WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. -

July was the second-best month of all time for certified pre-owned car sales, Autodata Corp. said Thursday.

The industry sold 234,243 CPO vehicles last month, which beat year-ago figures by 5.6 percent, the firm reported. The only month stronger was March, when 243,957 certified vehicles were sold

Five brands (BMW, Lexus, MINI, Nissan and Subaru) reached best-ever sales, Autodata said.

July’s daily sales rate of 9,009 marked just the third time the DSR has exceeded 9,000, according to the firm.

Through seven months, there have been 1.56 million CPO sales, which is up 4.1 percent year-over-year. 

After selling 77,287 CPO units in July (down 2.2 percent), domestics have now moved 550,570 vehicles year-to-date (down 0.3 percent).

Asian brands sold 118,939 certified vehicles in July (up 13.7 percent) and had seven-month sales of 755,715 (up 10.4 percent).

European brands have moved 252,582 CPO units so far this year (down 2.9 percent), after selling 38,017 in July (down 0.8 percent).