are a few examples, or Dos and Don’ts, from operators we spoke with:
Do: Reframe the cost conversation around what an unreliable car actually costs.
Travis Baldwin, Vice President of Best Deal Auto Sales in Fort Wayne, Indiana, an independent dealer with six stores, said his team sees higher-mileage trades and walks customers through what staying in that car actually costs them.
"We probably see in the independent world, maybe more than the franchise world, customers with higher mileage trades… but our approach is walking the customer through the process. ‘Hey, can you afford not to purchase a new vehicle at this point if you're starting to spend $3,000 to $5,000 a year in our service department? What does a $350 payment do?’
Travis Baldwin
“That conversation also becomes: ‘What if you're missing work or you're late to your kids' school because you have an unreliable car?’ I think some of those realities and real-life situations need to be taken into account," Baldwin added.
Do: Start with the basics before talking cost.
Mike McVeigh, sales member at Jeff D'Ambrosio Auto Group, the “largest Jeep dealer in the Tri-State,” said qualifying is where the real work happens, which is why he sticks to his “old school” set of “who, what, when, where, and why” questions.
"Who did you buy your vehicle from? What did you buy? When? Why did you purchase, where did you purchase, and how?"
Mike McVeigh
He says that baseline tells you how they buy, whether they lease or pay cash, how long they've owned their current vehicle, and gives a read on mileage and wear before getting to a number.
Do: Prepare to be the expert that shoppers are looking for.
McVeigh, who sells Stellantis vehicles, said price isn't always the strongest card a salesperson holds, whatever the brand, but that knowing the products and the shopper’s baseline needs usually lands well with anyone looking to buy.
“Being the expert and making sound recommendations goes a long way,” he said.
Don’t: Oversell a payment the customer can't handle.
Sounds obvious, but Baldwin said the same real-life read applies in reverse, and it means knowing when a customer's current car still has some life left in it.
"We've got four service centers at our dealerships, and it's a question that comes up with folks that maybe held onto their car for five or six years, and our average mileage is 75,000 to 80,000. So if a customer is driving 15,000 a year, maybe it's something we need to look at in five years or so," he said.
If there's a throughline here when it comes to what it takes to own a vehicle, and how it should be sold, it's that you can't ignore the nuance.
And if I were shopping for a vehicle right now, the biggest red flag (in my opinion) would be a salesperson who seems to know more about the sticker price than about how owning it would affect my overall costs and day-to-day life.
