Why Don't Dealership Locations Work The Way They Used To?

Key Insights

• Dealership locations are moving from showroom visibility to service accessibility and operational capacity
• Customers are travelling further to buy vehicles, but expect servicing and after-sales to remain local and convenient
• New sales models and EV brands are increasing complexity and overlap within dealer networks
• Data from registrations, travel habits and servicing is driving more frequent review of dealership networks

Most dealership networks weren’t planned in one go…

…they grew. A new site here, a consolidation there - decisions made for good reasons at the time, that over the years hardened into a network that feels fixed.

But the way customers use dealerships has changed. People now research online, book, buy and follow up across digital and physical channels without thinking about it, and expect servicing and support to work around their lives, not the other way round. Electric vehicles have accelerated that change - but they’re only part of the story.

What’s changing is the role of dealer location. It’s no longer enough to be on a busy main road - what counts today is access, service capacity, and how easily a visit fits in a customer's daily routine. Data from registrations, service catchments and travel patterns shows that customer behaviour has evolved - and that long-held assumptions about location need regular testing.

Dealer networks built up over decades are often complex, but the right insight can reveal opportunities to adapt and future-proof locations. 



This article will explore what these automotive market trends mean for dealership locations, how wider automotive market trends are reshaping customer behaviour, and how networks can plan, manage and optimise their sites in today’s changing automotive market. 

What's changing in the automotive sector?

The automotive market is moving faster than many dealer networks were built for. Customers aren’t relying on showrooms as their starting point: they explore cars online or browse flexible subscription options - and even when people visit a dealership, they often arrive already knowing what they want.

Some of the key changes shaping dealer networks include:

• Leasing is growing, especially for fleets and company cars
• Customers are relying less on dealerships for information
• Servicing and after-sales are becoming more profitable
• New EV brands are using agency, online, or subscription models
• Salary sacrifice schemes are affecting where vehicles are bought, used, and serviced

Servicing and after-sales have become a major part of the dealership business. Vehicles still need maintenance and repair work, and for many dealerships servicing can now be more profitable than new car sales.



That has real implications for location strategy: dealerships need to be easy for customers to reach and practical for moving vehicles and parts - not just visible on a busy thoroughfare.

The result is a more fragmented landscape, where the assumptions that worked for legacy brands don't always apply.

Current market trends in the automotive industry are testing dealership networks

Data from registrations, travel habits, and servicing shows one thing clearly: customers are moving differently, and dealer networks are having to rethink where and how they operate. The growing use of data in the automotive industry is helping make these changes more visible, so let’s take a closer look…

Public registration trends

The UK car market is on the move. In 2025, new vehicle registrations climbed back to just over two million, marking a third year of recovery (but still below pre‑COVID levels). Analysis of DVLA vehicle registration data helps show how these patterns vary by location and vehicle type.

What’s really changing is the mix of vehicles: petrol cars now make up less than half of all registrations, while electric and plug-in hybrid models are taking a growing slice of the market. EV adoption is happening unevenly across the country, and it’s creating local demand patterns that are putting pressure on dealer networks to reassess where capacity is needed.

Customer travel behaviour

Recent research from the RAC Dealer Network shows that who you buy from now matters as much as where you buy. 62% of used car buyers say the trustworthiness of the retailer is their top priority, ahead of make or model, while 45% still highlight location as a key factor.

Even in an online-first world, proximity counts - buyers want dealers to be easy to reach, and having to travel too far remains a barrier. For dealerships, that means reputation, convenience, and accessibility play a huge role in whether an enquiry becomes a sale.

Different patterns for purchase and service

Research on car ownership and EV use shows that where people buy a car isn’t always where they want it serviced. One-off purchases might take customers across regions, but routine maintenance, warranty work, and updates need to fit around everyday travel - home, work, and leisure. That makes service catchments tighter and more local than sales, and dealerships need to plan accordingly.

Overlapping dealership catchments

Analysis of anonymised card-spend data abroad highlights that local markets rarely form neat circles. Postcodes that generate the bulk of a site’s transactions create irregular, overlapping areas. For dealer networks, this means real-world catchments interlock in complex ways, with competition and overlap that simple assumptions about distance or boundaries can’t capture. 

This is why location planning is increasingly data-driven, helping networks optimise coverage, reduce inefficiencies, and make smarter decisions about where to open, expand, or adjust sites.

Dealership location strategy is moving on from visibility to viability

By this point, we’ve shown that networks are being rethought with strategy in mind. But how does that actually play out?

Well, most changes are small, deliberate shifts in how locations are used and what they’re expected to do. Less focus on shiny new flagships and how a site looks from the road, more focus on how it performs day to day.

Can it cope with servicing demand? Is it easy for customers to reach? Does it support the operational realities behind the scenes?

In practice, this is changing the type of sites that make sense:



• Customer convenience: Locations that are easy to get to, park at, and use fit better into everyday routines than highly visible but congested high-street spots. This is especially true for servicing, where convenient drop-off and collection potentially matter more to some customers than a swanky showroom.
  
  
• Service capacity: Workshops that can handle volume, with sufficient ramps, space, and skilled technicians, carry the commercial weight. In many networks, these sites matter more to long-term performance than showroom size or prominence.
  
  
• Logistics: Vehicles move between sites, suppliers, and workshops before reaching customers. Locations with good road access and operational space reduce friction and cost.

The showroom may front the brand, but back-of-house realities are shaping location choices just as much.

The result is a different approach to planning. Dealer networks are being reviewed more often, assumptions are being tested more regularly, and location strategy is becoming an ongoing process rather than a one-off decision. The goal isn’t perfection - it’s keeping pace with a market that doesn’t stand still.

How do you manage dealership locations across multiple brands?

Once you start running multiple franchises, things get more complex fast. Each brand has its own ideas of what a dealership should do - a premium brand may insist on a standalone showroom in a prime spot, while a volume brand is happy sharing space or keeping it practical.

Then you add in the new wave of Chinese EV brands, and the picture becomes even more complicated. As we explored in our 2023 analysis article, some expand quickly through traditional dealer networks, others work with existing groups, and a few bypass the classic dealership model entirely. Suddenly, the rules aren’t the same for every brand - some need space for stock, others prioritise handovers, service, and customer experience.

For multi-franchise networks, that creates a tricky balancing act. Shared facilities can save costs and make networks more efficient, but only if each brand still feels at home. The same site may need to do different jobs for different franchises (traditional, agency, or direct-to-consumer), all with different expectations.

That’s where GMAP’s location data and analysis services come in. By looking at registrations, servicing patterns, and real travel behaviour, we help dealer groups see where networks overlap, where gaps exist, and whether sites can support multiple brands. 

With Chinese EVs growing from 2% to nearly 18% of UK registrations in just four years, relying on assumptions alone won’t cut it anymore - the automotive industry now needs data-led insight to make decisions they can trust.

What these automotive market trends mean for dealership networks going forward

The automotive sector isn’t idling - customers are browsing, comparing, and booking from the comfort of their own devices, and they expect drop-offs, servicing, and support to fit around their day-to-day lives. Dealerships can’t just rely on being in the right high street anymore - it’s about being in the right place, for the right service, at the right time.

For some networks, that means giving new life to existing sites: turning a showroom into a busy service hub, or consolidating operations so fewer locations do more. For others, it’s finding new spots where real demand is growing, not where legacy assumptions say it should be. Every decision starts with insight - knowing how customers move, how they use your services, and what each site actually delivers.

Stop guessing and start measuring

This is exactly where GMAP can help. Our location planning tools and geospatial intelligence software, paired with our expert consultancy advice, turn complex location data into clear insight: which sites are pulling their weight, where coverage is thin, and how to manage multiple brands efficiently. 

The networks that thrive aren’t the ones that built big showrooms decades ago - they’re the ones asking, “Is this site still working?” and acting on what the numbers show.

Speak to GMAP today and see how our data, tools, and expertise on automotive market trends can help your network stay ahead, optimise coverage, and future-proof locations.