Dealership transactions are on track for a record year in 2025, fueled by robust buyer cash reserves, declining interest rates, and high demand in both luxury and ultra-luxury markets. On the latest episode of Driving Solutions, Erin Kerrigan, founder and managing director of Kerrigan Advisors, joins us to break down the company’s recent findings.
Kerrigan Advisors surpassed $10 billion in client proceeds from dealership sales over the past 11 years, highlighting its significant influence in the industry. While the firm expects continued momentum into 2026, financing is becoming more attractive as buyers seek regional dominance.
OEM insights from Kerrigan’s latest blue sky report indicate that manufacturers expect to absorb most tariff-related costs, leaving dealers with only about 10% of the burden. That dynamic, paired with onshore production shifts, supports efficient operations and stabilizes margins for dealerships.
The ultra-luxury segment is also seeing unprecedented activity, with between 15 and 20 stores expected to change hands in 2025, compared with just six in 2024. Buyers of these high-end brands, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce, remain largely price-insensitive, sustaining strong market demand. Notably, Toyota’s entry into the ultra-luxury segment with its Century model accentuates the growing potential in this area.
Dealers are motivated by a desire to consolidate market share, expand regional dominance, and increase revenue per rooftop. AI adoption is expected to further boost efficiency and profitability by enhancing sales throughput and reducing headcount costs, which average nearly $100,000 per employee.
Ultimately, Kerrigan notes that 2026 will likely see continued record-setting activity in dealership transactions. With cash-rich buyers, active consolidation, and growing luxury demand, the dealership industry enters 2026 poised for continued expansion.
Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers nationwide. Since its founding in 2014, the firm has led the industry with the sale of more than 300 dealerships generating more than $10 billion in client proceeds, including two of the largest transactions in auto retail history – the sale of Jim Koons Automotive Companies to Asbury Automotive Group and Leith Automotive to Holman. The firm advises the industry’s leading dealership groups, enhancing value through the lifecycle of growing, operating and, when the time is right, selling their businesses. Led by a team of veteran industry experts with backgrounds in investment banking, private equity, accounting, finance and real estate, Kerrigan Advisors is the only firm in auto retail exclusively dedicated to sell-side advisory, providing its clients the assurance of a conflict-free approach.
Kerrigan Advisors monitors conditions in the buy/sell market and publishes an in-depth analysis each quarter in The Blue Sky Report®, the industry authority on dealership buy/sell market trends and valuations and includes Kerrigan Advisors’ signature blue sky charts, multiples and analysis for each franchise in the luxury and non-luxury segments. To download a preview of the report, click here. The firm also releases The Kerrigan Index™ comprised of the seven publicly traded auto retail companies with operations focused on the US market. The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index is designed to track dealership valuation trends, while also providing key insights into factors influencing auto retail. To access The Kerrigan Index™, click here. To read the 2024 Kerrigan Dealer Survey, click here. To read the 2025 Kerrigan OEM Survey, click here. Kerrigan Advisors also is the co-author of NADA’s Guide to Buying and Selling a Dealership.
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