9:51 am, December 19, 2022
The top 100 most profitable car dealers in the UK made a combined profit of £2.6bn in 2021 in a record year for the motor trade.
Soaring used car prices and demand post-lockdowns – combined with furlough support and business rate holidays – helped boost car dealer coffers.
The Car Dealer Top 100 list of most profitable car dealers, sponsored by Automotive Transformation Group, has been revealed today.
The research details the most profitable franchised and independent dealers in the UK and looks at their 2021 results.
Automotive juggernaut car dealer group Arnold Clark once again topped the list as the most profitable dealer, racking up £398.1m profits.
The list is ranked by EBITDA profit figures and compiled by Interpath for Car Dealer.
Eddie Hawthorne, CEO of Arnold Clark, told Car Dealer: ‘2021 was a lot of hard work for the motor trade but it was what I would call a Carlsberg year for the motor trade and as a specialist in used cars we were able to take advantage of that.’
Used car supermarket Motorpoint was the most profitable independent dealer clocking up £32m of earnings in the year.
The top 10 dealers alone in the list made a combined profit of £1.45bn – that’s nearly as high as the entire total the Top 100 dealers achieved in 2020 of £1.65bn.
The combined profits of the Top 100 dealers in 2021 were up a staggering £950m on 2020.
Car Dealer editor in chief James Baggott said: ‘Car dealers will look back at 2021 as halcyon days for the motor trade.
‘Dealers enjoyed plenty of tailwinds during the year that helped boost profit figures – most notably rising used car prices at a time consumers were back out spending lockdown savings.
‘We’ve reported on countless car dealer group results that have remarked 2021 was their “best ever” and now this research proves what we all thought – this will likely go down as the best year for the motor trade ever.’
Mike Jones, compiler of the Car Dealer Top 100 list working with advisory firm Interpath, explained EBITDA profit figures are used to rank the list because it’s the ‘fairest way to assess cash generation’.
He branded 2021 as a stellar year for the motor trade and said overall profits have increased 55 per cent for our Top 100 dealers.
He said: ‘Strong used car profitability and restricted new car supply resulting in increased profits there too has really helped dealers in 2021, especially the franchised dealers.’
Tim Smith, CEO of Car Dealer Top 100 sponsors ATG, said he wasn’t surprised to see these results thanks to record used car prices.
‘We work for 85 per cent of the top 200 biggest dealers and I think these businesses have been doing the right things for a long time and they have capitalised on the market conditions,’ he said.
‘It’s great to see positive things happening to our industry and hopefully, long may that continue.’
The Car Dealer Top 100, sponsored by ATG and produced by Interpath, is out now. Click on the Top 100 tab at the top of the page.
