Two days after AutoTrust announced it had united more than 300 franchise dealers in its first year, founder and CEO Dave Mondragon outlined the macro pressures reshaping the industry, and what it takes at the store level to compete.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Franchise dealers face a compounding set of pressures: margin compression, rising capital costs, tightening consumer credit, and a widening affordability gap.
• Private equity and public consolidators continue to pour capital into auto retail, widening the scale gap between large groups and independently owned stores.
• AutoTrust’s dealer-owned cooperative estimates it will return $5 million in cash distributions in its first year, a figure projected to reach $25 million in year two.
• Mondragon: the dealers who compete over the next decade will be defined by collective leverage, not renovated showrooms.
• Advisor and former Home Depot EVP Jim Inglis: AutoTrust applies the same purchasing-scale principle Home Depot brought to homeowners and small contractors, giving dealers access to economics they couldn’t reach alone.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Aug. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Franchise dealers are contending with a rare convergence of pressures, according to Dave Mondragon, CEO and Founder of AutoTrust Dealer Alliance. Speaking recently on CBT News’ Inside Automotive, Mondragon described an industry where margin compression, rising capital costs, tightening consumer credit, and a widening vehicle affordability gap are compounding at once, squeezing dealer economics from both the inventory side and the consumer side.

“It’s not a single trend, it’s a compounding effect of several trends hitting dealers at once,” Mondragon said. “The dealers with the strongest buying power are the ones who will keep moving the metal.”

Mondragon also pointed to the steady flow of private equity and public capital into auto retail, arguing that consolidation shows no sign of slowing and will continue to widen the scale gap between large groups and independently owned stores. In his view, the dealers positioned to compete over the next decade will not be the ones investing in new showrooms, but the ones building collective leverage with other dealers.

That macro pressure translates directly into decisions dealer principals make every day. Tighter margins limit what a dealership can invest in pay, training, and benefits at a time when retaining good employees is increasingly difficult. Many dealers are also stretched managing lender contracts, F&I products, and parts and service programs, a landscape where third-party vendor initatives do not always align with the dealer’s interests. For family-owned dealerships weighing succession, sustainable margins are often the difference between passing a business to the next generation and facing pressure to sell to a consolidator.

“Our success only comes when dealer economics improve,” Mondragon said. “That alignment is the whole model. The dealer always has the final say, they vote with their pocketbook.”

AutoTrust’s model is built directly around that alignment. The company operates as a 100% dealer-owned cooperative across three platforms, financial services and lending, F&I, and general procurement, with every member dealer sharing in equity and cash distributions rather than simply paying for services. The approach has scaled quickly: AutoTrust united more than 300 franchise dealers in its first year and expects to return more than $5 million in cash distributions to members in 2026, a figure the company projects will grow to $25 million next year.

“Home Depot brought enormous purchasing scale to homeowners and small contractors, giving them access to pricing and capabilities that were formally unavailable to them due to their limited buying power,” said Jim Inglis, former Executive Vice President and Board Member of The Home Depot, and an investor and advisor to AutoTrust. “AutoTrust applies that same principle to franchise dealers, combining their scale to access economics they couldn’t reach alone, while keeping full ownership of their businesses.”

Jim Inglis, Former EVP and Board Member, The Home Depot; Investor and Advisor, AutoTrust Dealer Alliance

As consolidation accelerates, Mondragon said franchise dealers no longer have to choose between staying independent and competing at scale.

Dealers interested in learning how AutoTrust’s platform works, or in joining the alliance, can visit autotrustdealer.com or contact AutoTrust directly to start a conversation.

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

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SOURCE AutoTrust Dealer Alliance