While 2023 was clearly among the top three transaction volume years on record, the pace of deals appeared to slow from the frenzied pace seen in 2021 and 2022. The 2023 count is still subject to change as news of more deals trickles out. Preliminary data for the first quarter of 2024 reveals lower volume than the year-earlier period, but they were bigger deals with an average of 2.19 stores trading hands per transaction. The first-quarter tally of 69 deals involving 151 stores is expected to increase as there is typically a lag in reporting.
At year-end 2023, there were 18,347 franchised dealerships in the U.S., according to Urban Science. Private dealers owned 94 percent of stores, while public consolidators held 6 percent. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, 91.6 percent of U.S. dealers owned one to five franchised stores as of the end of 2023. That percentage keeps shrinking because of consolidation, which has picked up in recent years. Data from Automotive News also demonstrates how consolidation is reshaping the dealership landscape. The top 150 dealership groups as ranked by Automotive News were responsible for 25.8 percent of U.S. new light-vehicle sales in 2023, up from 18.2 percent in 2011. Those top 150 groups owned 25.4 percent of U.S. franchised stores at the end of 2023, up from 13.9 percent in 2011, according to Automotive News.