High-level stats
- Sales loyalty increased significantly from 23% to 32% in September
- Service loyalty was 73% for September compared to 67% for the year thus far
- The average cost of service came down to $492 – a $2 decrease from August
- 60.5% of the vehicles serviced were not purchased at that dealership – August was 61% and 2024 was 63%, so September was an improvement in loyalty
- 16% of services were on cars with more than 100,000 miles – a 1% decrease from August
Service Warranty Work
- 8.9% of services were fully covered by a warranty – down from 9.3% in August
- 12% of services were partially covered by a warranty – same as August, but down 4% from 2024
- An increase in free services was noticed.
- 44% of all services were fully “customer pay”
Older cars in service
- 11% of all services were on cars 10 years of age or older – down from 17% in August
- 16% of all services were on cars with more than 100,000 miles – up from 12% in August
- 8% of all services were on cars with more than 100,000 miles and older than 10 years of age – same as August
- Cost of service for 10-year-old+ vehicles was $626 – down from $644 in August
- Cost of service for 100,000+ miles vehicles was $694 – down from $702 in August
F&I Sales
These are new stats to VehicleLyfe as the post-purchase warranty component launched in September. As these stats are new to us, we will cover the annual changes.
- 2019: 39% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $1,203 with $466 F&I profit
- 2020: 40% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $1,180 with $477 F&I profit
- 2021: 43% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $1,259 with $538 F&I profit
- 2022: 43% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $1,387 with $601 F&I profit
- 2023: 42% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $1,017 with $425 F&I profit
- 2024: 44% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $921 with $408 F&I profit
- 2025 YTD: 47% of vehicle sales included a F&I product with average round deal of $1,580 with $745 F&I profit
Opinions
September marked the end of EV credits, which sparked a buying frenzy on those vehicles. News coverage combined with dealer promotions generated customer awareness, which could have led to other non-EV purchases. September can be a decent sales month after families have finished all the back-to-school work. Loyalty rates plummeted in 2024 and the beginning of 2025 for many reasons. We believe a combination of market changes, increased price of new vehicles for returning customers, and inexperienced sales teams led to significant reductions in loyalty rates. We may be seeing the beginning of a new loyalty trend as the market stabilizes and dealers are plugging staffing issues with new technology.
F&I penetration and profits have been high in 2025, indicating a desire to maintain sales profits after the post-pandemic years, during which they grew significantly.
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