Parts Pricing Matrix: How It Drives Parts Gross
A parts pricing matrix is the table that sets a dealership's retail parts price as a markup on cost, with a bigger markup on low-cost parts and a smaller one on expensive parts. A well-built, maintained matrix is the main reason parts gross runs near the 40% of sales benchmark (Pocket20 benchmark).
How a matrix works
Each cost band gets its own markup. A $2 clip might carry several times its cost; a $900 module carries much less.
It applies to customer-pay and counter sales, where the store sets the price. Warranty and some wholesale channels are priced differently.
It has to be maintained. When cost goes up and the matrix doesn't move, margin quietly drops on every ticket.
Benchmark
Parts gross as a percent of sales: about 40% (Pocket20 benchmark). A soft blended number usually means one of three things:
The matrix isn't built or isn't maintained.
A low-margin channel (heavy wholesale, for example) is diluting the blend.
Cost increases were never passed through.
The math
Parts gross opportunity = (benchmark % − your %) × parts sales
Example (hypothetical round numbers): parts sales of $1.0 million year to date at 34% gross. At the 40% bar, the 6-point gap is $60,000 of gross left on the counter at the same volume.
How to find it on the statement
Parts sales and parts gross print on the parts department page, often split by channel: service, counter, wholesale, body shop and warranty.
Compare each channel's gross percent. The matrix shows up most in customer-pay service and counter.
What moves it
Rebuild the matrix by cost band, and review it at least twice a year.
Pass cost increases through the same month they arrive.
Track wholesale separately, so a big wholesale channel doesn't hide a weak retail margin.
For the wider parts picture, including inventory turns, see Parts gross profit and inventory turns.
See it on your own statement
Pocket20 reads parts gross by channel, measures it against the benchmark, and shows the dollars between your margin and the bar. Get a free read or see a sample read.