BANDON, Ore. -

Used-car operations for franchised dealers have been buoyed by a “boat-load of trade-ins,” and independents have been on the comeback trail, according to CNW Research’s look at October used-car sales.

Overall, the year-over-year increase in used-vehicle sales this month will likely eclipse 8 percent, CNW said, basing its analysis on the first 20 days of the month.

Specifically, CNW is forecasting 3.49 million used sales for the month, up from 3.23 million in October 2011.

Breaking it down, franchised dealers are expected to move 1.33 million used units, with independents selling 1.29 million and private-party sales reaching 873,005 vehicles.

“Franchised dealers who have been taking in a boat-load of trade-ins are on track to a near-12 percent increase in used sales, pushing their year-to-date increase to 5 percent,” said CNW president Art Spinella.

“Independent dealers are showing significant positive gains after a miserable first half with October numbers likely to climb nearly 10 percent,” he continued. “On a year-to-date basis, independents are off around 3.7 percent, but most of that decline was caused by poor inventory availability through July and tight credit.”

As for private-party transactions, the projected sales total for October would only be up 1.1 percent year-over-year.

This, Spinella said, would be “a major retraction from the 12.9 percent year-to-date gain caused by consumers moving from a  ‘need for cash’ to ‘need better transportation’ mind-set.”