Women buy 62% of new cars. They hold 20% of dealership jobs. Closing that gap isn't a culture initiative — it's a business decision.
The automotive retail industry has a talent problem. Turnover runs at 42% industry-wide — more than double the national average — and the cost per store has been estimated at close to half a million dollars annually. Dealerships pour money into recruiting, onboarding, and training, only to restart the cycle months later.
There is a part of the solution that doesn’t get enough attention: the women already working in dealerships, and the far larger pool who aren’t — but could be.
of new vehicle purchases are made by women, who also influence up to 85% of all buying decisions. (TrueCar, 2024)
A Workforce That Doesn't Reflect Its Customer
Women make up approximately 20% of franchised dealership employees — a figure that has barely moved in twelve years, according to NADA’s annual Dealership Workforce Study. The distribution within that 20% tells an even starker story: women hold 91% of administrative and office support roles, 21% of service advisor positions, 11% of sales consultant roles, and just 5% of general manager positions.
Meanwhile, the customer walking through the door is majority female. That mismatch doesn’t just represent a missed opportunity for representation — it has measurable consequences for customer experience, CSI scores, and repeat business.
Research from Dealertrack (2024) found that customer satisfaction scores are measurably higher when a female sales representative is involved in the purchase. And according to CNW Market Research, 39% of female buyers prefer to work with a female salesperson. The workforce composition isn’t meeting that preference.
When Women Stay, They Perform
One of the most underreported findings in automotive workforce research is how well women perform when they are given the opportunity and the environment to succeed.
Xactly’s analysis of more than 37,000 salespeople found that 86% of women regularly meet quota, compared to 78% of men. Female sales managers outperformed their male counterparts on quota attainment by 3%. Gong.io’s study of over 100,000 sales calls found that women listen 16% more during customer interactions — a behavior that correlates directly with close rates and satisfaction outcomes.
The service drive tells a similar story. Women represent 65–80% of automotive service customers (ASE, 2023), and dealerships with female service advisors see measurable improvements in female customer retention. When the person behind the counter reflects the person in front of it, the relationship changes.
Annual turnover rate for female sales consultants — 26 points higher than their male counterparts. (NADA Dealership Workforce Study, 2025)
The Retention Gap Is the Real Cost
Female sales consultant turnover runs at 87% annually, according to the 2025 NADA Dealership Workforce Study — compared to 61% for men. That 26-point difference represents a significant and persistent drain on store performance.
CDK Global’s 2025 Dealership Workplace Study revealed why. While 75% of men describe their dealership as supportive and empowering, only 23–26% of women say the same. Fewer than one in four women say leadership listens to their ideas. And 47% of women in the automotive industry say they would consider switching to a different sector entirely, according to Deloitte UK’s 2025 research.
The good news: CDK’s data also shows female job satisfaction jumped 17 percentage points in a single year at dealerships that made intentional investments in culture. The gap is real — but it closes quickly when leadership decides to act.
What Actually Moves the Needle
The dealerships making meaningful progress share a few consistent practices:
- Flexible scheduling. Split shifts and predictable hours are the number one thing women in dealerships say would improve their likelihood of staying, per CDK’s 2025 research. Pohanka Hyundai implemented shared role structures and saw measurable retention improvement.
- Visible career paths. Women want to know where they can go. Dealerships that publish clear internal promotion criteria and actively develop women into management roles see lower attrition. Hello Auto Group now operates with 50% female general managers — the result of decades of deliberate recruitment and advancement.
- A real feedback loop. Most dealerships don’t know how their female employees feel until someone puts in their notice. Regular anonymous pulse surveys give leadership the signal they need to act before departure — not after.
- Mentorship and sponsorship. Deloitte found that women with sponsors are 22% more likely to be satisfied with their rate of advancement. Pairing high-potential women with leaders who advocate for them internally changes the trajectory.
The Business Case Is Clear
Automotive retail doesn’t have a diversity problem. It has a business alignment problem. The industry’s best customers are majority female. The research on female employee performance is strong. The cost of the current retention gap is well-documented. And the interventions that work are not complicated.
Dealerships that build environments where women can thrive don’t just improve their culture metrics — they build stronger sales floors, more trusted service drives, and workforces that actually reflect the customers they serve.
Sources: NADA Dealership Workforce Study 2025 | CDK Global Dealership Workplace Study 2024–2025 | Deloitte UK Women in Automotive 2025 | Xactly Sales Benchmark Report 2023 | TrueCar 2024 | ASE 2023 | CNW Market Research | Gong.io | Dealertrack 2024
WerkandMe is an employee engagement platform built for franchised automotive dealerships.