A lot of great comments here. In summary, the car business can be very lucrative but it’s incredibly capital intensive and it has a tendency to be a boom or bust. New franchises require the owner operator to have industry experience and used franchises are generally riskier (less income from service, parts, etc.). In my opinion to go this route you’d want to spend years in the car industry first. You’d also be surprised how much of a lifestyle this business is. Dealerships are open early, close late, are open Saturdays, and depending on the state they may be open Sundays. Most car dealers dedicate their entire lives to the business.

Very interesting comments here. I used to work in a car dealership group where we saw traditional car sales growth hampered by the limit of the geographic area of influence assigned by the brand. This means that to be able to actively market and sell in different areas, one needs to buy more dealerships (capital intensive). So many dealerships find larger margins in their spare parts business and car repairs.