[trader220]

Really depends on the car, the market days supply for a car like that in their market. How much recon they do. What they hold their turn over days to, etc. etc.

If you're running a 30 day turn you're going to have to sell cars for less gross than the dealers who run 60 day turns.

If you're selling 40 or 50k dollar or higher end used cars you'd better be making more than $800 bucks because you're not going to sell 40 or 50 a month in most markets. You also have a lot more risk in those cars because they can easily decay in value in a month or two.

If you're selling 10k dollar cars the risk is a lot lower but so is the margin in the sale. Also with cheaper cars you're not going to sell much in financing or warranties. All reasons you need to do volume.

Bottom line is this: There is no one single answer and the range of answers is all over the map and none of them is essentially wrong, it all depends on what your goals are as a dealer and how you go about meeting those goals. Set reasonable goals. Figure out where your dealership falls on the margin vs. volume curve. Consider the types of cars you do best with and what your local market is geared towards. All of that will tell you how much you can make on your pre owned cars.

If you think dealers are making 5, 6, 7 grand on sub 20k dollar cars I would say we should find that market and start selling cars there.