Introducing Know Your Market: Australian Automotive Benchmark Intelligence for ITK Dealers
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Complete Dealer Services (CDS) is pleased to introduce Know Your Market (KYM), a new market intelligence initiative designed for progressive In The Know (ITK) members. KYM gives participating automotive dealers access to comparable Australian financial trend insights, helping leadership teams make faster, more confident and more informed decisions across the car, motorcycle and truck sectors.
What is Know Your Market?
Know Your Market (KYM) is a CDS-developed product for ITK automotive dealers. It provides industry-level financial trend data to help CDS clients better understand how their performance compares with broader market movements.
KYM uses financial and operational information from contributing car, motorcycle and truck dealerships that already adopt ITK as their management reporting platform.
CDS analyses and harmonises median and benchmark financial results across key dealership departments, including:
Vehicle Sales (New & Used)
Finance & Insurance (F&I)
Service Department
Parts Department
Overall Operations
The result is industry benchmark information that highlights emerging movement in key performance indicators (KPIs), examples include:
Gross Profit per Unit – New & Used Vehicles
Days of Supply – New & Used Vehicles
Advertising Spend % of GP – New & Used Vehicles
Floorplan interest cost increases
Service Labour GP performance
Service Unsold Labour
Technician Productivity
Parts GP% of Sales
Parts ROSI%
F&I Penetration
Expenses per Unit – New & Used Vehicles
Expenses % GP – all departments
Rather than publishing raw figures side by side (which can be misleading when dealerships often adjust and accrue based on their own standards), KYM focuses on percentage movement in KPIs over elected timeframes.
This helps dealership leaders and management teams:
Identify, monitor and respond proactively to industry trend data, including the direction and speed of change.
Compare their dealership or dealer group performance against aggregated market movement.
Identify early warning signals by comparing their own KPI movement with KYM industry equivalents.
In short, it answers a critical strategic question:
“Is what we are experiencing unique to our business, or is it happening across the automotive market?”
By making this market context visible, KYM helps managers take proactive action when industry trends could affect profitability.
If you do not have a crystal ball to predict what may be around the corner for your business, Know Your Market may be the next best option to help you Be In The Know. Be Competitive.
How do I access Know Your Market?
Access is available at no additional cost to contributing ITK community members who meet the participation criteria.
To receive ongoing access to Australian automotive industry trend data, participants need to:
Formally agree to anonymously contribute dealership financial results.
Data is aggregated and displayed as industry-level results only.
No individual dealership information is identifiable.
Be a fully paid member of the ITK Financial Management Reporting community.
Acknowledge that all data is commercial-in-confidence, with access restricted to business owners, directly employed managers and authorised staff.
Maintain accurate and timely monthly financial reporting standards, including relevant statistical data, to support data integrity across the participant group.
Comply with CDS data governance and confidentiality protocols.
This framework ensures high data quality, confidentiality, and analytical integrity.
How much does Know Your Market cost?
There is no additional fee for approved ITK clients who meet CDS registration and participation criteria.
KYM is offered as a value-added benefit of the dealer’s existing ITK monthly subscription, further strengthening the ROI of structured financial management reporting for the Australian automotive sector.
How is KYM different from traditional automotive benchmarks?
Most traditional automotive benchmarks:
Are often calculated, reviewed and published manually, commonly in line with industry performance group meetings.
Compare absolute figures to define fixed high and low performance ranges.
May require separate subscription or consulting fees to access the latest results.
May require clients to attend paid performance group meetings to access the data.
KYM differs in several important ways:
1. Ongoing monthly intelligence The focus is on timely directional movement, not static historical averages or speculation.
2. Focus on Movement over time vs. Raw Numbers Tracking percentage increases or decreases in KPIs provides more meaningful comparability across metro, regional and multi-franchise operations.
3. Critical mass of data With a potential sample set of over 1,000 rooftops, KYM draws on a substantial slice of the Australian automotive sector to provide meaningful market comparisons.
4. Harmonised & Localised Data Structure CDS standardises reporting categories to ensure like-for-like comparison across dealerships.
5. Visibility into top-quartile performance KYM helps dealers understand what stronger-performing dealerships are achieving in Australia, with an emphasis on strategic insight from emerging trends rather than simple numerical comparison.
How can dealerships benefit from automotive industry trend data?
Access to consolidated automotive industry trend data allows dealership leaders to make proactive, evidence-based decisions rather than relying on isolated internal results.
For example:
Median Used Car Gross/Unit has dropped 26% from $2,934 since Feb 26 to $2,166 on May 26
Used Car Gross Margins have reverted to pre-Covid levels.
This type of insight can prompt leaders to review used-car sales strategies, act earlier on costly stock and reset pricing, advertising and inventory decisions before margin pressure becomes harder to recover.
Floorplan and Advertising costs have additionally escalated compounding these % of gross costs from 17% to over 30% in that same time.
Understandably, Floorplan has naturally escalated over time (cost of borrowing), However dealers are spending more money than ever on Advertising as well.
With KYM, dealers can compare their own movements against broader market trends and better understand whether performance shifts are business-specific or industry-wide.
Why market intelligence matters in today’s Australian automotive environment
The Australian automotive industry is navigating significant change, including:
Margin compression.
Cost of funds pressures.
EV transition complexity.
OEM restructuring to counter expected declines in profitability.
Increased compliance obligations by dealerships.
Changing consumer buying patterns.
Dealers who operate in isolation risk misreading broader industry movements.
Dealers with reliable access to market trends are better positioned to make proactive decisions and improve their ability to outperform the market.
Take control of your dealership’s strategic visibility
If you are serious about improving:
Dealership operational excellence and profitability.
Financial management reporting discipline.
Strategic and data driven decision-making.
Then structured access to automotive industry trend data should become part of your leadership toolkit.
Be In The Know. Be Competitive.
To find out more about how Know Your Market can help your dealership improve market visibility and decision-making, please contact:
Errol Fernandes
Complete Dealer Services
📞 0429 398 082
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