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41: Current market sentiment reported by dealers this quarter, down from 43. Hasn't cleared the neutral 50 mark since mid-2022.
34: The customer traffic index, technically still "weak," but the best reading in months and a big swing from the low of 28 earlier this year.
71 and 39: Two separate numbers Cox Automotive tracks side by side, costs and profit. Dealers say expenses are still their biggest headache, but that sentiment around margin is improving anyway.
(Source: Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index, Q3 2026, based on 929 U.S. dealers surveyed July 22–Aug. 5)
Dealer sentiment is avoiding a total freefall despite ongoing frustrations tied to economic and affordability trends.
Cox Automotive polled 929 dealers, spanning franchised and independent stores, between July 22 and Aug. 5.
Here's what they found:
Current market sentiment fell to 41, down from 43. Pretty small move, but it’s worth noting that this index hasn't cleared neutral (50) since mid-2022.
Future sentiment eased to 46, with franchised dealers pulling it down as affordability and financing concerns grow. (No surprise there.)
Customer traffic slipped to 34, though that's actually the healthiest "weak" reading in months, and well above the 28 low hit earlier this year.
Profit sentiment climbed for a second straight quarter to 39, even as the cost index held near the top of the survey at 71.
And interest rates jumped to the No. 3 concern holding back business, up from No. 5 last quarter.
These findings could be picked apart a million different ways, but honestly the traffic number is the one that stands out to me.
It's technically still "weak," but it's the best weak reading we've seen in months, way up from that 28 low earlier this year. Meaning, dealers are pulling people in despite everything else going against them right now.
WHY IT MATTERS:
In the header, we used "freefall" because that's genuinely what a market like this could look like, but that doesn't seem to be what's happening.
I'd say that's (in part) because dealers out there are adjusting their strategies to defy a market that isn't doing them any favors.
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Since we’re talking about dealers pushing back against a market that isn't doing them any favors, I figured it’s worth capturing what that looks like on the ground, pulled from a few of the stories we've covered on Dealer Strategies this year.
Here are some Dos and Don’ts pulled from said coverage:
Do: Build the small, unglamorous fixes that customers actually notice.
With North Texas temperatures pushing past 105 for weeks this summer, General Managers David Fillmore (Grubbs CDJR and Kia) and Justin Villa (Vanguard GMC) rebuilt the day around it instead of waiting it out.
What we mean: Villa has customers text when they're 10 minutes from their appointment so staff can have the car cooled and running by the time they arrive. They also work to keep one model of each vehicle in the showroom to give customers a chance to check out features in the air conditioning.
Fillmore, meanwhile, shifted his technicians, porters, and overnight car washers to work around the hottest hours, and gets gas tanks filled before the afternoon vapor lock sets in.
"Hopefully you catch that customer right when they just had to get in their hot car, and they think, 'Man, that's a really good idea. Thanks for thinking about me.'" — Justin Villa, General Manager, Vanguard GMC
Do: Build your own acquisition channel instead of competing entirely at auction.
Bob Ruth Ford in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, stopped buying at auction entirely. Instead, Vice President Rob Dell told Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc that the store now runs six buy-center reps and 20 drivers picking up cars within a 300-mile radius, growing its regular used stock to 400 vehicles without a single auction-lane purchase.
One month alone, the dealership acquired 357 vehicles directly from consumers, with Dell calling it a "world record" for a single-point store.
"Once they start dialing it in, you have better performance, you have increased profitability, then they see it as the real win, which is the compensation. And then, everybody starts rowing in the same direction." — Rob Dell, VP, Bob Ruth Ford
Do: Offer customers more pricing transparency, not less.
At Boulevard Ford of Millsboro, part of Preston Automotive Group, Executive GM JB Burnett replaced traditional showroom computers with iPads running AutoFi, letting customers build out much of their own deal, including trade-in numbers and down payment options, before ever sitting down with a salesperson.
In the first three months, the store's PVR climbed from about $1,600 a car to an average of $2,100.
"It's more that the experience has been so seamless, that they don't even want to fight. Their guard is already lower when they walk in the door." — JB Burnett, Executive GM, Preston Automotive Group
Burnett later scaled the process to more stores, and front-end gross alone has since run as high as $2,500 a car.
Don’t: Let store blindness hinder the store’s growth.
After more than 40 years in the auto industry, Dave Rogers, Fixed Ops Director at Piazza Auto Group, has learned that the people running a store every day are often the last ones able to see what's actually wrong with it.
His fix: Bring in someone from outside to look with fresh eyes, on a regular basis, not just when something's already gone wrong.
"We walk in a store; we don't see everything. So you bring in an outside party, they look at it with a fresh view. There's nothing like having a third-party outside person that's there to double-check you." — Dave Rogers, Fixed Ops Director, Piazza Auto Group
Other examples of dealers evolving with the market:
What's riskier, not making any changes and waiting out the market, or making a change that could actually outperform where you are now?
A vendor left a comment about this on one of our social posts earlier this morning.
Yes, he's got a product to sell, but he's not wrong:
He said dealers keep telling him, "We're not making any changes right now," but as he sees it, that’s like “preparing for the storm but forgetting your basement is flooding already.”
