Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions
North America’s only M&A firm built exclusively for dealers — 575 dealerships sold, 2,500 valuations, and a team carrying more than a thousand combined years inside the automotive business.
How we are paid
Seller
DSMA acts hereBuyer
No fee · no mandateMost intermediaries are paid out of the closing — whoever closes it. Structurally, that means they are paid by both of you, and their incentive is that a deal happens rather than that your deal is the right one.
DSMA runs sell-side mandates and buy-side mandates. We do both — but never on the same transaction. On your deal we represent one party and are paid by that party only. Guaranteed, in writing, before the engagement begins. It is the difference between someone negotiating for you and someone negotiating around you.
Five stages, one advisor, and no part of it handed off to somebody else. Most of what a business is finally worth is decided long before a buyer ever sees the file.
Earnings normalised, real estate valued separately, fixed operations credited properly.
Several in parallel, confidentially. One buyer is a negotiation; several is a market.
Drafted properly the first time, so the definitive agreement is not renegotiated from scratch.
The difference between an application that moves and one that sits on a desk for a quarter.
Legal, financing, employment, inventory and real estate — coordinated by one advisor.
Five positions, five different conversations. Yours is one of them.
You built it. You decide how it ends.
Most of our sellers are not in distress — they are at a decision point. A defensible valuation first, then pre-qualified buyers approached quietly. Nothing is listed publicly without your say-so, and your staff never hear it from anyone but you.
Buy, sell or restructure without moving the market.
Portfolio moves need discretion and sequencing. We run divestitures and bolt-on acquisitions in parallel, manage OEM approval across several franchises at once, and keep each conversation separate from the others.
No franchise agreement. Still a real business.
Independents are valued on different fundamentals — inventory turn, reconditioning, F&I penetration, and the land under the lot. We value them on their own terms rather than forcing a franchise formula, and we know the buyers who want them.
See it before it is advertised.
Public listings are the tail end of the market. We carry the sell-side mandates, so pre-qualified buyers see opportunities while they are still actionable — and we build the OEM application package that gets the transfer approved.
When you need the right operator, not just an applicant.
Manufacturers with open points hire DSMA to identify qualified candidates and to support dealers through the application process. Our team includes more former OEM personnel and dealer owner-operators than any other M&A firm in the sector.
What we actually do
What it is worth, defensibly, whether or not you sell.
The full buy/sell process, valuation through OEM approval.
Exit strategy, family dynamics and manufacturer constraints.
Applications built the way each manufacturer expects them.
An LOI template plus an hour with an advisor and legal counsel.
Hundreds of due-diligence documents, summarised and organised.
Drafting and negotiation through to closing.
Analysts sit beside counsel. The advisor who valued your business is the one who negotiates for it — you are never handed between departments.
Where we work
Dealer economics repeat across asset-heavy retail: franchise agreements, floorplan, fixed operations, and land that is often worth more than the business standing on it. Where those mechanics hold, our process holds.
Established
Expanding
Seasonal demand, high parts and accessories margin, and a fragmented dealer base that is consolidating quickly.
Expanding
Property-only mandates for owners who sell the operating business but keep the land, and for investors who want the covenant without the operations.
Expanding
Software, F&I platforms, service and data businesses that sell into dealers. Same buyers, same OEM relationships, valued on recurring revenue rather than units.
By the numbers
Trusted by 1,000+ customers across North America.
2,500+
Dealership valuations
575+
Dealerships sold
97%
Sold at asking price or greater
$7B+
Generated value
1,000+
Combined years of automotive experience
On the market now
Canada Ontario
Purpose-built automotive retail property on a high-exposure arterial.
View opportunity →USA Southeast
Full-service marine dealership with in-water storage and rigging.
View opportunity →Canada Prairies
Multi-line GM store anchoring an agricultural trade area.
View opportunity →DSMA Guide
How value is built before a sale, what sellers do with their time and their proceeds afterwards, and how buyers turn one transaction into leverage for the next.
Start here
Confidential from the first email. Most owners talk to us years before they sell.
