First-party data · Updated 2026-08-25

The Independent Dealer Index

Name: The Independent Dealer Index
Creator: DealerVLO
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Real numbers from working used-car lots — the sale prices, doc fees, buy-here-pay-here terms, closing rates, and gross-per-unit that independent dealers actually enter into our free calculators. Anonymized, aggregated, and reported as medians with the typical range.

This index is still collecting data

1 dealer submission so far. Each figure publishes only once at least 30 dealers have entered it — so every number you see here is a real median, never a guess from a thin sample. Check back as the sample grows.

Add your numbers with the free tools

How this index is built

Source: The numbers independent dealers enter into DealerVLO's free calculators. Nothing is surveyed or estimated — these are inputs from people doing real deal math.
Anonymous & aggregate: No identifying information is used. We aggregate the business inputs only (prices, fees, rates), never who entered them. Figures are group medians, not any individual dealer's numbers.
Median, not average: Each figure is the median, with the middle-50% (25th–75th percentile) range shown, so a few unusual entries can't skew the headline.
Published at n≥30: A metric shows a number only after at least 30 dealers have entered it. Below that it shows nothing but its running count — a thin sample never gets dressed up as a benchmark.
Self-selected sample: These are dealers who chose to use a calculator, not a random or representative survey of the industry. Read them as a real-world signal from working independents, not a census.

Free to cite with attribution to DealerVLO (https://www.dealervlo.com). Updated 2026-08-25.

Add your lot to the numbers

Every dealer who runs one of the free calculators makes this index sharper. Run yours — no signup, and your numbers stay anonymous in the aggregate.

Open the free tools See DealerVLO