Dealers consider margin compression the biggest threat in auto retail, said Sandy Schwartz, president of Cox Automotive.

The used-vehicle department is where many dealers feel margin compression the most, he said. Dealers depend on used-vehicle profits to offset thinner new-vehicle margins, but now used-vehicle margins are under pressure, too, Schwartz said.

“We always recognized the used-car department as a last bastion” of profitability, but that’s no longer a safe assumption, he said Friday at the Cox Automotive press conference.

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