The pace of dealership buy-sell deals is rebounding going into 2020 after a slow few quarters this year. The public auto retailers have increased acquisition activity, though overall transactions fell in the third quarter compared with a year earlier, according to two reports that track dealership sales.
An estimated 68 U.S. dealerships were purchased during the third quarter, down 36 percent from third quarter 2018 when an estimated 106 stores were bought and sold, according to the third-quarter 2019 Haig Report, published by Haig Partners, a buy-sell company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A large part of the year-ago figure included Ken Garff Automotive Group's acquisition of 28 dealerships via a buyout of its former joint venture partner Leucadia.
Through the first nine months of 2019, an estimated 200 stores changed hands, down more than a third from 317 in the comparable period in 2018, according to the Haig Report.