Franchise Facts Report → brands → Dealer Specialties

Dealer Specialties franchise — is it worth it?

High risk Significant turnover

Dealer Specialties operates in the Automotive category with a relatively low initial investment range of $17,400 to $44,900.

Everything below is free, read straight off Dealer Specialties's registered filing, with where the numbers land against automotive peers. Weighing Dealer Specialties against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.

Figures above are as disclosed in Dealer Specialties's most recent FDD (registered 2024). Source: Minnesota Dept. of Commerce — CARDS franchise registrations · filing 32177-202407-13 — check it yourself. See every other Minnesota-registered franchise.

Dealer Specialties franchise profit — what the FDD discloses

Plainly: Dealer Specialties does not disclose franchise profit or revenue. Its most recent FDD makes no Item 19 financial performance representation, so there is no franchisor-backed earnings figure for Dealer Specialties — any number quoted elsewhere is an estimate, not a disclosure. The absence is itself worth weighing (49% of automotive franchisors in our corpus do disclose); the fees, litigation and outlet churn Dealer Specialties's FDD does contain are on this page. For brands that put earnings on paper, see Automotive franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings.

Dealer Specialties lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)

Dealer Specialties's most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024) does disclose 3 legal proceedings in Item 3 . Item 3 is the item where a franchisor must put its material legal history on the record. Two things it is not: it covers the franchisor and its predecessors, parents and affiliates, so a disclosed case is not necessarily a suit against Dealer Specialties itself; and a disclosure is a fact, not a finding of wrongdoing — most entries are contract disputes with former franchisees, which every large system accumulates. 3 of those proceedings were brought by franchisees against the franchisor — the split that actually matters, because franchisees suing their franchisor is the signal a buyer is looking for. Item 3 of the source FDD describes each case.

Dealer Specialties closures & failure rate

Before you sign, Dealer Specialties will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what Dealer Specialties's most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a automotive of this kind.

The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. Dealer Specialties's latest tables show significant franchisee turnover. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 21.2%, against a automotive median of 2.5% — worse than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -8 to 25 in the latest reported year.

Who owns Dealer Specialties?

Dealer Specialties's franchise is offered by Dealer Specialties International, Inc — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2024), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at MN CARDS; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it.

Automotive franchises at a similar investment level

Anyone weighing Dealer Specialties is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.

Dealer Specialties franchise — frequently asked