CARY, N.C. -

While about two-thirds of dealers surveyed in the second annual Kerrigan Dealer Survey don’t plan on altering their own purchase plans, just under half think that the next 12 months will show a rise in buy-sell activity.

And a quick observation of the market indicates the past couple of weeks have already been a busy market in the dealer M&A space.  

Among other findings in the study from Kerrigan Advisors that surveyed 680 dealers, 64% of dealers say they don’t expect to change acquisition plans. Seventeen percent say they will buy more; 19% will buy less.

Meantime, 47% expect a rise in dealership buy-sell activity in the next 12 months, according to the firm.

“We attribute these contrasting responses — more expect the buy/sell market to increase than expect to be acquisitive — to a rise in dealers who are considering a sale,” Kerrigan Advisors managing director Ryan Kerrigan said in a news release.

“Overall, the results of the survey are consistent with Kerrigan Advisors’ expectations that a growing pool of dealerships will be for sale over the next 12 months. Dealer optimism on future valuations is a reflection of that.”

An anecdotal look at the market in recent weeks would also reflect that.

In the past two weeks alone, four acquisitions involving the Kerrigan firm in an advisory role have been announced.

On Nov. 10, Kerrigan Advisors, which is a buy-sell advisory firm, announced it had represented and advised Keyes Automotive Group when it sold nine stores to Lithia Motors. Two days later, Kerrigan said it had worked with Resnick Auto Group when it sold Midtown Toyota to Victory Automotive Group.

The firm served as an advisor and representative to Sterling Motorcars, which sold to Lithia last week. Kerrigan was the representative and advisor to Lyle Pearson Auto Group when it sold five stores to Gee Automotive.

Regarding the aforementioned Lithia, the publicly traded Oregon-based group has been quite the active buyer in the second half of the year.

Since July, Lithia has made nine announcements of purchases, the latest being the Sterling Motorcars group acquisition last week that gave the retailer a presence in the Mid-Atlantic.

“Entering our seventh top 10 market in the country further enables LAD to conveniently and affordably serve our customers throughout their complete ownership lifecycle,” Lithia president and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer said in a news release. “This acquisition accelerates our unique omni-channel strategy and takes us one large step closer to achieving the year one network growth aspiration of our five-year 50/50 plan.”

He added; “Sterling Motorcars is a high-performing fixture in the Washington D.C./Beltway corridor and is well-respected for the exceptional customer service and attention to detail they provide their clientele. This is a very important milestone for Lithia and expands our national footprint in the mid-Atlantic. We are excited to welcome their team to the Lithia Motors family.”

Another public group recently making moves in the buy-sell space was Asbury Automotive Group, which sold Nalley Ford Sandy Springs to Jim Ellis Automotive Group.

The Presidio Group was the exclusive advisor to Asbury.

“Jim Ellis Automotive Group is an iconic automotive family in Atlanta and we knew this dealership would be the perfect fit for its ever-growing portfolio of franchises,” Presidio president George Karolis said in a news release.

He added: “This is the 37th dealership sold by Presidio this year and transaction activity continues to be robust. In fact, I cannot remember the retail automotive M&A market ever being as strong as it is today.”