Byrider franchise costs $947K-$1.58M per the 2026 FDD. See why buy-here-pay-here financing drives the capital need, plus fees and real Item 19 earnings.
Quick answerA Byrider franchise costs $947,000 to $1,577,500 per the 2026 FDD Item 7, including a $60,000 franchise fee. The largest line is $750,000-$1,100,000 in six-month working capital, most of it funding your CNAC finance arm, which needs $1 million to $7 million as your loan portfolio grows over three years.
Byrider costs $947,000 to $1,577,500 to open, per Item 7 of the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. The initial franchise fee is $60,000. Here’s what makes Byrider different from almost any other franchise at this price point: the building, equipment, and inventory are a minority of the budget. The single largest line is $750,000 to $1,100,000 in working capital, and the FDD says plainly that the majority of it exists to fund your finance division.
That’s because a Byrider franchise is two businesses in one: a used-car dealership and CNAC, a subprime auto lender that finances your own customers. Across the 2,000+ FDDs VetMyFranchise has analyzed, Item 7 tables this lopsided toward working capital are rare, and it changes how you should think about the entire investment. The FTC’s consumer guide to buying a franchise covers what any FDD must disclose; with Byrider, the notes under the Item 7 table deserve more attention than the table itself.
Here is the complete Item 7 estimate from the 2026 FDD for a single Byrider business:
| Cost Component | Low Estimate | High Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $60,000 | $60,000 |
| Starter kit | $0 | $2,500 |
| Rent (3 months) | $30,000 | $60,000 |
| Furniture, fixtures & equipment | $1,500 | $50,000 |
| Service center equipment | $2,000 | $70,000 |
| Signs & awnings | $2,000 | $50,000 |
| Security deposits (property & utilities) | $2,000 | $10,000 |
| Opening vehicle inventory | $75,000 | $100,000 |
| Advertising & grand opening | $18,500 | $30,000 |
| Technology, phone & security systems | $5,000 | $40,000 |
| Bonds, licenses & permits | $1,000 | $5,000 |
| Additional funds (6 months) | $750,000 | $1,100,000 |
| Total | $947,000 | $1,577,500 |
A few details from the FDD’s notes matter. The site is substantial: roughly 1.5 to 2 acres with a 3,500 to 6,000 square foot building housing the sales floor, the CNAC finance office, and a service center with three to six lifts. The $75,000-$100,000 vehicle inventory figure assumes you use floor plan financing; buying your opening inventory outright would cost up to $300,000 more, and that amount is not reflected in the table. Veterans get $10,000 off the first franchise fee, additional units cost $35,000 each, and an area development commitment runs $17,500 per store, credited against franchise fees as you open.
Every car you sell at a Byrider creates a retail installment contract, and your CNAC division funds that loan. The customer drives off; you carry the receivable, collect the payments, and absorb the loss if they stop paying. Item 19’s notes describe the customer base as generally subprime, and the system requires loss reserves to be booked the moment a contract is written.
This is why the FDD states your CNAC division will need between $1 million and $7 million in working capital over the first three years. The receivables portfolio grows with every sale, so the faster your dealership succeeds, the more cash the finance arm consumes. Most franchisees bridge the gap with lines of credit, and interest on that receivables debt is baked into cost of goods sold in Byrider’s own Item 19 presentation.
The payoff for carrying all that risk is a second revenue stream. Finance revenue (interest income plus collateral protection insurance premiums) averaged $1,946,202 per store, about 28% of total revenue. A traditional dealer hands that margin to a bank. A Byrider owner keeps it, and funds it.
The fee structure mirrors the two-sided model, per Item 6 of the 2026 FDD:
| Fee | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 2.5% of gross sales + 1.0% of gross receipts | Capped at $9,222-$13,834/month by franchisee category; $6,000 monthly minimum |
| Advertising fee | $2,450/month flat | Increases limited to $400 total in any 24-month period |
| Volume surcharge | $115 per vehicle | Applies to retail sales above 75 vehicles per location per month |
Two things stand out against the broader market covered in our franchise fees guide. First, the royalty touches both businesses: 2.5% of vehicle sales and 1.0% of CNAC collections. Second, it’s capped. A standard franchisee pays at most $13,834 per month, or about $166,000 a year, no matter how large the store gets. At the average store’s volume, the combined royalty works out to roughly 2% of total revenue, well below the 5-6% typical of retail franchises.
| Factor | Byrider | CarMax | DriveTime | Meineke |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franchised? | Yes | No (company-owned) | No (company-owned) | Yes |
| Franchise fee | $60,000 | N/A | N/A | $45,000 |
| Total investment | $947K-$1.58M | N/A | N/A | $225K-$1.2M |
| Royalty | 2.5% sales + 1.0% receipts, capped | N/A | N/A | 3.0%-7.0% |
| Item 19 disclosed? | Yes | N/A | N/A | Yes |
If you want to own a used-car operation under a national brand, Byrider is effectively the only franchised path; CarMax, Carvana, and DriveTime are all corporate-owned. The realistic alternative for most buyers is a different automotive model entirely: Meineke (2025 FDD figures above) and similar service concepts need far less capital because they never lend a dollar. Our automotive franchise guide compares 37 systems across the category, and at the seven-figure end, an express car wash is the other capital-heavy automotive play worth benchmarking.
Byrider’s Item 19 is one of the more complete disclosures you’ll see: a full profit-and-loss down to net income, with quartile breakdowns. The figures below are two-year averages (2024 and 2025) for the 70 franchisee-owned stores open 24+ months as of December 31, 2025.
| Line Item | Average | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Annual vehicle sales (units) | 289 | 289 |
| Vehicle sales revenue | $5,085,086 | $4,950,283 |
| Finance revenue (CNAC) | $1,946,202 | $1,753,491 |
| Total revenue | $7,031,288 | $6,915,797 |
| Cost of goods sold | $4,469,107 | $4,481,447 |
| Gross profit | $2,562,181 | $2,321,519 |
| Operating expense | $2,055,196 | $1,872,341 |
| Pre-tax net income from operations | $506,986 | $483,397 |
| Net income per vehicle sold | $1,755 | $1,673 |
An average pre-tax margin of 7.21% on $7 million in revenue is a real business. But the quartile tables show how much operator skill matters in a lending operation. Top-quartile stores (17 locations) averaged $1,318,662 in pre-tax net income at a 14.9% margin, selling 350 cars a year. Bottom-quartile stores (18 locations) averaged a $253,166 loss. Same brand, same model, and the difference between the top and bottom is roughly $1.57 million a year, driven largely by underwriting discipline and collections. One franchisee store filed for bankruptcy in August 2024 and was excluded from these tables. Our guide to reading Item 19 disclosures explains how to pressure-test numbers like these.
Considering Byrider? The free profile covers the fee tables, Item 19 detail, litigation history, and unit trends in one place: see the full Byrider FDD analysis.
The system is shrinking. Item 20 shows franchised outlets fell from 124 at the start of 2023 to 81 at the end of 2025. In 2025, zero new franchised stores opened while nine exited (four terminations, three non-renewals, two closures). Company-affiliated stores grew from 12 to 18 over the same period.
The franchisor itself just changed hands. In September 2024, a group of existing franchisees acquired the franchising assets from private-equity owner Altamont Capital Partners and formed Byrider Franchising Partners, LLC. Franchisee ownership can align incentives, but the entity is new, and 18 of the 99 stores now sit with its affiliates.
Litigation history needs reading. Item 3 discloses six matters, including state attorney general actions from the predecessor era (Ohio and Kentucky) over consumer sales practices. Subprime auto lending draws regulatory attention as a rule, and a franchise attorney should walk you through what’s resolved versus what’s structural.
The agreement term is short. Seven years, with a one-year, 25-mile post-term noncompete and arbitration in Indianapolis. A seven-year term on a business that takes three years to fully capitalize its loan book deserves careful thought.
Byrider fits an operator who can raise $2 million or more in total capacity, understands credit risk, and wants to own the lending margin instead of handing it to a bank. Strong stores earn seven figures before tax, and the capped royalty means the franchisor’s take shrinks as a share of revenue while you grow. It does not fit a buyer looking for a turnkey retail franchise: the bottom quartile loses money, the receivables never stop demanding cash, and collections is the actual job. If that math still reads like opportunity, start with the numbers behind it: review the full Byrider FDD profile before you talk to the sales team.
The total investment is $947,000 to $1,577,500 per Item 7 of the 2026 FDD, including a $60,000 franchise fee. The bulk of that range is $750,000-$1,100,000 in working capital for the first six months, most of which funds the CNAC finance division. Byrider estimates the finance arm will need $1 million to $7 million in total working capital over the first three years.
The average franchisee-owned store generated $506,986 in pre-tax net income from operations on $7,031,288 in total revenue, per the 2026 FDD Item 19 (a two-year average for 2024-2025 across 70 stores open 24+ months). The median was $483,397. Results vary widely: top-quartile stores averaged $1,318,662 while bottom-quartile stores averaged a loss of $253,166.
The initial franchise fee is $60,000, with additional units at $35,000 and a $10,000 discount for veterans on the first unit. The royalty is 2.5% of gross vehicle sales plus 1.0% of gross finance receipts, capped between $9,222 and $13,834 per month depending on franchisee category, with a $6,000 monthly minimum. A flat $2,450 monthly advertising fee applies on top.
Buy-here-pay-here means the dealership finances the car loan itself instead of sending the buyer to a bank. Byrider does this through CNAC, an affiliated finance operation each franchisee runs alongside the dealership. Finance revenue averaged $1,946,202 per store, about 28% of total revenue, per the 2026 FDD Item 19. The trade-off is that you fund every loan and absorb the defaults.
Shrinking. Item 20 of the 2026 FDD shows franchised outlets fell from 124 at the start of 2023 to 81 at the end of 2025, with zero new franchised stores opened in 2025 and nine exits that year. A group of existing franchisees bought the franchisor's assets in September 2024 and now operates 18 stores as company affiliates.
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