Automotive News Addresses Used Vehicle Margin Compression

This week’s Automotive News includes an article that addresses the very real problem of ongoing margin compression in used vehicles.

The piece quotes my colleague, Cox Automotive economist Jonathan Smoke, and me sharing our views on the factors behind the -$2 average net profit per used vehicle retailed that dealers achieved in 2017, a figure recently reported by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

As the article says, the downward trend in used vehicles profitability is scary.

But it also points out that top-performing dealers mitigate this troubling trend, and the moves by some manufacturers that make it worse, by achieving greater cost, process and time efficiencies in their used vehicle operations.

You can read the full article here.