BANDON, Ore. -

Each month, CNW Research tracks what it calls fence-sitters, buyers who could fall either way toward purchasing a used or a new model. In June, a higher level than normal decided to go used.

President Art Spinella determined that about 8 percent of the people who bought a used vehicle in June were sitting on the fence and elected for used.

“Translated: About 360,000 new-car sales went used,” Spinella told Auto Remarketing.

CNW arrived at that figure through its Purchase Path Study, a survey the company has orchestrated since 1989. Usually among those fence-sitting buyers, about 4 percent go with a used vehicle during times when the economy is not mired in a recession, but CNW found that percentage doubled in June.

“That’s probably as high as it’s been since 1991,” Spinella surmised.

What pushed more buyers to used vehicles? Spinella mentioned a pair of reasons.

“No. 1, the incentives on new cars aren’t as rich as they were,” he first noted.

“No. 2, there were a lot of Toyota and Honda fence-sitters who would have gone to a new Honda or new Toyota if the product had been available they were looking for,” Spinella continued. “What they basically did was they bought a used Honda or Toyota.”

June’s Used Sales Statistics & More

With those fence-sitters keeping used-vehicle departments busy in June, Spinella explained that this helped to push the month’s used sales total to 4,493,842 units. CNW said that amount comprises franchise and independent dealer activity as well as private-party transactions.

Spinella acknowledged that despite fence-sitting leading to more used sales, June’s total softened 2.8 percent versus the same month a year ago. However, he pointed out June’s performance marked nearly a 9-percent gain from the previous month.

Spinella then moved on to a breakdown of how June’s totals at franchise dealers and independent lots stacked up on comparative time-frames.

CNW indicated that franchise stores moved 1,653,644 used vehicles in June, a total that was 4.96 percent higher than a year ago and 10.02 percent better than the previous month.

But the firm found the performance was mixed at independent lots. Spinella said the total of 1,601,990 units independents moved in June was 7.46 percent higher than May, but the figure was off by 5.7 percent year-over-year.

“We actually thought at the beginning of the month that independents would have shown a 3- or 4-percent increase year-over-year,” Spinella indicated.

“Really what it comes down to is the aggressiveness of the franchise dealer body,” he continued. “They have just become so aggressive in moving into even slightly older cars than they usually handle, which are cars that are one to five years old.

“Now, they’ve started to aggressively move into the six- and seven-year-old cars, which are prime for independents as well,” Spinella went on to say. “They’ve just been sucking them up out of the auctions as fast as they can get them. As soon as someone has a trade-in that’s about that age, before they used to just take marginal six- and seven-year old cars and ship them off to auction, but they’re keeping them now.”

“It’s really hurt the independents,” he added.

Furthermore, CNW determined that private-party sales came in 1,238,208 in June, an amount 9.28 percent higher than May but 8 percent lower than June of last year.

Finally, based on year-to-date figures, CNW believes used sales are up 3.5 percent above the first half of 2010.

“By this time, I thought it would be closer to 4 percent,” Spinella declared. “But again, inventory is a problem and new-car prices are high. People are holding onto anything that’s still got some life in it rather than trading them or selling them.”

However, used sales during the second half of 2011 might have started with a bang.

“We saw the Fourth of July numbers just this afternoon,” Spinella shared with Auto Remarketing on Tuesday. “The weekend numbers are looking pretty strong for the month. We’ll have a better fix on that by the end of this week.

“But I can tell you if this month pans out the way the first few days of the month are going, it’s going to be pretty strong,” he concluded.