2025 Pub. 15 Issue 1

Understanding the buy-sell process is important for dealership owners considering their future — whether planning to sell or grow through acquisitions. A professional broker, often called a buy-sell advisor, can help dealers navigate this process, offering expert guidance at every stage. Their expertise can simplify the transaction and help ensure a smooth, successful closing.

We have all heard the phrase, “Think outside the box.” This is usually a call to be innovative in approaching a problem that needs a solution or perhaps in creating a new process to replace one that isn’t working. In just about every dealership in the country, there are technologies, resources and processes to address problems and provide innovative solutions to those problems: digital or electronic menus, CRMs, Dealer Management Systems, lender approval tools, hiring practices and so on.

Continued economic growth, moderating inflation and evolving global trade policies — all of which will shape automotive demand — set the tone for what promises to be a solid year for U.S. auto dealers. While conditions should drive sustained profitability in the new and used vehicle markets, dealers will need to navigate a tight labor market for staff, keep an eye on affordability challenges for new car buyers and find adequate used car supply.

With Republicans winning control of the White House and Congress, we now have a clearer picture of the tax policies that will be pursued in 2025 and beyond. Priorities under consideration include the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions, proposals made by President Trump during the campaign, and bipartisan legislation that passed in the House earlier in 2024 but did not pass in the Senate. Although achieving these aims will likely be easier under a Republican trifecta, there remains uncertainty about how such legislation will be enacted, given the party’s slim majorities, constraints of using budget reconciliation, choice of funding mechanisms and concerns regarding the impact of tax cuts on the national debt.

With the start of 2025, industry analysts and experts alike have espoused the view, backed by policy assessments and data analysis, that with the Trump administration, dealers can expect “policy changes [that] could create a boom in buy-sell action.” Profitably forecasts along with dealership valuations, depending on the OEM brand, are predicted to rise in 2025 above post-pandemic levels with dealers looking to acquire the “most trusted brands” and “to divest of those [brands] they find more challenging.”