Employment at new-car dealerships in the U.S. – 16,545 – reached 1,110,700 in 2015, an increase of 4.3% from 1,064,000 employees in 2014. On average, a new-car dealership jobs total 67 people in 2015, up 3.1% from 65 employees per dealership in 2014. Annual payroll at new-car dealerships was $62.8 billion in 2015, up nearly 8% from 2014, the report said. Average dealership payroll was $3.8 million, showing a similar 8% increase compared to 2014.
“For 2016, expect new-car dealership jobs to reach an all-time high. The past six years have been the longest period of new-vehicle sales growth since the 1920s, and the outlook for 2016 is just as bright,” says NADA Chief Economist Steven Szakaly. “But what matters even more is that dealers continue to be drivers of economic development in their local communities. Last year, new-car dealers employed more than 1.1 million workers directly; in addition, hundreds of thousands of other local jobs across the country were dependent on dealerships.”
In each of the past three years, new-car dealership employees have seen their incomes rise by more than 2%, and total compensation increased by almost 6%, Szakaly added. This has outpaced total compensation in other retail sectors, and dealers have one of the highest average salaries of all industries. Dealers spent billions last year on contracting, services and wages – almost all of which flows right back to local communities.
For the fifth straight year, net pretax profit at new-car dealerships as a percentage of total sales was 2.2%.
“There is healthy competition between new-car dealerships to sell and service vehicles, and this has meant consistently good deals for consumers,” Szakaly said. “As NADA Data has shown, despite rising sales, profitability has been flat at 2.2% for five years.”
NADA Data 2015 includes milestones achieved by the retail-auto industry in 2015:
- The total number of new-car dealerships was 16,545, reflecting an increase of 149 dealerships from 2014.
- Franchised new-car dealerships sold a record 17.3 million-plus new cars and light trucks.
- Total dealership revenue, including new- and used-car sales, as well as parts and service sales, eclipsed sales from 2014, reaching a new high of $862 billion in 2015, an increase of 6.9% from 2014.
- Dealerships wrote more than 200 million repair orders, with more than $97 billion in service and parts sales.
- Average selling price of a new car/light truck was $33,419, up 2.5% from 2014.
- Average selling price of a used vehicle was $19,397, up 2.9% from 2014.
- Average new vehicles sold per dealership was 1,050.
- Number of customers purchasing a new- or used-vehicle service contract was 43%, up 1.3% from 2014.
- New-car dealerships sold 18.76 million used vehicles (10.86 million were retailed and 7.9 million were wholesaled).
