Carlock Automotive

What Carlock Automotive does

Carlock Automotive is a privately held, family-owned automotive dealership group operating across five US states (Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Indiana) under the Carlock Automotive Group brand. Founded more than 50 years ago as a small family business in Arkansas, the company is now in its second and third generation of Carlock family ownership, with Grover 'Clay' Carlock Jr. serving as owner. The group represents 18-24 automotive franchises spanning mass-market brands (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Chrysler) through luxury and exotic marques (BMW, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Porsche, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Lotus, Volvo), with a flagship exotic retail presence in Nashville, Tennessee, and a BMW SUV rooftop in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The group's product and service platform centers on new vehicle sales, pre-owned and certified pre-owned sales (including a 'Vehicles Under $15k' bargain inventory tier), exotic vehicle sales, the We Buy Cars trade-in program, the Carlock Clear vehicle service and protection program, the Carlock Finance in-house financing operation (with advertised 15-minute closing), and OEM service and parts operations at each rooftop. Distribution is anchored by physical franchised dealerships with online extensions for inventory browsing, finance applications, and service scheduling; the technology stack runs on the Dealer Masters dealer website platform.

The business model is a traditional multi-franchise dealership model: revenue is generated from one-time vehicle sales, transaction-fee F&I products (financing facilitation, extended warranties), and recurring service-and-parts income across the dealership network. Customer acquisition is predominantly direct-to-consumer through physical showrooms, the carlockcars.com digital storefront, and OEM brand websites. Geographic growth has been execution-led by acquisition, with two completed add-on transactions within 14 months (Toyota of Slidell in January 2025 and Carver Toyota of Columbus in May 2026), the latter representing the group's first Indiana location and its third Toyota store.

Name

Carlock Automotive

Legal name

Carlock Automotive Group

Website

https://carlockcars.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Carlock Automotive is a privately held, family-owned multi-brand automotive dealership group operating franchised rooftops across five US states (Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Indiana), selling new, pre-owned, and exotic vehicles across roughly 24 OEM brands to individual consumers and offering in-house financing, service, and parts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brentwood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Vehicle Sales: New and pre-owned vehicle sales through franchised dealership locations. Revenue generated from retail transactions across 24 automotive brands including mass-market (Toyota, Honda, Nissan) and luxury/exotic (Porsche, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Maserati) segments.
2. Finance and Insurance Products: Financing arrangements, extended warranties, and F&I products offered at point of sale. Dealers facilitate third-party financing and offer in-house finance options.
3. Service and Parts: Maintenance, repair, and Genuine OEM parts sales through service centers at each dealership location.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Carlock Automotive is a multi-brand automotive dealership group that sells new, certified pre-owned, used, and exotic vehicles across 18-24 OEM brands through franchised storefronts in five southeastern U.S. states. It complements vehicle sales with in-house and third-party auto financing (Carlock Finance), a vehicle service and protection program (Carlock Clear), trade-in/We Buy Cars purchasing, and maintenance, repair, and OEM parts operations at each dealership's service center.

Product overview

Carlock Automotive operates as a multi-brand automotive dealership group offering a unified platform of vehicle sales and related services. The core offering consists of new and pre-owned vehicle sales across 18-24 brands (including Toyota, BMW, Honda, Volkswagen, Dodge, Jeep, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Lotus, Bentley, Maserati, Porsche, Aston Martin, Nissan, Ram, Rolls-Royce, and Volvo), supplemented by exotic vehicle sales, in-house financing (Carlock Finance), vehicle service programs (Carlock Clear), and trade-in services (We Buy Cars). The company operates across five states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Indiana.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Carlock Clear: A transparent pricing and service program featuring straightforward value and exceptional service for customers.

Products and services

• New Vehicle Sales

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Performance Brokerage ServicesminorOthers · 2 May 2026Facilitated the sale of Carver Toyota of Columbus in Taylorsville, Indiana from Roy J. Carver, Jr. and Ashley Jannie to Carlock Automotive Group. Transaction broker representing seller interests.
• Kerrigan AdvisorsminorOthers · 20 January 2025Facilitated the sale of Toyota of Slidell from Bohn Brothers Automotive Group to Carlock Automotive. Part of Bohn family's exit from Louisiana automotive business.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hendrick Automotive Group: Largest privately held US dealer group, multi-brand franchised operations with a luxury and mass-market mix across many states. Closest structural analog to Carlock as a family-controlled, multi-brand, multi-state retail group.
• Lithia Motors: Public multi-brand franchised retailer with one of the most aggressive acquisition-led growth strategies in US auto retail. Comparable on store count growth, brand breadth, and use of M&A to extend geographic footprint.
• Group 1 Automotive: Multi-brand franchised dealer group with significant US Southeast exposure and a meaningful premium/luxury brand mix. Closely comparable in OEM portfolio shape and geographic overlap with Carlock's footprint.
• Asbury Automotive Group: Multi-brand franchised dealer group that has scaled rapidly through acquisitions, including large deals for luxury-heavy portfolios. Comparable on M&A-driven growth strategy and luxury franchise exposure.
• Penske Automotive Group: Multi-brand franchised retailer with a premium/luxury-heavy brand mix (similar to Carlock's exotic franchise base in Nashville) plus commercial truck exposure. Closely comparable on luxury franchise economics.
• Berkshire Hathaway Automotive: Multi-brand franchised dealer group owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Comparable as a multi-brand, multi-state retail platform with patient long-term capital — analogous in spirit to Carlock's family-ownership structure.
• Sonic Automotive: Multi-brand franchised dealer group with both franchise and EchoPark used-vehicle operations. Comparable across Carlock's new, used, and F&I revenue streams and in building branded customer-experience programs.
• AutoNation: Largest US franchised auto retailer, multi-brand new and used vehicle sales plus service and F&I. Comparable across all three of Carlock's revenue streams and in operating an umbrella brand across heterogeneous OEM franchises.

Emerging players

• Vroom: Online used-vehicle retailer. Adjacent competitor in pre-owned inventory and e-commerce vehicle buying — represents the digital channel pressure Carlock is responding to via its carlockcars.com storefront and online finance tools.
• CarMax: Largest US used-vehicle retailer. Direct overlap with Carlock's pre-owned and CPO business and a reference point for the differentiated retail experience Carlock Clear and transparent pricing attempt to emulate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Carlock Automotive