In Its First Year, AutoTrust Unites Over 300 Franchise Dealers to Compete With America's Largest Public Groups

One year after launch, the dealer-owned alliance has scaled to over 300 dealerships and committed to returning millions of dollars in platform revenue to members, proof that franchise dealers can access the same scale as public groups without giving up ownership.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- For decades, public dealer groups have used consolidation to build the scale needed to negotiate better pricing, stronger supplier incentives, and higher profitability. Franchise dealers, negotiating one dealership at a time, have largely been excluded from those same economic advantages. AutoTrust is changing that equation.

AutoTrust Dealer Alliance, a dealer-owned economic platform, is rapidly building a nationwide dealer network designed to give franchise dealers the same purchasing power and negotiating leverage traditionally available only to the industry's largest public dealer groups. The Alliance has scaled since launch less than a year ago to include over 300 active dealerships and continues to grow as additional franchise dealer groups progress through evaluation and onboarding.

"The public groups didn't get their advantages because they're better operators. They got them because of size. AutoTrust gives dealers that same economic advantage, creating new revenue opportunities from the business they are already doing."

Dave Mondragon, CEO and Founder, AutoTrust Dealer Alliance

GAME CHANGER

AutoTrust's growing network of dealer members is building the collective scale needed to place franchise dealers in the same competitive conversation as the industry's largest public dealer organizations. For the first time, small and medium-sized franchise dealer groups have a pathway to access the same volume-driven economic advantages without selling their businesses.

The critical distinction is structure: public groups achieved their scale through acquisition, consolidating dealer ownership into corporate hands. AutoTrust achieves it through an alliance leaving ownership exactly where it started, with the independent operator.

That structural difference has real financial consequences. Where a public group captures economies of scale for its shareholders, AutoTrust is designed to return that value to the dealers who generate it. The alliance is committed to returning millions of dollars in annual platform savings directly to members through quarterly distributions. It's a game changer.

A NEW SCALE ECONOMY

AutoTrust is built on a simple premise that has driven consolidation for decades: scale creates economic advantages that individual dealers cannot achieve alone. Greater buying power and collective negotiating leverage create opportunities to lower costs and generate incremental revenue from transactions dealers are already doing.

The platform is designed to expand across the full dealer cost and revenue structure, creating what AutoTrust calls a new scale economy: financial advantages that grow with the network and are returned to the dealers who built it, rather than to outside shareholders.

"Retail history has consistently demonstrated that scale creates better economics. Costco has proven that over many decades. What's unique about AutoTrust is that it applies those same principles while allowing every dealer to remain independently owned. That's an innovative approach."

Richard Galanti, Former Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Costco Wholesale; Strategic Advisor, AutoTrust Dealer Alliance

LOOKING AHEAD
AutoTrust expects continued expansion of its dealer network and offering to lower dealer operating costs, generating new revenue opportunities and increase dealership profitability.

ABOUT AUTOTRUST DEALER ALLIANCE

AutoTrust Dealer Alliance Inc. is a 100% dealer-owned company that helps franchise dealers compete through collective scale. By leveraging the purchasing power of a nationwide dealer network, AutoTrust delivers incremental revenue opportunities, lower costs, and greater profitability while enabling dealers to retain full ownership of their business.

More information visit: autotrustdealer.com

SOURCE AutoTrust Dealer Alliance