No one faces a greater challenge in the current used vehicle market than independent dealers.
This reality follows a confluence of competitive and broad market factors that make it more difficult for many independent buyers to thrive the way they have in the past. You probably feel the pressure every day:
- It’s harder to buy cars on the money
- Inventory age remains a persistent problem
- Leads aren’t as plentiful and many don’t pan out
- Buyer budgets and down payments make it difficult to close deals
This blog aims to help. It showcases key take-aways from recent Cox Automotive research that polled independent buyers on how they shop, where they shop and what triggers make them most likely to engage independent dealers for their next vehicle. These insights feed four ways independent dealers can capture and keep more buyers.
1. Right-sizing the inventory for your buyers and market
It’s harder than ever for independent dealers to get the vehicle that are right for their customers and market. Why? For starters, you’re competing more directly with franchise dealers for similar inventory. Just a few years ago, there was less inventory overlap between independent and franchise dealers. In its 2025 report, NIADA lays out exactly where the competitive lines now cross.
For independent dealers, the “right” inventory blends affordability, reliability, safety and value. It’s no surprise that the $-value average for independent buyers runs about $7,000 less than buyers at franchise dealerships. It’s almost ironic that there’s also a $7,000 overlap in the average price ranges both independent and franchise dealers retail.
Two best practices to guide acquisition of the “right” inventory:
Define what’s “right” for you based on past sales at your dealership and in your market. Sometimes, independent dealers stock vehicles to serve the buyers they wish they had, rather than those who are most likely to purchase from you. That’s where market data, and solutions like vAuto’s Provision system, can give you a clear, detailed understanding of the vehicle segments, mileage/price points and age move the market most.
Cast your net wider. If you rely heavily, or solely, on auctions for inventory, it’s imperative to consider more cars, at more auctions, than you have in the past. That’s the benefit a solution like vAuto’s Stockwave delivers: The ability to see all the cars that are “right” for you, wherever/whenever they’re slated to run. Years ago, it was impossible to be in two places at the same time as a buyer, today’s it’s the norm for many independent dealers. Similarly, it’s important to recognize that a fair share of your buyers purchase a vehicle to replace another one. Does your team ask about the vehicle or avoid the topic, believing they might have already sold it? Therein lies a net-widening opportunity.
2. Satisfy the need for reliability/safety
The Cox Automotive study of independent buyers found that they spend more time researching vehicles online compared to buyers at franchise stores. And, the older the vehicle, the more time they spend scouting independent dealer and third-party sites, as well as social media listings, for the car that’s right for them.
Independent buyers spend more time because many, if not most, need a vehicle; nearly a third (32%) are replacing vehicles that were unreliable or too expensive to own/repair; and, 83% of independent buyers enter the market not knowing what they want.
The upshot: How your listings look, and how well they convey the reliability, safety and value story of the vehicle itself, matter more today than ever. Here are two best practices to help you satisfy these buyer needs:
Lead your listings with vehicle history, inspection results, and recent maintenance. More and more, independent and franchise dealers use the photo carousels in their vehicle listings to promote a vehicle’s history, reconditioning work and key features. vAuto’s Merchandising solutions can help automate these important tasks, using AI-driven intelligence to position each vehicle and tell its story the best light.
Monitor your merchandising. It’s no longer set-it-and-forget-it when it comes to vehicle merchandising. As independent buyers compare your cars to those at other dealerships, it’s important to ask: Whose inventory is most-likely to get the click to a VDP? Solutions like vAuto’s Provision help put KPIs front and center to ensure your merchandising delivers maximum appeal.
3. Price for a market-realistic, not self-engineered or -imagined, profit
Guess what independent buyers come to understand quickly during the 16-plus hours they spend online researching their next purchase? That’s right. They develop a sense of what they should pay for a vehicle. As they compare your vehicle to a competitor’s, the dealer who gets the lead or phone call is likely the one who offers an asking price that fits the buyer’s sense of the market.
It’s also important to recognize that today’s market is volatile. In some segments, used vehicle prices are strengthening due to limited supply and high demand.
That’s why independent dealers should use solutions like vAuto’s Provision to gain a detail-rich understanding of where you can and should price a vehicle to optimize its turn and your profit potential.
A related best practice: Revisit your vehicle pricing on the regular. A growing number of independent dealers recognize that weekly or biweekly price reviews and adjustments aren’t enough given the way today’s market moves. Remember, sometimes the market moves in your favor, but you won’t know it unless you can see it.
A Final Point on Long-Term Buyer Satisfaction
Cox Automotive’s independent buyer study offers a final independent dealers should heed as they seek to satisfy customers.
The dish: The vehicle may win the sale, but the experience you provide wins the relationship for the long haul. The study found that while 60 percent of independent buyers were satisfied with their vehicle purchase experience, only 41 percent regarded it as “better” than they last time they purchased a vehicle—a key reason loyalty to independent dealers is only 21 percent.
That suggests an opportunity for dealers who regard the expectations and needs of buyers as they consider inventory for purchase, merchandise it to connect to key buyer triggers and price to meet the market. When you do these things, you’re setting the stage to meet, if not exceed, buyer expectations in ways the competition can’t touch.
Check out the Cox Automotive independent buyer study here.