Capital Automotive Announces Increased Return Of Capital Estimate for 2003 Annual Dividend

MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 7, 2003 -- Capital Automotive REIT , the nation's leading specialty finance company for automotive retail real estate, today announced that it is increasing its return of capital estimate for its 2003 annual dividend to approximately 27% - 30% from the previous guidance of 15%. The return of capital portion of the Company's dividend is not taxed as ordinary income to its shareholders. The return of capital portion of the Company's dividend is primarily attributable to the tax treatment of real estate depreciation and stock option compensation expense.

The Company recently announced its 22nd consecutive increase in the Company's quarterly dividend and introduced its 2004 annual dividend guidance of $1.70 per share.

Capital Automotive is committed to providing shareholders with stable and predictable quarterly dividend payments and consistent dividend growth. The dividend payments are supported by the Company's strong tenant base, conservative capital structure, and high quality real estate portfolio.

Capital Automotive offers a Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan to all shareholders. The Plan provides an economical and convenient way for current shareholders and other interested new investors to invest in Capital Automotive. Inquiries regarding the Plan should be directed to American Stock Transfer and Trust Company, the Plan administrator, at (800) 278-4353.

About Capital Automotive

Capital Automotive, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a self- administered, self-managed real estate investment trust that acquires real property and improvements used by operators of multi-site, multi-franchised automotive dealerships and related businesses. Additional information on Capital Automotive is available on the Company's Website at http://www.capitalautomotive.com/.

Certain matters discussed within this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, the Company's future operations will depend on a number of factors that may differ, some materially, from the Company's assumptions. These factors, which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, include risks that our tenants will not pay rent; risks related to our reliance on a small number of tenants for a significant portion of our revenue; risks of financing, such as our ability to meet existing financial covenants and to consummate planned and additional financings on terms that are acceptable to us; risks that our growth will be limited if we cannot obtain additional capital; risks that planned and additional acquisitions may not be consummated; risks related to the automotive industry, such as the ability of our tenants to compete effectively in the automotive retail industry and the ability of our tenants to perform their lease obligations as a result of changes in any manufacturer's production, supply, vehicle financing, marketing or other practices or changes in the economy generally; risks generally incident to the ownership of real property, including adverse changes in economic conditions, changes in the investment climate for real estate, changes in real estate taxes and other operating expenses, adverse changes in governmental rules and fiscal policies and the relative illiquidity of real estate; environmental and other risks associated with the acquisition and leasing of automotive properties; risks related to our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, such as the existence of complex regulations relating to our status as a REIT, the effect of future changes in REIT requirements as a result of new legislation and the adverse consequences of the failure to qualify as a REIT; and those risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Form 8- K/A filed on February 12, 2003, its annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The Company makes no promise to update any of the forward-looking statements or to publicly release the results if the Company revises any of them.