There were less shoppers looking for used cars last month, but industry-wide used-vehicle sales still managed to beat year-ago figures by nearly 4 percent, according to CNW Research, which also pointed out that dealers — as well as private sellers — were able to fetch higher transaction prices.

Overall, CNW said there were 3.65 million used retail sales in September, a 3.9 percent year-over-year increase. The greatest gains were seen among private individuals, as casual sales rose 18.9 percent.

Used sales for franchised dealers climbed 5.44 percent, while independent dealers saw their sales fall 6.99 percent.

Breaking it down by brand, CNW pointed out that Asian automakers increased their share of the used-car pie by 10 percent, with Big 3 and European brands both seeing their respective shares decrease.

By segment, passenger cars commanded a 52.8-percent share of used transfers, which was up 2.24 percent.  Conversely, SUV share dropped 14.4 percent and came in at 7.3 percent.

Used Prices

Average transaction prices were modestly higher for independents (up 0.7 percent) and within private-party sales (up 1.22 percent), but franchised dealers were getting almost 11 percent more on their used sales.

CNW attributes this to an increase in certified pre-owned and later-model vehicles at franchised stores.

Although prices were going up, the number of shoppers went down across the industry; falling 6.5 percent, to be exact.
 

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