ZeroSum, an automotive retail agency that provides cutting-edge inventory-based digital marketing solutions tailored to dealers, has released its August State of the Dealer report, its up-to-date and forward-looking assessment of the new, used, and certified automotive market. The State of the Dealer report strives to address the question of whether it is going to get harder or easier for dealers to sell a vehicle in the next 30 days. The near-term answer is "about the same", but that means that dealers should keep a close eye on vehicle pricing and make sure their inventories are visible and accessible to consumers in order to stay competitive.

New vehicle inventory dropped slightly in July. While the decline was small, it is the first time that supply has fallen off (other than seasonal drops in January) since June 2022.

Vehicle movement, while a bit volatile from month to month, has generally stayed in a narrow range over the past year. The forward-looking 30-day forecast indicates that this trend will continue in August.

New vehicle marketed prices have flattened over the past three periods (now at $50,544) as Market Adjustments (which measure marketed discounts and incentives below MSRP) continue to rise.

"We've been anticipating that the supply picture would settle into a 'new normal' range, and that appears to be playing out," said Jeff Englishmen, Vice President of Dealer Success at ZeroSum. "While the gains in inventory may be slowing, other metrics like days-to-move are still pointing to a challenging sales environment and therefore to a need to stay competitive by marketing vehicles aggressively."

Used vehicle supply and demand remain relatively static and range-bound, and the 30-day movement forecast points to a continuation of that trend.

"Used car dynamics have been more stable than on the new side, but the two market sectors definitely affect one another," said Englishmen. "The used vehicle selling environment will continue to contend with a healthy new vehicle supply picture going forward, and dealers would be wise to highlight their used vehicle inventory accordingly."

Click here to download ZeroSum's entire August State of the Dealer Report, including vehicle movement, turn rate, days-to-move, inventory, and pricing trends for new, used, and certified vehicles.