Franchise dealers enjoyed their strongest April for used-car sales in five years, according to CNW Research. Meanwhile, independent dealers saw an increase greater than 17 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Specifically, franchise dealers moved 1.32 million used vehicles, which is 10.7-percent stronger than April 2010 figures, CNW’s Art Spinella reported. As for  independent dealers, their used sales reached 1.33 million units, up from 1.13 million vehicles a year ago.

Casual used sales hit 1.04 million vehicles in April, up more than 8 percent year-over-year.

Overall, the used-vehicle market moved 3.69 million vehicles last month, improving 12.3 percent year-over-year and 47.6 percent month-over-month.

Diving into some segmented specifics, Spinella pointed out that there was a significant drop in used-truck sales, as more consumers decided to go with cars and CUVs.

“Used-truck sales slowed dramatically in April. While trucks made up 58 percent of all vehicles for sale at franchised and independent dealers as well as through the private party (casual) channel, sales were only 43 percent of the total,” Spinella shared.

“The imbalance is a reflection of a growing number of consumers replacing vehicles with higher fuel mileage cars and crossovers,” he continued.

Spinella went on to note that over the last 11 years, trucks have commanded, on average, 53 percent of used-vehicle offerings. During this period, supply of trucks was often low.

“April marked only the second month trucks were responsible for less than half of used-vehicle sales since a brief post 9/11 run-up in gas prices and concerns about possible oil shortages,” he stated.

Looking at some year-to-date data, close to 10 million units were sold through April, compared to 9.18 million in the first four months of 2010.

Franchise dealers have moved 3.52 million used vehicles year-to-date, compared to 3.3 million a year ago. Continuing on, independent dealer sales in the first four months reached 3.64 million, an increase from 3.21 million vehicles.

Casual sales year-to-date have reached 2.84 million units, compared to 2.68 million in the prior-year period.