| Service and parts sales at franchised new-vehicle dealerships exceeded $116 billion last year, the National Automobile Dealers Association reports. Over the last decade, those sales have risen 5.5 percent a year on an average annualized basis in the average dealership. In 2018, dealership service departments wrote more than 310 million repair orders. They employed nearly 265,000 technicians. Parts departments’ total inventory exceeded $6.67 billion. NADA offers this snapshot of the average dealership’s fixed operations: | |||
| 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service, parts and body shop sales | $7,325,823 | $7,194,457 | $6,972,698 |
| Service, parts and body shop sales as a percentage of total sales | 12% | 12.1% | 11.7% |
| Service, parts and body shop gross as a percentage of total gross | 49.6% | 49% | 47.3% |
| Warranty work as a percentage of total service, parts and body shop sales | 18% | 18.7% | 18.2% |
| Source: NADA Data 2018 | |||
| Pickups attracted more than one-fourth of all retail dollars spent by consumers on vehicle improvements last year, the Specialty Equipment Market Association estimates, followed by midrange cars. Off-road and plus-size tires and trailer and towing products account for a large share of truck improvements, while sports cars offer the largest market for forced induction systems. | ||||
| Consumer specialty equipment purchases by vehicle segment (% of 2018 sales) | ||||
| Pickup | 27% | Sports car | 9% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midrange car | 16% | Small car | 6% | |
| SUV | 13% | Van | 3% | |
| Upscale car | 11% | Classic car | 2% | |
| Crossover | 11% | Alternative vehicle | 2% | |
| Source: 2019 SEMA Market Report | ||||
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