The latest annual Blue Sky Report from Kerrigan Advisors finds U.S. dealers bought and sold 458 franchises in 2025, beating the previous record of 438 set a year earlier.

Those franchises changed hands in the course of 688 transactions. That is far fewer than the record of 830 transactions (involving a mere 383 franchises) set in 2021 but exactly equal to the annual average over the past five years.

Analysts say dealers generated a combined total of $1.3 trillion in revenue last year, a new all-time high. Gross profits have “moderated” from a pandemic-era peak but are up 63% from 2019. Fixed ops gross profits improved to just over $5 million per dealer, up from $4.7 million in 2024.

“The strength of the 2025 buy/sell market was rooted in improved dealership sales and normalized,
structurally higher profits,” the report states, in part. “U.S. retail new vehicle sales (excluding fleet) grew 2.8% in 2025 to 14.5 million units, surpassing 2019’s level and driving total industry revenue to a new peak.”

Read more at Kerrigan Advisors