Dealers, speaking at AutoTeam America’s buy-sell summit in Dallas, said dealership turnover remains high and is a continued focus. Some dealers said turnover crept up last year for their groups.

Attracting and retaining employees — including after the COVID-19 pandemic changed business practices — remains a priority for dealers, who are working to trim average turnover rates, panelists at AutoTeam America’s buy-sell summit in Dallas said Thursday.

“Two things that are constantly evolving are our customers’ expectations and the ability to attract employees in today’s world,” Paul Walser, a partner at Walser Automotive Group and former NADA chairman, said at the summit.

Walser said that industry turnover is still too high. The average dealership turnover rate was 34 percent in 2021, according to the annual NADA Dealership Workforce Study.

“We had a bad year last year for turnover,” he said.

Walser said some of that stems from his group’s compensation for salespeople, who are salaried and receive bonuses vs. being paid a percentage of profit, and last year’s high margins on new vehicles.

“We did have some team members leave last year because they felt like there was a better opportunity to go to the store where they can participate in a higher margin,” he said.

That, combined with high turnover in entry-level jobs such as runners and lube techs, pushed his group’s turnover rate to 39 percent in 2022 — the highest it’s been for a long time, Walser said.

Karl Schmidt, president of Hello Auto Group in California, said opening two stores in February and July likely contributed to an overall turnover rate of 38 percent last year.

“I think 12 or 13 percent of that turnover was transfers from store to store,” Schmidt said.

#1 Cochran, of Monroeville, Pa., which recently expanded outside of the state with the purchases of Sweeney Chevrolet and Sweeney Buick-GMC near Youngstown, Ohio, had a turnover rate in the high 20s last year, CEO Rob Cochran said.

“We work hard to try to get into the low 20s,” he said.

Cochran said his stores are focused on having engaged employees and management training. They are working on having managers engaged with staff instead of only focusing on the tasks of the day.

“I think that’s an evolution for this industry and I think historically, that’s not what we’ve been focused on,” Cochran said.