The Used-to-New Dealer Path Has Long Been Open — Now Byrider Is Courting the Other Way

For decades, moving from an independent used-car lot to a franchised new-car store has been one of the harder climbs in auto retail. It still happens. Over the past two years, operators of very different sizes have made the jump. This week, the country’s largest buy-here, pay-here franchisor made a public pitch for dealers to go the opposite direction.

On Oct. 19, Byrider announced it is advancing its franchise development strategy with an increased focus on new-car dealer ownership groups. The pitch is that franchised dealers already know how to run a store, and a Byrider location lets them reach customers who may not qualify for traditional financing. CEO Mike Onda called new-car dealership owners “a solid fit for the Byrider model.”

The company pointed to an existing example. Aaron Zeigler, president of Zeigler Automotive Group, joined the Byrider system in 2001 and now operates three Byrider locations. Byrider currently has 100 locations nationwide. It says it has sold more than 1.34 million vehicles since its 1989 founding as J.D. Byrider.

The more familiar path runs the other way, through the dealership buy-sell market, where independent operators who built a used-car business step into franchised new-car ownership.

In February, George Albanna, owner of Tallmadge, Ohio-based Prestige Auto Group, closed on his first franchised dealership. He bought Columbiana Ford in Columbiana, Ohio, from Pillar Automotive and renamed it Prestige Ford. Albanna also operates two used-car stores near Akron.

In Texas, Benji Urra acquired Bravo Nissan in Victoria, his first franchise after roughly 40 years as an independent. Urra started Benji Auto Sales in 1985 and runs locations in Orlando and West Park, Fla. The Victoria store was renamed Nissan of Victoria.

There is also Carvana, at the other end of the scale. The online retailer’s roots trace to DriveTime, a used-car retailer with in-house financing, which owned Carvana until a 2014 spinoff. Carvana bought its first franchised store, a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership in Casa Grande, Ariz., in February 2025. It has since reached seven Stellantis stores for a reported combined $200 million. Its Phoenix-area CDJR store sold nearly 1,000 new vehicles in June, roughly three times the next-highest Stellantis retailer, according to CBT News. Much of that volume came from shipping vehicles to buyers outside the store’s local market.

The used-to-new path comes with familiar hurdles: capital, facility image requirements, and automaker approval of the new owner. Byrider’s pitch runs the other direction and goes through a different door. It is not a buy-sell transaction with an OEM sign-off but a franchise agreement. Under Byrider’s model, franchisees operate both the dealership and its affiliated finance company, CNAC. Byrider says it provides training, technology and a custom credit scorecard for operators without lending experience.

That support matters, because the hardest part of the move isn’t selling the car. It’s owning the paper. The current subprime credit environment adds weight to that: Fitch’s subprime auto ABS 60-plus-day delinquency index hit a record 6.90% in January 2026 before easing to 5.67% in June. Demand hasn’t slowed. Experian reports subprime originations rose 24% year over year in the first half of 2026.

It will be interesting to watch the appetite among franchised dealers for the Byrider model. Zeigler’s three stores show it has worked for at least one large group, and Byrider is betting more experienced operators will follow. For dealers who have spent their careers on the new-car side, the question is less whether they can run the store than whether they want to own the loans.