Most dealers track too many metrics or the wrong ones entirely. I've sat in monthly meetings where someone presents a 30-slide deck with 50+ data points and the only takeaway is "we need to sell more cars." That's not reporting. That's information overload disguised as diligence.
Working with Automotive Avenues, we helped trim their KPI list down to 15 numbers. These are the ones that actually tell you whether the business is healthy, where the problems are, and what to do about them. Everything else is noise.
Here they are, organized into four categories.
Sales KPIs (1–4)
1. Front-End Gross Profit per Unit
What it is: The profit on the vehicle sale itself, before F&I products. Sale price minus what you have in the car (cost + reconditioning + pack).
Why it matters: This tells you whether your sales team is holding gross or giving it away. If this number is sliding, you've got a pricing problem, a negotiation problem, or both.
What good looks like: In 2026, $2,500–$3,500 front-end gross is solid. Below $2,000 consistently and you're buying deals.
2. Units Sold (Retail)
What it is: Total retail units delivered in the period. Simple.
Why it matters: Volume is the multiplier on everything else. High gross means nothing at 20 units if your overhead requires 40.
What good looks like: Depends entirely on your operation, but track this weekly against your break-even point, not just monthly against last year.
3. Days to Sale (Retail)
What it is: Average number of days from acquisition to retail delivery.
Why it matters: Every day a car sits, it costs you money — floor plan interest, depreciation, lot space. If your average days-to-sale creeps from 35 to 50, that's 15 extra days of carrying cost across your entire inventory.
What good looks like: Under 45 days for most dealers. Under 35 if your recon process is tight and your pricing is aggressive.
4. Closing Ratio
What it is: Leads or ups that convert to a sold unit.
Why it matters: Low close rate means you're either getting the wrong traffic or your sales process has holes. Either way, you're burning money on leads that don't convert.
What good looks like: 15–20% on internet leads, 25–35% on walk-in traffic. If you're below these ranges, look at your follow-up process before blaming lead quality.
F&I KPIs (5–8)
5. Per Vehicle Retailed (PVR)
What it is: Total F&I gross profit divided by retail units. This is the number that separates good F&I departments from great ones.
Why it matters: F&I is often the difference between a profitable month and a bad one. At scale, a $200 improvement in PVR across 100 units is $20,000 in additional monthly gross.
What good looks like: $1,800–$2,500 PVR for a strong dealer. If you're under $1,500, there's money being left on the desk.
6. Products per Deal
What it is: Average number of F&I products sold on each deal (service contracts, GAP, tire & wheel, paint protection, etc.).
Why it matters: This measures menu presentation effectiveness. If your F&I manager is averaging 1.2 products per deal, they're probably skipping the full menu or cherry-picking.
What good looks like: 1.8–2.5 products per deal. More than that and you might be packing; less and you're leaving coverage (and profit) on the table.
7. Product Penetration Rate
What it is: Percentage of deals that include each specific F&I product. Track this per product — service contracts, GAP, and your other top-3 products at minimum.
Why it matters: Penetration tells you where the gaps are. If your service contract penetration is 60% but GAP is at 25%, you know exactly where the coaching opportunity is.
What good looks like: Service contracts: 50–65%. GAP: 40–55%. Other products: 25–40%.
8. Back-End Gross per Unit
What it is: Total F&I department gross divided by retail units. Similar to PVR but includes reserve and any holdback.
Why it matters: This is the complete picture of what F&I contributes per car. Combine with front-end gross for total gross per unit.
What good looks like: $2,000–$3,000 for dealers running a full product menu. If front-end gross is compressing (it is for most dealers), back-end has to make up the difference.
Inventory KPIs (9–12)
9. Inventory Turn Rate
What it is: How many times your inventory turns per year. Cost of goods sold divided by average inventory value.
Why it matters: Faster turns mean less floor plan exposure and more opportunities to generate profit. A dealer turning inventory 8 times a year is generating nearly double the sales opportunities of one turning 4.5 times.
What good looks like: 8–12 turns per year for aggressive dealers. Below 6 and your capital is sitting instead of working.
10. Aging Inventory (60+ Days)
What it is: The percentage of your inventory that's been on the lot more than 60 days.
Why it matters: Aged units are silent profit killers. At Automotive Avenues, tracking cost-to-market ratio daily instead of weekly cut their wholesale losses by about 30% — because they caught units sliding past the profitability window before they became problems.
What good looks like: Under 15% of total inventory past 60 days. If you're above 25%, you have a pricing or acquisition problem that needs immediate attention.
11. Cost-to-Market Ratio
What it is: Your total cost in a vehicle (acquisition + recon + transport) relative to the current market retail price. This is the vAuto metric most dealers know but don't check often enough.
Why it matters: It tells you whether you bought right. A cost-to-market ratio of 85% gives you room for gross. At 95%, you're already negotiating against yourself.
What good looks like: 82–88% for cars you want to retail. Anything above 92% should trigger a wholesale conversation before the number gets worse.
12. Days Supply
What it is: How many days of sales your current inventory represents at your current sales pace.
Why it matters: Too high and you're over-inventoried (expensive). Too low and you're losing sales because you don't have the right cars. This is the balance beam of inventory management.
What good looks like: 30–45 days supply. Anything over 60 and you're carrying too much. Under 20 and you're probably leaving sales on the table.
Operations KPIs (13–15)
13. Cost per Lead
What it is: Total marketing spend divided by total leads generated. Break this down by source — your website, third-party sites (CarGurus, Cars.com, AutoTrader), social, etc.
Why it matters: If your Cars.com spend is generating leads at $85 each and your Google Ads are at $35, you know where to shift budget. Most dealers don't track this by source, which means they're flying blind on marketing ROI.
What good looks like: Blended cost per lead of $30–$60. Above $80 blended and your marketing needs a hard look.
14. Gross Profit per Employee
What it is: Total gross profit divided by total headcount. Simple measure of operational efficiency.
Why it matters: This catches staffing bloat. If gross per employee is declining while total gross is flat, you've added bodies without adding production. It also helps you compare months fairly — a $300K gross month with 15 people is very different from $300K with 25 people.
What good looks like: $20,000–$30,000 gross per employee per month for a lean operation. Below $15,000 and you're overstaffed or underperforming.
15. Online-to-Showroom Conversion Rate
What it is: Percentage of online leads (website forms, chat, text) that result in a showroom visit.
Why it matters: Most of your customers start online. If only 10% of internet leads ever walk through your door, your BDC process or follow-up speed has a problem. This is where deals go to die quietly.
What good looks like: 25–35% for a dealer with a good BDC and fast response times. Below 15% usually means slow follow-up or poor lead handling.
Why These 15 Need to Be in One Place
Here's the thing — knowing which KPIs matter is only half the battle. The other half is being able to see them all at the same time, updated in real time, without spending an hour pulling them from twelve different tools.
When these 15 metrics live in one real-time reporting view, your morning meeting takes 15 minutes instead of 45. Your managers walk in already knowing where they stand. Problems get caught on day 3 of the month, not day 30.
That's what we built Voltra's performance analytics around. Not 200 metrics in a pretty chart. Fifteen numbers that tell you exactly where your dealership stands and what needs attention today.
If you want to see what these KPIs look like pulled together from your actual data, grab a demo. Takes 15 minutes and we'll use your real numbers.