[rootsudo]

No, there is no loss. No one is selling at a loss, NADA book values increased because of more buyers, more demand from pandemic and increased marketing channels with the news saying production stopped, etc. Then the "chips" stopping production as well.

A dealership, small pop or carvana does not go into used car auctions to overbid, to sell at a loss. Car Dealerships also operate trade in strategies to grab cars to resell at below market price.

[DrWumbo]

If a small dealership has higb fixed costs and they only turn a small profit per car, and don't sell enough volume they are operating at a loss. Sure each car might not be a loss, but if you can't keep the lights on then what's the point?

Carvana is losing money. In one year their losses for q3 increased by 200 million. You can apply all the fancy metrics you want about how much profit each car generates, but you still have a company that shouldn't be able to continue business without huge investor backing.

[leonth]

A business can be EBITDA positive but cashflow negative, or vice versa. However healthly your margin is, it is game over if you are unable to service your debts (including employee salary) before you receive cash from customers/investors.

On the other hand, if you are operating at a loss, you will be able to continue doing so indefinitely via continuous cash infusion by investors (which might include the public in case of a public company)... until the cash does run out.