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Companies and software referenced
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The first Provena deliverability benchmark showed that the mail gateway in front of a dealership decides whether a cold email is read. That study measured outcomes on 43,302 sends, and both sets of numbers are indexed for quotation on the dealership cold email statistics page. This one measures the market: which gateway sits in front of every franchise dealership in the United States, by brand and by state. The population is 17,659 franchise dealer website domains collected from manufacturer dealer locators, each resolved for its mail exchange record and classified by provider in September 2026.
How many dealership website domains receive email at all?
Fewer than half. Of 17,659 domains, 7,680 publish no mail record: the website resolves, the dealership is real, but no server accepts email for that domain. The store's staff use a group domain, a legacy domain or a manufacturer-provided address instead. A further 1,876 domains could not be resolved within the study's timeout and are excluded. That leaves 8,038 domains, 46% of the census, that receive mail directly.
The practical consequence for a vendor is blunt. A contact list built by guessing firstname at the dealership's website domain will bounce on roughly four addresses in ten before deliverability, copy or timing come into it. That bounce rate is enough on its own to damage a sending domain. Dealer contact data has to carry the mail domain, which is often not the web domain, and every address has to be verified against a domain that actually publishes a mail record.
Which gateway receives dealership email?
Among the 8,038 domains that receive mail, Microsoft 365 is the largest single destination at 2,396 domains, 30%. Google Workspace covers 1,022, 13%. Security gateways that sit in front of a mailbox, Mimecast, Barracuda, Proofpoint, AppRiver, Sophos, TitanHQ and similar, cover 915, 11%. The remaining 46% is a long tail: GoDaddy hosting at 9%, dealer platform vendors at 2%, and 35% on small or self-managed hosts that no single provider dominates.
The share differs from the earlier campaign sample, where Microsoft 365 received 45% of contacts. The difference is the unit: this census counts domains, and the campaign counted people. Larger dealer groups run more staff per domain and are more likely to be on Microsoft 365, so a contact-weighted view leans further toward Microsoft than a domain-weighted one. Both are true; the campaign view is the one that predicts where a vendor's list will land.
| Provider | Domains | Share of domains receiving mail |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 | 2,396 | 30% |
| Google Workspace | 1,022 | 13% |
| GoDaddy hosting | 729 | 9% |
| Mimecast | 382 | 5% |
| Barracuda | 200 | 2% |
| Dealer platform vendors | 155 | 2% |
| Proofpoint | 133 | 2% |
| AppRiver, Sophos, TitanHQ and other gateways | 200 | 2% |
| Other and self-managed hosts | 2,821 | 35% |
Which brands sit behind Microsoft 365, and which behind a security gateway?
Brand is a stronger predictor than most vendors expect, because dealer groups tend to standardise their technology by franchise and the manufacturer's own programmes shape what a store runs. Volkswagen, GMC and Audi dealers are the most Microsoft-heavy at 40% and above. Ford dealers are the least at 22%, with Subaru, Acura and Cadillac close behind. The German luxury brands are the most likely to sit behind a security gateway: 24% of BMW dealers and 23% of Mercedes-Benz dealers, against 5% of Ford and Chevrolet dealers.
| Brand | Dealer domains | Microsoft 365 | Google Workspace | Security gateway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volkswagen | 276 | 43% | 15% | 20% |
| GMC | 343 | 43% | 16% | 14% |
| Audi | 190 | 41% | 15% | 21% |
| Buick | 266 | 40% | 16% | 14% |
| BMW | 226 | 37% | 16% | 24% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 228 | 34% | 17% | 23% |
| Chevrolet | 1,345 | 31% | 11% | 6% |
| Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram | about 1,100 each | 30% | 13% | 11% |
| Nissan | 508 | 30% | 15% | 11% |
| Toyota | 529 | 28% | 10% | 14% |
| Honda | 554 | 27% | 13% | 17% |
| Hyundai | 439 | 26% | 12% | 15% |
| Subaru | 365 | 24% | 12% | 11% |
| Ford | 542 | 22% | 11% | 5% |
How does the gateway mix change by state?
California is the outlier: 41% of its dealer domains are on Microsoft 365, ten points above the next state. Tennessee, Connecticut, South Carolina, New Jersey and Michigan sit in the low thirties. Virginia and Indiana are at the bottom, around 16%, and Virginia is the one large state where Google Workspace out-numbers Microsoft. Security gateways cluster in Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Washington and Massachusetts, where more than 13% of dealers sit behind one; in Illinois, Michigan and Missouri the figure is 3% or less.
| State | Dealer domains | Microsoft 365 | Google Workspace | Security gateway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 450 | 41% | 12% | 11% |
| Tennessee | 158 | 32% | 18% | 13% |
| New Jersey | 218 | 31% | 14% | 15% |
| Michigan | 232 | 30% | 10% | 3% |
| Texas | 404 | 30% | 7% | 16% |
| Georgia | 234 | 28% | 10% | 13% |
| Florida | 409 | 28% | 8% | 19% |
| Ohio | 273 | 28% | 8% | 6% |
| New York | 351 | 26% | 24% | 5% |
| Illinois | 326 | 25% | 10% | 3% |
| Pennsylvania | 291 | 22% | 14% | 6% |
| North Carolina | 236 | 23% | 11% | 7% |
| Indiana | 176 | 17% | 12% | 5% |
| Virginia | 159 | 16% | 18% | 12% |
What should a vendor do with this?
- Never build a dealer list by guessing addresses at the website domain. Four in ten will bounce before anything else is tested. Source the mail domain, which is often the group's, and verify against it.
- Classify every dealer contact by receiving gateway before the first send. The MX lookup takes milliseconds and is the most predictive field on the record.
- Plan sender infrastructure by the mix of the actual list. A Volkswagen, GMC or California-heavy list is a Microsoft 365 list and needs Microsoft-hosted senders for that segment; a Ford or Virginia-heavy list is not.
- Expect gateway rejections on German luxury brands. Roughly one BMW or Mercedes-Benz store in four sits behind Mimecast, Barracuda, Proofpoint or similar; suppress the gateways that reject cold mail outright and keep the ones that deliver.
- Report bounce and reply by gateway, not overall. A blended reply rate across this mix hides a dead Microsoft channel behind a healthy Google one, which is exactly what the first benchmark found.
Provena runs every dealer campaign on gateway-classified lists as part of its automotive outbound service, and the dealer outbound playbook and cold calling guide assume that classification has been done. The SellMyRide and VettX case studies were run on lists built this way. For the outcome side of the same question, read the 43,302-send deliverability benchmark and the rest of the email deliverability category.
How was this measured?
Population: 17,659 franchise dealership website domains collected from manufacturer dealer locator pages during Provena's 2026 dealer census, each with the franchise brands and the state recorded by the locator. Classification: the MX records of every domain were resolved between 15 and 17 September 2026 and mapped by hostname to Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, GoDaddy, dealer platform vendors, named security gateways, or other. Domains returning no MX record are reported separately as not receiving mail; 1,876 domains that did not resolve within the timeout are excluded from the percentages. Brand and state breakdowns are reported only where the group has at least 100 (states) or 150 (brands) classified domains. A dealer selling several franchises is counted once under each brand. This is Provena's own operating data, not a survey.
Sources
Provena dealer domain census, September 2026, 17,659 franchise dealer domains from manufacturer locators, MX-classified. Provider classification follows the published mail exchange hostnames of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, with security gateways identified by their own published hostnames. Aggregate figures only are published; the underlying domain list is client-confidential.
Frequently asked questions
What email provider do most car dealerships use?+
Among US franchise dealership domains that receive mail, Microsoft 365 is the largest single provider at 30%, Google Workspace holds 13%, and about 11% sit behind a security gateway such as Mimecast or Barracuda. The remaining 46% is spread across GoDaddy hosting, dealer platform vendors and small self-managed hosts. Weighted by contacts rather than domains, Microsoft's share is higher, because larger groups run more staff per domain and favour Microsoft 365.
Why do so many dealership website domains have no email?+
Because the website domain and the mail domain are often different. Dealer groups run staff email on a group domain, many stores keep a legacy domain for mail, and manufacturer programmes sometimes provide addresses on their own domains. In Provena's census, 7,680 of 17,659 franchise dealer website domains published no mail record at all. An address guessed at the website domain for such a store bounces.
Which car brands' dealers are most likely to be on Microsoft 365?+
Volkswagen and GMC dealers at 43%, Audi at 41%, Buick at 40%, BMW at 37% and Mercedes-Benz at 34%. Ford dealers are the least likely at 22%, with Subaru, Acura and Cadillac between 24% and 25%. The German luxury brands are also the most likely to sit behind a security gateway, at roughly one store in four for BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Which states have the most dealerships on Microsoft 365?+
California, at 41% of dealer domains, followed by Tennessee, Connecticut, South Carolina, New Jersey and Michigan in the low thirties. Virginia and Indiana are lowest at about 16%. Security gateways are most common in Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Washington and Massachusetts.
How do you find out what email gateway a dealership uses?+
Resolve the MX record for the dealership's mail domain. Microsoft 365 domains point at protection.outlook.com hosts, Google Workspace at google.com hosts, and security gateways at their own hostnames such as mimecast.com or barracudanetworks.com. If the domain returns no MX record, it does not receive email and the store's staff use a different domain.