RICHMOND, Va. -

CarMax reported a record second quarter this week, reflecting an increase of 6 percent in total used-vehicle sales.

An interesting statistic helping to drive those sales, according to the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer Tom Reedy, continues to be the financing options available to CarMax customers through its variety of lenders.

“They’re down slightly but we’re still seeing over 90 percent of our customers receiving approval of some kind in our stores,” Reedy said during the company's latest quartersly conference call. “If you remember, as we’ve been talking about the last couple of quarters, the decline in subprime business is more a byproduct of the nature of the offers that the lenders are providing. Whereas in the past a $13,000 loan may have had a $100 or $200 down payment required, that number may be several hundred dollars higher today, making it a more difficult transaction for the customer. So it’s a combination of a number of things. But as far as actually receiving an offer, it’s still very strong in our stores, and overall we’re very happy with the finance environment. I think we have a great array of lenders for our customers, and customers have great access to financing in the CarMax system.”

When asked if new-car incentives were hurting used-car sales, the company’s president and chief executive officer, Tom Folliard, was not sure of a definite answer but still reflected that, regardless of new-car sales, the vehicles and new buyers will eventually come back to their business.

“It’s really hard to tell the reasons why somebody would buy new over used, but I think it’s good for us when we see the SAAR continue to grow,” Folliard said. “As we talked about, over time it will have long-term benefits for us, both on the supply side and the fact that consumers are more willing to get out there and sign for a loan and buy a car.

“In terms of the new-car sales translating to future supply, I think you said we’re in the early innings, and I would agree with you although we’ve seen a nice pick up in SAAR,” Folliard continued. “The supply trickle down will happen over the next couple of years. We’re excited about that; we have said in the past that we historically over-perform in 2-, 3-, 4-year old cars. That mix of sales for us was slightly up in the quarter but not very much, and so we still think that is yet to come.”