CNW’s Art Spinella says January isn’t the best month to try and decipher how the used-car market will “shake out,” so sales numbers this month might not indicate the environment for the rest of the year.

That said, Spinella outlined slight declines across the board in the company’s latest Retail Automotive Summary.

Franchised dealers are expected to see a 1-percent year-over-year decline in used sales this month with an anticipated total of 823,178 sales.

The story is much the same for independent dealers, as pre-owned sales are expected to come in at 801,625. This would be 3.3 percent less than the same period of 2013.

“Private-party sales will also be off, but barely,” said Spinella. CNW predicts casual sales of 692,702.

What’s contributing to the declines? Spinella says just turn to the weather map for January for the answer. From Polar Vortexes to much colder than average temperatures seen across the U.S. this month, weather has played a part in keeping shoppers off the lots.

And the season  isn’t just affecting shoppers.

Used day’s supply is down by 0.81 percent, due to seasonality.

“Winter-inventory caution had dealers pull back on the number of vehicles in their lots,” said Spinella.

Though sales are down for January, factors that point toward expanding sales are popping up.

One of these trends is easing credit criteria, perhaps paving the way for more used customers.

Spinella pointed out that when looking at the buyers of used vehicles across all channels, FICO scores tell a “good story” about the easing of credit criteria for buying used.

In fact, this month nearly 47 percent of all financed used cars went to buyers with FICO scores of 670 or less.