The data is in! And it's telling quite a story.

For the seventh straight year, Foureyes has dropped its Automotive Dealer Benchmark Report – pulling back the curtain on what's really happening with your leads throughout your sales process.

This isn't just any report. We've analyzed a TON of data from January 2024 - December 2024 to expose the uncomfortable truth about how leads behave and (let's be real) how they're sometimes mismanaged throughout the sales process, including:

    • 1.1 billion dealer website visits 
    • ~30 million unique pieces of inventory 
    • 22,500+ automotive dealership websites (including group sites) 

Want to know if your dealership is leaving money on the table? These benchmarks let you stack your performance against your industry peers.

    To provide clear benchmarks, this report filters out website activity from bots, solicitors, job seekers, service customers, and other non-sales leads that dealers nationwide received.

    Mishandled Leads

    Despite great intentions and sales processes, some leads simply get overlooked, go unlogged, see lapsed follow-up, etc. The volume of these mishandled leads however is nothing to shrug off.

    This mishandled figure remained generally the same year-over-year. Although forms and chats did see a ~1% bump up comparatively. 

    Digging deeper into mishandled leads, Foureyes discovered that 14.1% of new sales leads never got logged into dealer CRMs – with sales leads from website calls accounting for the majority (26.3%) of these missed opportunities. 

    This trend has shown a (concerningly?) consistent growth year-over-year: 10.6% in 2021, 11.7% in 2022, 12.4% in 2023, and 13.1% in 2024.

    On the flip side, shoppers who did connect with a dealership waited on hold for ~74 seconds (Good? Bad? Acceptable?) -- up slightly from last year. 

    Follow-Up

    Stay with us on this one. 65% of sales leads didn’t hear back from a salesperson within 24 hours of returning to the dealer site (i.e. they submitted an initial inquiry on the site, and then later returned).

    These prospects eventually heard back from dealers within: 

    According to Foureyes data, this 65% figure has remained consistent over recent years. Despite dealers investing resources into enhancing sales processes and customer experiences, the proportional returns on these improvements are moving slowly.

    Days to Close

    Among sales leads that end up buying from you, 60% close within just three days of their initial website inquiry (form, chat, or call).

    Meaning, a non-insignificant 40% of sales leads close after 3 days - typically when dealership outreach starts to slow down or stops altogether.

    In short, there’s a lot more meat left on the bone after Day 3.

    Lead Attribution

    Calls generated the most total leads, but Forms accounted for the most leads in the actual sales pipeline, and leads that ended up buying. 

    Note: 10.2% of all sales leads ended up buying -- the majority of which came via website form submissions.

    Leads by Channel

    Paid channels generated a higher proportion of total sales leads, yet direct/website generated a higher rate of leads that eventually bought. 

    With that in mind, the chart below can help you decide where marketing dollars could/should be spent.

    Inventory Trends

    New vehicle inventory reached a multi-year high while used inventory hit the lowest numbers since 2019.

    The separation between new and used inventory levels increased in 2024, reaching the largest difference since early 2021.

    New Vehicle Numbers Soar

    New vehicle inventory reached a four-year high in 2024, slightly exceeding the pre-pandemic, March 2020 peak.

    New vs. Used Prices

    The average price for a new vehicle ended 2024 in roughly the same place as it opened the year, but saw a Q2 and Q3 bump during the year. Prices for used inventory fell in Q4 to a 2024 low.

    You’re not alone

    You don't have to tackle these challenges solo. Foureyes plays matchmaker between those sweet rides sitting on your lot and the leads already chilling in your CRM. While everyone else is scrambling for new prospects, you could be turning those forgotten leads into commission checks. The difference between "sales leads" and "sold leads" might just be a conversation that never happened... 

    Connect with us here to learn how!