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Lease returns are one of the most valuable sources of certified pre-owned inventory a dealer can get. Dealers can recondition off-lease vehicles to a factory checklist, sell them with an extended OEM-backed warranty, and price them above non-certified used cars. For years, though, the supply of attractive three-year-old lease returns has been limited. That's about to change, and dealers are planning for it now.

A recent WardsAuto article by Jim Henry looks at how Asbury Automotive Group is positioning for that surge. Asbury, with 158 stores, had protected used-car margins for years, even when that meant selling fewer cars. In May, its leadership decided to start chasing more volume while still protecting profitability. This recap covers what Asbury says made that shift possible, and the full story is linked at the end.

Asbury's ability to make that shift depends on how its back office runs. CEO Dan Clara said on the company's Q3 earnings call that every active Asbury store now runs on Tekion's Automotive Retail Cloud (ARC), giving the group one platform across the company. In Q3 alone, the last 47 of its 158 stores were connected. Clara described the payoff in operational terms: faster transactions, lower cost per transaction, more automation, and a better experience for both employees and customers.

Clara was also candid that the transition takes time. He said dealerships typically need about six months to learn a new DMS and build the muscle memory that makes it efficient, so the full benefits are likely to arrive in the second quarter of 2027. He called changing DMS platforms "a heavy lift."

For stores that have passed that six-month mark, Asbury reports higher-than-average fixed operations gross profit and better-than-average reductions in SG&A as a percentage of gross profit. Those results are what give the group room to pursue used-car volume without giving up as much margin.

The off-lease wave is coming whether dealers are ready or not. Asbury's experience suggests the dealers best positioned for it will be the ones who can recondition, price, and sell used inventory from a single system.

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