CAR DEALERSHIPS
Car Dealership Photometric Plans.
Display lot illumination, customer parking, and frontage lighting engineered for high-visibility retail environments and jurisdiction compliance.
THE REQUIREMENT
What the code requires and why.
20-50 fc
Display lot target range
>= 0.5 fc
Customer parking minimum (typical)
15:1
Parking area uniformity
Full cutoff
Frontage fixtures (typical)
Car dealership lighting submittals involve higher illumination targets than standard parking lots because the primary function is merchandise display, not just circulation. Plan reviewers evaluate whether the lighting layout supports both sales visibility and safe customer movement while controlling spill light at the property perimeter.
Display lots typically target maintained illumination levels of 20-50 fc horizontal at grade to support vehicle visibility after dark, while customer parking areas fall back to standard commercial parking thresholds. The combination of high-output display fixtures and lower-output circulation fixtures in a single site creates a multi-zone calculation that must document each area independently.
Frontage lighting along public roadways adds a third zone with its own trespass and glare restrictions. The photometric plan needs to demonstrate that the high illumination on the display lot does not create prohibited spill or glare conditions at the property line or roadway.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Your car dealerships photometric package.
01
Site plan overlay separating display lot, customer parking, and frontage zones
02
Point-by-point foot-candle grid for each lighting zone independently
03
Iso-footcandle contours showing transition between high and low illumination areas
04
Property-line light trespass calculations including roadway frontage
05
Fixture schedule covering display poles, parking area fixtures, and building-mounted units
06
BUG and cutoff documentation for all fixture types
07
Jurisdiction-specific compliance summary for the permit set
08
Two revision rounds for plan review comments or fixture substitutions
All plans modeled in AGi32 using IES LM-63-19 photometric data files.
COMPLETE DOCUMENTATION
Your car dealerships permit may also require:
Dealership permits involve multiple lighting zones - display lots, customer parking, employee parking, and building perimeter - each calculated separately. The multi-zone layout creates distinct load calculation and energy code documentation requirements.
Load Calculations
NEC Article 220 electrical load analysis with separate calculations for display lot fixtures, customer parking, employee areas, and building-mounted lighting. Multi-zone sites require zone-by-zone demand factor analysis.
COMcheck Compliance
Energy code compliance certificate per IECC or ASHRAE 90.1. Display lots with high illumination targets produce significant connected wattage that must be documented against the allowance.
Voltage Drop Verification
Conductor sizing calculations for branch circuits serving display lot poles, which are typically high-wattage fixtures on long runs from the distribution panel.
Permit Coordination
Assistance assembling the multi-zone lighting documentation package and communicating with the plan reviewer to resolve zone-specific comments.
Controls: display lot scheduling with astronomical timeclocks, security zone after-hours lighting, customer parking occupancy dimming.
Need the complete package? We scope everything together — one fee, one timeline, one point of contact.
APPLICABLE STANDARDS
Code references for car dealerships lighting.
- ANSI/IES RP-8-25
- Current IES recommended practice for roadway and parking facility lighting; applicable to customer parking and site circulation areas.
- IES DG-19
- IES design guide for automotive dealership lighting, covering display lot illumination targets and visual merchandising considerations.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Common questions about car dealerships.
Display lots are typically designed to 20–50 fc maintained—several times the 0.5–1.0 fc of an ordinary parking lot—so inventory reads sharply after dark, consistent with IES DG-19 guidance for automotive dealerships. Customer and employee parking step back down to standard commercial levels, and roadway frontage is held to the jurisdiction's trespass and glare limits. That three-tier range is why a dealership is a multi-zone calculation, not one grid.
Car dealership lighting design is the broader effort—display strategy, fixture selection, pole placement. The photometric plan is the calculated, permit-ready proof that the layout hits the display target and still passes the property-line checks. We build it manufacturer-agnostic, so the plan is tuned to the lot rather than to one manufacturer's fixtures.
Because the job is merchandising, not just circulation. Display rows need high, even illumination to make vehicles look their best, while the perimeter still has to stay under spill and glare limits—a hard combination. The plan documents each zone independently so the bright display lighting doesn't trip a trespass or BUG violation at the edge.
Multi-zone dealership plans typically run $600–$1,200 at 48-hour standard turnaround, rush available. Send the site plan and display-lot extents and we confirm scope and a fixed fee, usually the same day.
RELATED READING
Keep reading
- Parking lot lighting requirementsThe baseline customer-parking levels behind the display zones.
- Light trespass explainedWhy bright display lighting still has to pass the property line.
- What is a photometric plan?The full deliverable, with an annotated sample plan.
- How much does a photometric plan cost?The honest $300–$2,500 range and what moves it.
- Foot-candle requirements by property typeTypical IES-based maintained fc ranges for every property type.
Scoped to your car dealerships project.
Every dealership plan is scoped to your display lot size, customer parking area, and frontage conditions. Send the site plan and we'll confirm the scope and fee, typically same day. No obligation.
Learn about our pricing model →Need a Dealership Lighting Submittal?
Send the site plan and fixture intent. We'll prepare a permit-ready photometric package for the full dealership site.