The Dealership KPIs for General Managers That Run the Store
A GM can pull hundreds of reports and still miss the one number that mattered. This guide narrows dealership KPIs for general managers to a short list, sorted by how often to look and what to do when a number moves.
The daily five
These take five minutes with your first coffee. If your managers know you look every morning, the numbers improve on their own.
- Appointments on the board today, and how many are confirmed.
- Yesterday’s shown appointments and sold units, against the daily pace needed to hit the month.
- Unanswered leads. Any internet or social lead without a personal reply is a fire.
- Deals in finance not yet funded. Cash in transit is not cash.
- Repair orders opened against advisor capacity.
Weekly sales department KPIs
Review these with your GSM on the same day every week.
- Lead to appointment set rate: appointments set divided by leads received.
- Show rate: appointments shown divided by appointments set.
- Closing rate by source: sold divided by opportunities, split by walk-in, phone, internet and social.
- Front and back gross per unit, new and used separately.
- Trade capture: trades taken divided by deals delivered.
The Willowood BDC benchmarks are a 35% set rate, a 65% show rate and a 15% overall closing rate. If your store is well under one of those, you know which link in the chain to work on first.
Weekly inventory KPIs
Inventory is where a GM’s cash sits, so age matters more than count.
- Days supply: units in stock divided by average daily sales.
- Aged units: how many used vehicles have passed the age limit your store sets, and the plan for each one.
- Time to frontline: days from acquisition to photos online and ready for sale.
- Turn: annualized units sold divided by average units in stock.
- Acquisition mix: share of used inventory sourced from trades, service lane and street purchases versus auction.
Weekly fixed operations KPIs
- Service absorption: fixed operations gross profit divided by total dealership fixed overhead. The higher it runs, the less the store depends on a good sales month.
- Hours per repair order, customer pay.
- Effective labor rate: labor sales divided by hours billed.
- Technician efficiency: hours billed divided by hours clocked.
- Service appointments shown and the share of customers who decline recommended work.
Monthly marketing and money KPIs
Once the month closes, look at what it cost to produce the business.
- Advertising cost per sold unit: total advertising spend divided by retail units.
- Cost per lead, cost per shown appointment and cost per sale by source. Cost per lead alone rewards cheap junk. Cost per sale tells the truth.
- Net profit as a share of gross, by department.
- Contracts in transit and receivables aging.
- Personnel expense as a share of gross.
- Customer satisfaction scores and online review rating.
How to run the KPI meeting
A KPI nobody acts on is trivia. Give each number one owner by name. In the weekly meeting, every owner reports three things: the number, why it moved, and what they will do by next week. Keep it to 30 minutes, write the commitments on one sheet, and open the next meeting by reading that sheet back. When a number is red two weeks running, the GM goes to that department and watches the work in person.
Frequently asked questions
How many KPIs should a general manager track?
Around twenty across the store is plenty, with five checked daily. More than that and the meeting turns into reading a report aloud.
What is the single most telling number?
Appointments shown. It sits between marketing and sales, so it exposes weak advertising, slow follow-up and poor confirmation in one figure.
Should KPIs be shared with the whole staff?
Yes, for the ones each team controls. Post set rate, show rate and closing rate where the sales floor can see them, and keep financial detail with managers.
See what an event would look like for your store
Willowood Ventures runs Facebook Sales Events for 600+ dealer partners and manages $4 million per month in social advertising. Dealers see approximately 800% average ROI, and 90% of them rebook. Book a demo and we will walk through your market, your inventory and your set appointment target.
