There will likely be an increase of more than 4 percent in used-vehicle sales this month, according to CNW Research, which has pegged the industry-wide total at 3.09 million used sales for November.

Especially striking was the increase for franchised dealers, CNW said in its latest Retail Automotive Summary, noting how these hikes were particularly strong for the larger groups.

All told, franchised stores are expected to boost their used sales by 9.7 percent year-over-year, as they’re likely to move close to 1.2 million units.

“Franchised dealers are having an excellent used-car month, estimated to be up nearly 10 percent versus a year ago. This is especially true for large retailers such as CarMax and AutoNation,” said CNW president Art Spinella.

“But even smaller dealers are harvesting a windfall of shoppers who say they are looking to shed an older vehicle that simply doesn’t have the features and reliability needed,” he added.

Independents are also projected to end up with a solid up (up 4.9 percent) with 1.14 million used sales. Casual sales are expected to fall 4.8 percent at 749,696 units sold.

Looking at the strong increases among the dealers and the drop-off in private-party sales, Spinella emphasized how big a role prices have played.

“Low prices are clearly making an impression on used-car shoppers as they scour dealer lots more and buy from private parties less,” he said.

Later on in the report, Spinella would reiterate just how significant pricing declines have been in pushing used-car sales.

“One of the major reasons we’re seeing strong used-car sales can be traced to prices being softer during the past few months,” he said. “November’s franchised dealer transaction prices fell 1.6 percent versus October to the lowest level since January-February of this year.

“For independent dealers, transaction prices for November slipped about a half-percent versus October on a mixed history for the year,” he added.
 

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.