One of WANADA’s most valuable and underutilized member services is also one of the easiest to access: free monthly local automotive market data from two trusted national sources—RL Polk and Auto Outlook.
These data tools are available to all WANADA dealer members at no additional charge and can be instrumental in informing sales strategies, market comparisons, and overall business planning.
Each month, WANADA provides detailed new vehicle registration data for the Washington DC region, sourced from RL Polk, a division of S&P Global Mobility. Polk registration data tracks actual new and used vehicle registrations across the country, offering a highly reliable measure of what’s selling, where, and to whom. The data is derived from state Departments of Motor Vehicles and is widely regarded in the industry as a definitive benchmark for understanding market dynamics at a local and national level.
WANADA contracts with Polk to make this critical information available to our dealer members—again, at no extra cost. These reports show new vehicle registrations by make, model, fuel type, and segment, and are an invaluable resource for inventory planning, identifying market trends, and benchmarking dealership performance against regional averages.
Polk data is archived on WANADA’s members-only portal, available here. If you need help accessing the portal or retrieving your login credentials, please email Kathy Teich at kt@wanada.org.
In addition to Polk’s registration numbers, WANADA also partners with Auto Outlook to provide monthly market insight reports, which include detailed commentary and analysis on local sales trends. These reports are based on data from Experian Automotive and go a step beyond raw registration numbers by identifying performance patterns, brand-level gains and losses, market segment shifts, and forecasting likely trends for the months ahead.
The January and February 2025 editions of Auto Outlook for the Washington Area are now available:
These monthly reports are especially useful for managers and executives looking for forward-looking guidance or trying to evaluate dealership performance in a broader context.
Taken together, the Polk and Auto Outlook reports offer a powerful combination of hard numbers and strategic insight. Whether you’re adjusting inventory, tracking EV adoption, or trying to stay ahead of the competition, this data gives WANADA members a unique local edge.
Don’t miss out—make sure your management team is reviewing these resources regularly!
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