Our team performed a meta-analysis to determine the average customer acquisition cost (CAC) across the automotive industry. We have broken the metrics down in several ways to ensure a thorough and cohesive report.
We have broken down the average CAC by:
- New Vehicles by Brand
- Pre-Owned Vehicles by Brand
- All Vehicles by Price Point
- Lead Source (Including Cost per Lead)
- Body Style (Sedan, Convertible, etc)
Additionally, each category is broken down into organic and paid categories. Organic comprises customer acquisition methods such as SEO, non-paid social media, and email marketing. Inversely, paid methods include any form of advertising where the budget must be scaled linearly to achieve a linear increase in sales. Examples include Google Ads, Meta Ads, and radio ads.
If you need to calculate your customer acquisition cost, use the following formula:
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) = Total Amount Spent on Marketing / Number of New Customer Acquired
Average CAC for New Vehicles by Brand
This graph and table below shows the average CAC for new vehicles broken down by brand.
| New Brand | Organic | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Tata Motors | $951.47 | $1,902.94 |
| Daimler | $726.96 | $1,453.92 |
| BMW | $689.74 | $1,379.48 |
| Rivian | $651.80 | $1,303.60 |
| Tesla Motors | $650.15 | $1,300.30 |
| Geeley Auto Group | $591.58 | $1,183.16 |
| Volkswagen Group | $586.72 | $1,173.44 |
| Ford Motor Company | $571.70 | $1,143.40 |
| Stellantis | $560.08 | $1,120.16 |
| General Motors | $536.80 | $1,073.60 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | $406.55 | $813.10 |
| Honda Motor Company | $383.81 | $767.62 |
| Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance | $378.97 | $757.94 |
| Subaru Corporation | $370.09 | $740.18 |
| Hyundai Motor Group | $367.26 | $734.52 |
| Mazda Motor Corporation | $346.47 | $692.94 |
Average CAC for Pre-Owned Vehicles by Brand
In this table, we’ve broken down the average CAC by brand for pre-owned vehicles.
| Used Brand | Organic | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Acura | $258 | $517 |
| Alfa Romeo | $278 | $556 |
| Aston Martin | $1,214 | $2,428 |
| Audi | $298 | $597 |
| BMW | $324 | $648 |
| Bentley | $1,215 | $2,430 |
| Buick | $195 | $390 |
| Cadillac | $329 | $658 |
| Chevrolet | $272 | $544 |
| Chrysler | $188 | $375 |
| Dodge | $229 | $457 |
| FIAT | $116 | $232 |
| Ferrari | $1,923 | $3,845 |
| Ford | $278 | $556 |
| GMC | $348 | $696 |
| Genesis | $407 | $815 |
| Honda | $208 | $415 |
| Hummer | $215 | $431 |
| Hyundai | $184 | $369 |
| Infiniti | $236 | $473 |
| Jaguar | $282 | $563 |
| Jeep | $252 | $504 |
| Kia | $189 | $379 |
| Lamborghini | $2,271 | $4,543 |
| Land Rover | $432 | $864 |
| Lexus | $289 | $579 |
| Lincoln | $293 | $587 |
| MINI | $179 | $359 |
| Maserati | $425 | $851 |
| Mazda | $208 | $417 |
| McLaren | $1,981 | $3,961 |
| Mercedes-Benz | $380 | $760 |
| Mercury | $78 | $156 |
| Mitsubishi | $170 | $340 |
| Nissan | $194 | $387 |
| Pontiac | $148 | $297 |
| Porsche | $716 | $1,432 |
| RAM | $352 | $704 |
| Rolls-Royce | $1,751 | $3,501 |
| Saturn | $61 | $122 |
| Scion | $97 | $195 |
| Subaru | $219 | $438 |
| Tesla | $321 | $641 |
| Toyota | $249 | $499 |
| Volkswagen | $199 | $397 |
| Volvo | $286 | $573 |
| Wagoneer | $618 | $1,235 |
Average CAC for All Vehicles by Price Point
As a rollup, here is the average CAC for all vehicles broken down by price point.
| Price Point | Organic | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Under $20,000 | $112.92 | $192.78 |
| $20,000 - $40,000 | $338.77 | $578.35 |
| $40,000 - $60,000 | $564.62 | $963.92 |
| $60,000 - $80,000 | $790.47 | $1,349.48 |
| $80,000 - $100,000 | $1,016.32 | $1,735.05 |
Average Cost per Lead & CAC by Lead Source
We’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular lead sources in the automotive industry and the average cost per lead and CAC for each.
| Lead Source | Cost per Lead | Customer Acquisition Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Outsell | $1,324.30 | $18,540 |
| Dealer Teamwork SEM | $1,270 | $12,700 |
| AutoWeb | $12.40 | $4,662 |
| Offer Up | $18.30 | $3,856 |
| Facebook Ads | $104.40 | $3,005.60 |
| FB Marketplace | $75 | $3,000 |
| Google Ads | $531.50 | $2,675.30 |
| Pearl360 | $155.80 | $2,025 |
| Automotive Mastermind | $573.90 | $1,710.00 |
| $267.70 | $1,559.10 | |
| Flick Fusion | $182.00 | $1,501.30 |
| Mercedes Benz - 3rd Party | $37.00 | $1,500 |
| AutoAlert | $529.30 | $1,357.70 |
| AutoTrader.com | $92.80 | $1,316.90 |
| CarsForSale.com | $75.70 | $1,287 |
| Cars.com | $49.50 | $946.30 |
| Hyundai Trilogy | $12.80 | $880 |
| Manufacturer | $51.20 | $876.20 |
| Subaru | $28.20 | $833.30 |
| Car Gurus | $41.60 | $803.30 |
| Carfax.com | $38.70 | $706.40 |
| Kia Digital 3rd Party | $18 | $674.10 |
| Honda | $49.70 | $660.90 |
| GM 3rd Party | $18.20 | $644.00 |
| Ford Factory | $33.80 | $612.50 |
| Sincro | $24.80 | $595.70 |
| Auto Hook | $63.10 | $589.20 |
| KBB ICO | $18.50 | $584.20 |
| KBB | $17.20 | $564.50 |
| Costco Auto Program | $42.00 | $559.30 |
| Volvo 3rd Party | $30.30 | $544.70 |
| Kia Digital | $19.20 | $506.90 |
| Dealer E-Process | $97.40 | $502.60 |
| DealerOn | $68.80 | $435.30 |
| Nissan 3rd Party | $24.90 | $435.50 |
| Edmunds | $46.80 | $430.30 |
| TrueCar | $16.50 | $429.50 |
| National Credit | $93.70 | $423.30 |
| Dealers United | $96.20 | $416.90 |
| CarSaver | $12.40 | $399.30 |
| FordDirect | $34.10 | $391.40 |
| Intercom | $83.30 | $388.90 |
| Dealer Inspire | $47.30 | $382.90 |
| Capital One | $50.10 | $377.70 |
| Dealer Website | $45.60 | $368.00 |
| Smartpath | $21.80 | $307.00 |
| Exit Gadget | $34.50 | $284.30 |
| Dealer.com | $13.70 | $283.60 |
| Marketplace | $23.30 | $233.30 |
| Nissan | $33.60 | $215.10 |
| Engaged to Sell Chat | $33.00 | $210 |
| ActiveEngage | $18.20 | $203.50 |
| Modal | $37.20 | $202.70 |
| Gubagoo | $16.80 | $197.40 |
| We Drive Internet | $25.10 | $195.80 |
| Roadster | $26.70 | $195.20 |
| eLend Solutions | $38.10 | $182 |
| Four Eyes | $14.10 | $179.90 |
| Auto Lead Star | $15.60 | $175.00 |
| Podium | $9.40 | $171.50 |
| AutoFi | $17.10 | $158.00 |
| Ford.com | $7.40 | $153.20 |
| CarNow Chat | $16.00 | $139.80 |
| Website Chat | $10.80 | $137.50 |
| Pure Influencer | $14.40 | $136.90 |
| Promax | $16.70 | $124.00 |
| TradePending | $6.60 | $90.90 |
| Trade Valet | $5.70 | $89.00 |
| Blackbook | $8.70 | $87.70 |
| Captivated | $18.50 | $86.00 |
| Group Website | $7.80 | $69.60 |
| DSI360 | $18.10 | $66.30 |
| Thirdparty | $5.80 | $62.80 |
| Toyota | $5.20 | $56.60 |
| Contact @ Once | $9.60 | $53.10 |
| 700 Credit | $9.10 | $53.00 |
| PureCars | $2.20 | $39.10 |
| TripleThreat | $5.80 | $37.60 |
| LeadDriver Trade-In | $2.00 | $29.00 |
| RouteOne | $8.00 | $24.80 |
| Jazel | $3.60 | $17.80 |
| GM Leads (Payoff/Equity/Leads/Turn In) | $1.30 | $14.80 |
| AutoList | $0.40 | $9.80 |
| iPreCheck | $48.50 | $1.70 |
Average CAC by Body Style
To ensure data is presented in as many useful ways as is realistic, we’ve included the average CAC by body style.
| Body Style | Organic | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Convertible | $364.88 | $729.76 |
| Coupe | $380.85 | $761.70 |
| Crossover | $234.55 | $469.10 |
| Hatchback | $149.16 | $298.32 |
| Minivan | $209.89 | $419.78 |
| Pickup Truck | $345.97 | $691.94 |
| SUV | $343.93 | $687.86 |
| Sedan | $198.46 | $396.92 |
| Van | $279.47 | $558.94 |
| Wagon | $206.85 | $413.70 |
Considerations with Lowering Automotive CAC
Different lead sources offer far different average CACs than others. When aiming to lower the CAC of a dealership, we recommend tracking CAC by lead source and investing money into those lead sources until a point of diminishing returns is found. Marketing spend should continue to be allocated to that point in the order of the lowest CAC.
Additionally, ensure that if CAC is low, the customers acquired from those sources are the most profitable. It is possible for a lead source to have a higher CAC but be acquiring more profitable deals consistently to the point the delta is made up. We provide consulting in allocation of marketing spend for all SEO clients.
If you would like a copy of the report, reach out here.
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