ZeroSum State of the Dealer January 2024: Automotive Landscape Sees End-of-Year Sales Bump, But Challenges Remain

Model-Year-Changeovers Fuel December Movement Growth; Pricing, Days-to-Move Trends Point to Continuing Pressure 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Jan. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The ZeroSum State of the Dealer Report is the first and premier data source for the new, used, and certified pre-owned automotive market. ZeroSum serves as a crucial resource for automotive dealers, offering indispensable data on supply and demand trends and delivering unprecedented insights on inventory and 30-day forecasts on vehicle movement. State of the Dealer answers the question that all automotive dealers are wondering: "Is it going to be harder or easier to sell a car next month?"

ZeroSum reviewed December's year-end data and saw strong month-over-month vehicle movement growth for new, used, and certified vehicles, but this was attributable to end-of-year support and model year changeovers rather than a shift in the overall selling environment. January 2024 forecasts show a pullback from December levels (1.12 million), with a projection of 1.08 million new cars moved. This projection is higher than what the industry saw for most of 2023, but still is not keeping pace with rapidly growing new vehicle inventory (which was up 6% in December after growth of 8% in November and 11% in October).

"December was a strong month in terms of dealers moving vehicles, but the effects of consumers seeking year-end deals related to model year changeovers are expected to diminish," said Jeff Englishmen, Vice President of Dealer Success at ZeroSum.

Used car prices are down for the seventh month, and prices have fallen 12.6% since 2022. Used vehicles also saw an uptick in vehicle movement in December. However, as with the new car market, December 2023 car performance does not indicate a new trend as we head into 2024.

"Pricing pressure and longer sales cycles for used vehicles continue to play out. The higher supply and steady demand for new vehicles will result in consumers being able to take advantage of incentives and lower negotiated prices, which will ultimately affect the attractiveness of used vehicles," said Englishmen.

Click here to download ZeroSum's entire January State of the Dealer Report, including vehicle movement, turn rate, days-to-move, inventory, and pricing trends for new, used, and certified vehicles. 

About ZeroSum

ZeroSum is an industry leader in software, marketing, and data. Powered by its SaaS platform, MarketAI, ZeroSum is simplifying and modernizing automotive marketing by leveraging artificial intelligence, data, and scaling ability to acquire new customers. ZeroSum is the first and only company that matches consumer demand with automotive data in real-time for dealer marketing efficiency. For more information, visit www.zerosum.ai

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SOURCE ZeroSum