Haig Partners LLC released its Q2 2022 Haig Report, which tracks trends in auto retail and their impact on dealership values. General economic indicators have weakened in 2022, but auto dealers continue to experience record-high profits due to pent-up demand and low inventories.

Buy-sell activity flourished in the first half of 2022, with 3% more dealerships sold compared to the record-setting pace of the first half of 2021. Private buying activity is up 28%, while acquisitions by the publicly traded retailers has fallen 62%. The public companies acquired 23 stores in Q2 2022 YTD. Haig Partners served as the exclusive sell-side advisor to the Lehman Family in a transaction with Lithia Motors, which represented 11 of those dealerships.

The outlook for the rest of 2022 is promising for auto retailers. Dealers believe this period of inventory shortages and elevated earnings is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.