CarMax revealed late last week results for Q4 and its fiscal year, which ended on Feb. 28, showing an almost 20 percent yearly gain in used sales. This also marks the first fiscal year the dealer group has ever retailed more than 500,000 vehicles.

Specifically, the dealer group saw total used unit sales rise by 12 percent in the fourth quarter and 18 percent in the fiscal year.

CarMax sold 526,929 used vehicles this past fiscal year and 132,856 during Q4.

And used unit sales in comparable stores increased 7 percent in the fourth quarter and 12 percent in the fiscal year.

The dealerships also earned a bit more on these vehicles, with used vehicle gross profit coming in at $284.4 million for Q4, up from $253.3 million during the same period 2013’s fiscal year.

“We had another great year, achieving several new milestones,” said Tom Folliard, president and chief executive officer. “Our comparable store used unit sales growth of 12 percent was our strongest since fiscal 2002, and for the first time, we retailed more than 500,000 vehicles in a single year … We believe our continued geographic expansion and market share growth will drive our success in the years to come."

The company managed to achieve these results during a much harsher winter than seen in year’s past.

During the company’s conference call discussing Q4 earning results, Folliard was asked what kind of impact these storms had on the company.

He explained though there was one day when over 30 of the company’s stores were closed as well as days when the entire Dallas market closed, “Historically we have always felt like we get those sales back and they might shift from quarter to quarter.

“So it is very difficult for us to attribute a sales loss or gain to a quarter because of weather. But it was obviously pretty significant as I said, with the number of closed stores; it also has an impact on our ability to introduce cars. So with the combination of traffic for sales and the shops being shut down and not being able to get inventory out front, I think the stores have done a fantastic job of working through some very challenging circumstances during the quarter to put us in a good position going forward,” Folliard continued.

With used sales so high for the dealer group this past fiscal year, company leadership also offered a bit of insight on the mix of used-car sales during the earnings conference call last Friday.

Folliard explained vehicles ages zero to 4 makes up approximately 70 percent the company’s total sales.

The other 30 percent is in the 5- to 10-year old range.

“As you remember a few years ago we talked about that number of 5- to 10-year-old cars having doubled, coming out of the recession from 15 percent to around 30 percent. But that number has been pretty stable for the last couple of years. And we really didn’t see much in terms of a mix shift in sport utilities or compacts or anything of that nature,” Folliard explained, noting the mix has been “relatively stable” for the past couple of years.

Folliard was also asked whether the company would see its percentage of zero- to 4-year old vehicles grow in the next few years.

“We have been anticipating with the increase in SAAR that we would see our mix of zero to four year old cars increase; it just didn’t happen over the last couple of years,” Folliard said. “So do we expect going forward at some point? Yes, but we’ve also seen a slowdown in the SAAR growth, I think it ended a little over 16 million at the end of last month and I think only like a 2 percent growth. But that’s really the driver of supply, obviously.”

He explained this trend also depends on consumer behavior, and how long they are choosing to stay in the same vehicle.

“So the other factor is going to be consumer behavior and how quickly do they trade out cars and that’s just something we really can’t predict. But over time we would expect our mix to start to move a little bit more in that direction as the supply comes back,” Folliard said.