Prime Dealer Equity Fund
Insights

Market Intelligence

Analysis, insights, and perspectives on automotive retail investing from our team of operators and strategists.

Why Car Dealerships Are the Most Overlooked Asset Class in America
Investment Thesis·9 min read

Why Car Dealerships Are the Most Overlooked Asset Class in America

The average franchised dealership sits on land it typically owns outright, operates a parts and service department that generates revenue in any economy, and holds a franchise agreement protected by state law. Right now, thousands are coming to market.

Kyle ColemanMarch 10, 2026
The Generational Transfer Crisis: 18,000 Dealerships and No One to Run Them
Investment Thesis·10 min read

The Generational Transfer Crisis: 18,000 Dealerships and No One to Run Them

There are approximately 18,000 franchised new-car dealerships in the United States. The vast majority are still family-owned. The owners are in their 70s and 80s. Their children don’t want them. This is the single largest window of opportunity the asset class has ever produced.

Ralph MarcuccilliMarch 17, 2026
What Happens in the First 90 Days After We Acquire a Dealership
Operations·11 min read

What Happens in the First 90 Days After We Acquire a Dealership

The moment the keys change hands, the real work begins. The Coleman Automotive Group operates a five-phase turnaround process that begins day one and concludes with a dealership running autonomously on verified data.

Kyle ColemanMarch 24, 2026
Why We Pay Our People More Than We Can Afford — And Why It Works
Operations·10 min read

Why We Pay Our People More Than We Can Afford — And Why It Works

The conventional wisdom says grow revenue first, then hire the talent you can afford. Twenty years of building businesses taught us the opposite — and the results speak for themselves.

Kyle ColemanMarch 31, 2026
Fixed Operations: The Recurring Revenue Engine Most Investors Don’t Know About
Investment Thesis·11 min read

Fixed Operations: The Recurring Revenue Engine Most Investors Don’t Know About

The showroom is the most visible part of the operation. It is also the most volatile. The department that actually pays for the building is behind the double doors, in the service bays most customers never think about.

Kyle ColemanApril 7, 2026
We Walked Away from a Deal — and Lost $35,000 Doing It. Here’s Why.
Operations·8 min read

We Walked Away from a Deal — and Lost $35,000 Doing It. Here’s Why.

We spent $35,000 on legal fees and due diligence moving a deal forward. Then we killed it. This post explains why — and what it reveals about how we protect investor capital.

Kyle ColemanApril 14, 2026
How Our Co-Investment Model Aligns Our Interests with Yours
Fund Mechanics·10 min read

How Our Co-Investment Model Aligns Our Interests with Yours

Investors ask us one question more than any other: whose money is at risk? The answer is ours — right alongside yours. Here’s how the co-investment structure works.

Ralph MarcuccilliApril 21, 2026
Selling Cars in Small Towns: Why Rural Markets Outperform Where It Matters
Operations·9 min read

Selling Cars in Small Towns: Why Rural Markets Outperform Where It Matters

The stores in the Coleman Automotive portfolio are not on metro auto rows. They are in Warsaw, Indiana. Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and Le Mars, Iowa. And the economics that make them defensible are structural, not circumstantial.

Kyle ColemanApril 28, 2026
Church and State: Why We Separate Fund Management from Dealership Operations
Fund Governance·9 min read

Church and State: Why We Separate Fund Management from Dealership Operations

The most common structural failure in operator-led funds is the absence of independent oversight. Prime Dealer Equity Fund was designed to eliminate that failure mode entirely.

Ralph MarcuccilliMay 5, 2026
From Acquisition to Compounding: How Retained Earnings Fund the Next Deal
Fund Mechanics·10 min read

From Acquisition to Compounding: How Retained Earnings Fund the Next Deal

The most important feature of this portfolio is not any individual store. It is what happens when the stores work together — and the profits from one fund the acquisition of the next.

Ralph MarcuccilliMay 12, 2026
Market Analysis·8 min read

Why Auto Dealerships Are the Next Frontier in Private Equity

The automotive retail industry represents a $1.2 trillion opportunity that institutional capital is only beginning to discover. Here’s why smart money is moving in.

January 2025
Operations·12 min read

The 90-Day Turnaround: How We Transform Underperforming Dealerships

Our proprietary methodology for turning bottom-quartile dealerships into top-decile performers. A deep dive into the operational playbook.

December 2024