A new report reveals that dealers paying record prices at auction for used vehicles may be overlooking one of their cheapest and most profitable sources of inventory—the vehicles already sitting in their own customer databases.
The details: Trade Agent AI—which has handled more than 1.1 million text messages across nearly 225,000 customer conversations within dealership databases—found that 65.4% of a store's past customers have positive equity in their current vehicle, averaging $13,763, according to inride.
Among customers who traded in vehicles toward new purchases in Q2 2026, 68.8% had positive equity, averaging a record $13,330, according to Edmunds.
Trade Agent AI, which analyzes a dealership's entire database of both in-market and out-of-market customers, found a similar opportunity among existing customers, but at an even higher average equity level.
Why it matters: Sourcing vehicles directly from existing customers could help dealers reduce their reliance on increasingly expensive auctions, all while acquiring desirable used inventory at lower costs and generating higher gross profit per vehicle.
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Between the lines: Vehicles sourced from dealership databases generate a 73.2% gross premium without auction buy fees or transportation costs, noted inride, while wholesale used-vehicle prices rose 1.3% year over year in July, adjusted for mix, mileage, and seasonality, according to Cox Automotive’s Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index.
Database-sourced vehicles generate an average retail gross of $3,176, compared with the participating stores' used-vehicle average of $1,834—$1,342 more per vehicle than cars purchased at auction, per inride.
Vehicles acquired through a customer purchase and subsequently retailed sold in an average of 18 days from acquisition to resale, with each acquisition generating $3,544 in total dealership gross.
What they’re saying: "Dealers do not have an inventory problem, they have a conversation problem,” said Nick Perdikis, CEO of inride, per the inride press statement. “The cars they need are already in their customers' driveways, and 65% of those owners are in positive equity and have no idea. We built Trade Agent AI because the only thing standing between a dealer and that inventory was a million customer messages nobody had the hours to handle. Now they have been handled."
Bottom line: As auction prices remain elevated, mining existing customer databases for trade opportunities likely gives dealers a more cost-effective way to acquire used inventory while improving gross profit and creating additional opportunities to generate new- and used-vehicle sales.
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