New Car Dealership employment, wages and payroll increased in 2016, according to a new report released by the National Automobile Dealers Association. In 2016, new-car dealerships directly employed a record 1,131,900 workers, a 2.4% increase from the previous year, according to NADA Data 2016, an annual financial profile of new-car dealerships.
On average, a dealership employed 69 workers in 2016, up from 66 in 2015. Average weekly earnings of dealership employees also increased, growing by 2.6% from 2015. Total annual compensation now averages $69,000 per employee, giving dealership employees one of the highest average salaries of any industry. Average annual payroll was $65 billion, up 4.9%, or $3.9 million per dealership.
Total dealership sales revenue, including new- and used-car sales (including Finance & Insurance), parts, service and body shop repairs was $995.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 6.1% from 2015. The average per dealership was $59.6 million. The top-10 states in dealership sales in 2016 were California, Texas, Florida, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey.
“Total dealership employment has consistently risen every year since the Great Recession,” said NADA Chief Economist Steven Szakaly. “In addition, hundreds of thousands of other local jobs are dependent on dealerships.”
He also noted during the past seven years the U.S. has experienced the longest period of new-vehicle sales growth since the 1920s. For 2017 NADA predicts that new light-vehicle sales will continue to be sizable, ending another year above 17 million.
Service and Maintenance
New-car dealerships wrote 259 million customer repair orders in 2016, up 6.5% from the previous year. These included service, warranty and recalls.
“More and more consumers are choosing new-car dealerships for their service needs,” said Patrick Manzi, NADA senior economist. “Express service, such oil changes, and non-warranty repair orders at dealerships, on average, increased by 10.9% and 4.2%, respectively, in 2016. This increase demonstrates that consumers value the expertise of the highly-trained and factory-certified technicians employed at new-vehicle dealerships.”
