Operational Economics
Dealer Group Operations Economics: the 2026 Numbers
Gross profit per unit is normalizing to pre-pandemic levels while labor, utilities, and software overhead stay at record highs: the real 2026 margin story.
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Operational Economics
Articles on operational economics: real-world lessons deploying operational AI in the enterprise.
Operational Economics
The Real Cost of a 20-Person Document Review Team
Loaded labor, error rework, and the capacity you never had: how to price a manual review operation honestly, plus two rules for deciding what to do about it.
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20 Group Composite Benchmarking: What Operations Metrics Actually Get Compared
NIADA 20 Groups put 20 non-competing dealers into a shared composite, ranked on absorption, gross profit per unit, and expense ratio each meeting.
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Dealer Group M&A Due Diligence: the Operational Red Flags Buyers Actually Find
In dealer group M&A, buyers' diligence teams most often flag title defects and curtailment failures surfaced by one failed floorplan audit, not sales metrics.
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Floorplan Interest Per Unit: 2026's Quiet Margin Killer
Floorplan interest can erase all front-end gross once a used vehicle sits past 45 to 60 days, and 2026's rate and inventory pressure make that line cross often.
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Gross Profit Per Unit Normalization: Why 2026 Feels Different
Gross profit per unit is not crashing in 2026, it is normalizing back to pre-pandemic levels, but overhead never came back down along with it.
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PE-Owned Dealer Groups and the 2026 Headcount Pressure
PE-backed firms filed WARN notices covering nearly 13,000 layoffs by mid-2026. Many dealer groups are PE-owned, so that pressure reaches the shop floor.
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Cost Per Transaction: a Realistic Benchmark for Used-Car Operations
A cost-per-transaction number means little alone: purchasing platforms, franchise dealers, and wholesale desks carry different cost structures.
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