New car dealerships: where they open, who sells to them
Auspector ·
Between September 27 and October 27, 2026, 991 new car dealership records entered our newly opened businesses section in the United States and 351 in the United Kingdom — 7,379 across the 35 countries we measure. Relative to the dealers already listed, arrivals ran ahead of the all-sector rate in the UK, Germany, France and Spain, and behind it in the US; among US cities, Houston (11) and London (19) top their countries.
How many new car dealerships, and where?
Our database holds 104,276 car dealer records in the United States — new and used — and 20,811 in the United Kingdom. In the 30 days, 991 and 351 new ones arrived: 9.5 and 16.9 for every 1,000 dealer records already there. Across all sectors the same rate was 13.8 in the US and 11.5 in the UK: dealerships are a slow-turnover sector in the US and a fast one in the UK.
| City | Dealer records | New, 30 days | Phone | Website information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | 1,868 | 11 | 90.7% | 58.3% |
| Los Angeles | 870 | 10 | 90.7% | 63.6% |
| New York | 705 | 10 | 84.8% | 57.6% |
| Columbus | 611 | 6 | 90.3% | 55.5% |
| Orlando | 545 | 6 | 93.2% | 65.9% |
| Dallas | 831 | 5 | 88.6% | 53.4% |
| San Antonio | 730 | <5 | 89.9% | 62.1% |
| Phoenix | 710 | <5 | 90.0% | 64.5% |
| Jacksonville | 587 | <5 | 91.0% | 59.8% |
| Springfield | 435 | <5 | 92.6% | 72.2% |
| Miami | 429 | <5 | 88.3% | 56.4% |
| El Paso | 399 | <5 | 89.2% | 54.1% |
Houston (11), Los Angeles (10) and New York (10) received the most new dealer records. At state level, California received 86 new dealer records (8,588 in all) and New York State 29 (3,738). All US figures: car dealers in the United States.
| City | Dealer records | New, 30 days | Phone | Website information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 720 | 19 | 81.5% | 61.1% |
| Bradford | 181 | 6 | 90.6% | 55.8% |
| Nottingham | 130 | 6 | 91.5% | 63.8% |
| Birmingham | 354 | <5 | 85.3% | 54.5% |
| Sheffield | 222 | <5 | 91.4% | 65.3% |
| Leicester | 185 | <5 | 87.6% | 54.1% |
| Peterborough | 183 | <5 | 90.7% | 71.6% |
| Bristol | 165 | <5 | 85.5% | 62.4% |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 148 | <5 | 89.9% | 66.2% |
| Manchester | 147 | <5 | 83.7% | 49.0% |
| Leeds | 137 | <5 | 88.3% | 67.2% |
| Coventry | 124 | <5 | 83.9% | 57.3% |
London received 19 new dealer records, ahead of Bradford (6) and Nottingham (6); 9 of the 12 cities had fewer than five. The county view is on the Greater London page; all UK figures: car dealers in the United Kingdom.
How reachable are new dealerships?
Dealerships are a phone-rich sector: 91.4% of US car dealer records carry a phone number and 64.0% website information, against 83.1% and 61.7% across all sectors; in the UK, 89.7% and 68.0%. 29,833 US dealer records — 28.6% — have a phone but no website information; in the UK the figure is 5,077 (24.4%).
A dealership is a destination business with a forecourt: the address and coordinates on the record turn a week’s new entries into a visiting route, and the phone is the way to check the stock profile before the drive. Franchise and authorisation rules shape who may sell which vehicles; that is a matter for the trade and its regulators, not something to advise on here. Rules on unsolicited calls and messages differ by country and channel, and the obligation lies with the sender; check them with your own counsel before a campaign.
Six markets compared
| Country | Dealer records | New, 30 days | New per 1,000 dealer records | New per 1,000 records, all sectors | Phone | Website information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 104,276 | 991 | 9.5 | 13.8 | 91.4% | 64.0% |
| Germany | 30,934 | 686 | 22.2 | 8.3 | 84.7% | 65.6% |
| United Kingdom | 20,811 | 351 | 16.9 | 11.5 | 89.7% | 68.0% |
| Türkiye | 38,986 | 339 | 8.7 | 11.1 | 62.5% | 27.4% |
| France | 19,825 | 324 | 16.3 | 9.8 | 85.2% | 57.7% |
| Spain | 7,864 | 95 | 12.1 | 7.8 | 77.3% | 52.3% |
Relative to the records already there, new car dealer records arrived faster than records across all sectors in 4 of the 6 markets; in the United States and Türkiye they were slower. The highest relative rate of the six is Germany’s (22.2 new per 1,000). Website information ranges from 68.0% in the United Kingdom to 27.4% in Türkiye — for anyone selling websites or stock-listing pages, the low end of that range is the market.
How a supplier reaches a new dealership
A new record is dated by the day it reached us, not by the opening day. Some of this month’s dealers are still fitting out the forecourt, some have traded quietly for weeks, some have taken over an existing site. The first conversation establishes which — the stage decides what a new supplier can still win.
Before opening: the forecourt and the stock plan
- Stock finance: a dealer opens with a line of stock bought before the first sale. Lenders and brokers who work with dealers want to be in that first conversation, because the funding relationship tends to be set early and reviewed yearly.
- Listing and stock software: photographing, pricing and publishing the first batch of vehicles is an opening-week job; a dealer starting out has nothing to migrate, which makes the first system the one they learn.
- Forecourt and signage: surfacing, line markings, lighting and the dealer board — ordered before the first vehicle arrives.
- Trade insurance: demonstrator cover, stock cover and liability for customers on the premises are bought before trading starts; the sector angle is in commercial insurance leads.
The first months
Once vehicles move, the early choices come back: pricing that follows the market, listings that photograph badly, prep and valeting capacity, inspection reports buyers ask for, and the cleaning products that keep a forecourt presentable. Suppliers of vehicle preparation, detailing and auto-care products win their first conversation here, when habits are still being formed.
Working a daily list
- Read the record before the visit: category (car dealer, used car dealer, truck dealer), website information and phone — a dealer with no website information is likely still building its presence.
- Check for repeated names: one business can have several records, and a dealer group appears once per site. The same name on several new records may be a group; ask whether buying happens per site or at a head office.
- Bring something to show: a sample inspection report, a before-and-after prep photo set, a stock-finance illustration on realistic numbers.
- Route by area: coordinates turn the week’s new records into a forecourt circuit.
- Keep the record ID: exports carry a stable ID per record, so visit notes stay attached when you export again.
Repair and service shops are a separate sector with its own numbers: new auto repair shops — many dealer groups add a workshop later, but the workshop list is not the dealer list.
The search in the panel
- Category: car dealer, used car dealer, truck dealer. Each record keeps its own category and categories are chosen one by one, so a stock-software vendor can leave truck dealers out.
- Area: city and district; coordinates for the forecourt circuit.
- Time: arrived in the newly opened businesses section in the last 30 days.
- Channel: phone number on record if your team calls; “no website information” if you sell websites or stock-listing pages.
- Watch: save the search and new matches arrive by email every day.
Searching and counting are free on every plan, so you can see how many new dealerships your territory had this month before you spend a credit (pricing). A credit is spent the first time you open a record’s details, and an export counts as opening; one credit opens one newly opened business or five established ones, and a record you have opened never costs again. Exports are CSV or XLSX. A record carries name, category, address, city, district, phone, web address, coordinates and, where available, opening hours; there is no email column and no named-person column. For the first call itself, see the cold call script for new businesses.