Each year, Cox Automotive surveys hundreds of dealers and analyzes service visit data across thousands of franchised rooftops to produce their Fixed Operations and Ownership Study. The 2026 edition, released in April, is the most comprehensive read available on how dealership service departments are actually performing. This year’s report is a story in two numbers.
The average dealership service and parts department generated $9.23 million in revenue in 2025, an all-time high. But dealerships now handle only 29% of service visits for vehicles they sold, down from 33%. The gap is a staffing problem: dealerships without enough technicians lose customers to independent shops when appointment wait times extend, and those customers often don’t come back.
What the 2026 Cox Automotive Fixed Ops Study Found
Cox Automotive’s 2026 Fixed Operations and Ownership Study found that average dealer fixed ops revenue reached $9.23 million in 2025, up 33% over eight years. Service and parts now represent 13.2% of total dealership income. At the same time, dealership market share of service visits fell from 33% to 29%. Customers are going to independent shops, quick-lube chains, and mobile service providers at a rate that is accelerating.
The revenue record and the market share drop are not contradictions. Revenue per visit has gone up as labor rates increase and EV and complex diagnostics command higher ticket prices. Dealerships are earning more per job, but they’re capturing fewer jobs.
Why Dealerships Are Losing Service Customers to Independent Shops
Dealerships lose service customers to independent shops primarily because of appointment availability. When a service drive runs short on technicians, wait times extend. Customers who need an oil change or a brake inspection find an opening at a Firestone or a mobile provider before the dealership can accommodate them.
Cox’s research confirmed that customers are losing on capacity, not quality. Customers who serviced at the selling dealership in the first few years of ownership drift when wait times extend. Once a customer establishes a relationship with an independent shop, the repurchase conversation at the dealership becomes harder to have.
The vehicles on the road make this more urgent. The average vehicle being disposed of in 2026 is 10 years old. Nearly two-thirds of vehicle owners have held their current vehicle for five or more years, up from 54% in 2024. More vehicles, staying on the road longer, means more service demand. The dealerships capturing that demand are the ones that have the technicians to handle the volume.
How Technician Staffing Drives Fixed Ops Market Share
Technician headcount is the direct constraint on fixed ops capacity. Without enough technicians, service lanes run at reduced throughput regardless of bay count, equipment quality, or customer demand. An unfilled technician position costs a dealership approximately $10,000 per week in lost service revenue. In a market where fixed ops revenue is at a record high, that is the most expensive open role on the org chart.
The pipeline of new technicians from vo-tech programs and apprenticeships is smaller than the number retiring or leaving the trade. Experienced technicians evaluate job opportunities based on shop culture, pay structure, equipment quality, and career development.
What High-Performing Dealerships Do Differently in Fixed Ops
The dealerships holding fixed ops market share right now share two characteristics: enough technicians to handle volume, and a hiring process that can find and close qualified candidates before competitors do.
That means structured job postings that reach passive candidates, not just the ones actively looking. Screening that moves in days rather than weeks. An offer workflow that does not lose a qualified technician to the dealer across the street because internal approvals took too long.
Dealerships using AI-powered hiring platforms are filling technician roles measurably faster than those running manual processes. In fixed ops, where every open bay represents lost revenue, the speed of the hiring process is a direct input to monthly gross.
