Dealerships had the first full-year profit increase in 2025 since 2021, even when averaging last year’s fourth-quarter dip, according to the Q4 2025 Presidio-NCM Average Dealership Performance Benchmark Report released January 29.
Even better: Dealership profitability remains nearly two times higher than 2019.
Driving the news: Despite several massive market shifts in 2025, automotive dealerships still made a lot of money. And dealers have a positive mindset for the rest of 2026, Presidio President George told CDG News.
“Dealers feel that profits are stable, and it may even increase some into 2026,” Karolis said, referencing data in the NCM report, a related webinar and the group’s fourth-quarter report, all published January 29.
By the numbers: It’s important to take in the full picture of 2025, not just the fourth-quarter results, Jason Stein, a Presidio managing director, and Kevin Tynan, director of research for the group, said during the webinar.
Net pretax profit for the average dealership slipped 9.7% in the fourth quarter.
But that same number rose 6.3% for the full-year in 2025.
And, fixed ops generated more than 52% of total gross profit, a 7% rise YoY.
Overall profitability is steady and elevated from the pre-pandemic years, despite lower margins for vehicles.
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What they’re saying: “The expectation of added tariffs and expiring EV tax credits earlier in 2025 provided a financial boost to dealers through the third quarter of 2025 but created a hangover in the fourth quarter,” Tynan said in the report.
Between the lines: Front-end gross is no longer the growth story. Instead, fixed ops, F&I and used car sales are fueling the uptick in profitability.
The growing auto care market is a $400 billion–plus industry, Tynan said during the webinar, with some forecasting that it will grow to $600 billion by the end of the decade.
Buy-sell buzz: In case you missed it, dealerships are still flying off the shelves. Presidio’s data at publishing time shows about 390 transactions in 2025. The softer start to the year pulled down the overall total, according to the report.
But it’s expected to stay busy for this year and several more, Presidio predicts.
Here’s why: With election fuss over, buyers and sellers are ready to make deals again.
Profitability and liquidity are historically high for publics and larger private groups.
And buyer demand is outpacing supply.Dealers managing their portfolios more actively are helping to drive sales and targeted acquisitions.
Karolis and Tynan pointed out two fun facts that are technically not correlated but they kind of are: Profitability is up 80% over pre-pandemic levels, with deal volume also increased by 80%.
The takeaway: Even as vehicle margins normalize, U.S. auto dealerships are proving they can sustain profits at nearly double pre-pandemic levels. And this data shows that the dealer model, in fact, still works.
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