Dealership success in 2026 is largely defined by how a dealer prioritizes and uses its data, according to the latest Dealer Success Study by Cox Automotive.

It found that “data-driven dealers meet their profitability goals at a 17-point higher rate than other dealers.” But only 22% of dealers said their decision-making is primarily data-driven.

“What I hear from the dealers I talk with is consistent," said Cox Automotive President of Retail Solutions Lori Wittman. "They have a vast amount of life experience and gut instinct, and they want to combine that with real-world data to drive the best decisions.”

“The dealers doing that well are intentional about keeping their data clean and putting it to work in every part of the store.”

The study detailed what separates data-driven dealers from others:

• Trust. 76% of data-driven dealers fully trust the data in their systems versus 52% of those whose staff doesn't focus on data
• Data quality: 42% of data-driven dealers consider whether a tool improves data quality before adopting it, versus 22% of other dealers
• Connected data: 52% of data-driven dealers said their data is seamlessly integrated among tools or vendors, versus 38% of others
• Planning. 73% of data-driven dealers said they set a plan for judging a tool’s success before rolling out, versus 55% of others
• Key Performance Indicators: Data-driven dealers outpaced their peers in customer loyalty, sales volume and staff efficiency
• Business performance: Data-driven dealers reported a better show-to-close rate, gross profit per deal and more repeat business