Independent new auto dealers - are they becoming extinct ?

emale wrote: ↑ Many auto dealers are now part of large chains , at least here in the GTA. Not sure about about other provinces.

Performance, Dilawri, Zanchin, Pfaff, Awin are the names that come into my mind. Please post if there are more.

Many standalone dealers are getting taken over. For example, ready Honda in Mississauga, is now part of performance auto.


Anyone here think, in a few years, the entire new car market will be controlled by 4 or 5 large chains ? This will for sure affect pricing also, I think.

To add - Pfaff just got sold to a large publicly traded US dealership chain company.

emale wrote: ↑ Many auto dealers are now part of large chains , at least here in the GTA. Not sure about about other provinces.

Performance, Dilawri, Zanchin, Pfaff, Awin are the names that come into my mind. Please post if there are more.

Many standalone dealers are getting taken over. For example, ready Honda in Mississauga, is now part of performance auto.


Anyone here think, in a few years, the entire new car market will be controlled by 4 or 5 large chains ? This will for sure affect pricing also, I think.

Budd's has several dealerships of all makes in the Oakville area. I hope the Tesla model becomes more common. Absolutely zero reason to have traditional dealers.

It has been this way in the USA for 20 years now. Hendrick and Penske are just a few of the names you would know that own close to 100 dealerships.

Majority of the profitable dealerships have been bought out by the chains. Typically the out of town, low volume dealers are still stand alone.
I typically negotiate for reasonable discount on vehicle purchase, so I'm not looking forward to internet direct sales where vehicles are sold at MSRP.

engineered wrote: ↑ Budd's has several dealerships of all makes in the Oakville area. I hope the Tesla model becomes more common. Absolutely zero reason to have traditional dealers.

Disagreed. There’s lot of reasons, many that benefit customers, to not rely solely on a direct sales model.

Competition is good, with the ideal scenario being direct sales as an option alongside third party sales (dealerships). That said, that only works if dealerships aren’t all owned by the same company...

Also Policaro, at least its family owned

Andy34 wrote: ↑ Disagreed. There’s lot of reasons, many that benefit customers, to not rely solely on a direct sales model.

Competition is good, with the ideal scenario being direct sales as an option alongside third party sales (dealerships). That said, that only works if dealerships aren’t all owned by the same company...

What are the benefits to consumers?

There's still competition without dealerships. Just like Dell and HP compete without having dealerships. You'd still have car stores, but they'd be like Apple stores or Best Buy.

engineered wrote: ↑ What are the benefits to consumers?

There's still competition without dealerships. Just like Dell and HP compete without having dealerships. You'd still have car stores, but they'd be like Apple stores or Best Buy.

Competition driving down prices mainly.

It sounds like your suggesting rather than third party shops dedicated a specific brand, we end up with shops selling lots of brands of cars? I’m not sure that would work due to the size and cash flow that would require.

Apple stores are the direct sales methods. We need something like Best Buy (third party shop) where they compete against other electronics shops selling the same product. That’s what dealers do.

Andy34 wrote: ↑ Competition driving down prices mainly.

It sounds like your suggesting rather than third party shops dedicated a specific brand, we end up with shops selling lots of brands of cars? I’m not sure that would work due to the size and cash flow that would require.

Apple stores are the direct sales methods. We need something like Best Buy (third party shop) where they compete against other electronics shops selling the same product. That’s what dealers do.

No we could have a mix of dedicated stores like, Apple stores, and Best Buy stores, where Apple products are also sold.
Even without 3rd party store, direct sales stores would still compete against each other.
Many dealers already sell various brands, they're just often next door.

engineered wrote: ↑ No we could have a mix of dedicated stores like, Apple stores, and Best Buy stores, where Apple products are also sold.

Agreed, a mix of direct sales and third party sales is good.

engineered wrote: ↑Even without 3rd party store, direct sales stores would still compete against each other.

No they don't. If all the shops are owned by the manufacturer there is no competition. All you get is every shop having the same sale at the same time. It's not choice unless they are allowed to set their own prices - i.e. be independent.

engineered wrote: ↑Many dealers already sell various brands, they're just often next door.

So that would be no different today, except the dealer would have one place that sold every brand they offer.

Dealerships will change and adapt with the times eventually, the current model is loathsome. If not then they'll die. The customer buying experience at a traditional dealership has to either improve or move to a direct to consumer model with experience centers to entertain other needs.

Andy34 wrote: ↑ Agreed, a mix of direct sales and third party sales is good.



No they don't. If all the shops are owned by the manufacturer there is no competition. All you get is every shop having the same sale at the same time. It's not choice unless they are allowed to set their own prices - i.e. be independent.



So that would be no different today, except the dealer would have one place that sold every brand they offer.

The competition would be between brands, like Ford vs Chevy, not between Ford dealers. Or course the shops could still compete in the brand based on service quality. Ie, I have preferred home Depot store in my area.

engineered wrote: ↑ The competition would be between brands, like Ford vs Chevy, not between Ford dealers. Or course the shops could still compete in the brand based on service quality. Ie, I have preferred home Depot store in my area.

Which means less competition. I’m quite happy having competition between Ford dealers, not just between manufacturers.

emale wrote: ↑ Many auto dealers are now part of large chains , at least here in the GTA. Not sure about about other provinces.

Performance, Dilawri, Zanchin, Pfaff, Awin are the names that come into my mind. Please post if there are more.

Many standalone dealers are getting taken over. For example, ready Honda in Mississauga, is now part of performance auto.


Anyone here think, in a few years, the entire new car market will be controlled by 4 or 5 large chains ? This will for sure affect pricing also, I think.

Dealer principles with at least 1 retail auto franchise will almost always get preferred approval for a new franchise because there's business history and CSI history.
The infrastructure is already there.
Someone wanting to open a new dealership for the first time has to go through all kinds of checks and applications and licenses which takes a hell of a lot of time.
So if there's two people competing to open a new franchise at XYZ location the person already with a dealership will usually get the nod.
Dealers merging is mostly due to financial issues with one or the other. Some are partnerships few sell outright