BANDON, Ore. -

Used-car sales in July fell nearly 2 percent industry-wide and dipped more than 5 percent for franchised dealers, according to CNW Research. But dealers, particularly the franchised stores, should take heart.

Trade-ins on new-vehicle sales will likely “spike” in August, CNW says, meaning franchised dealers should see a “solid” month on the pre-owned side.

That would be on top of the industry-wide growth in late-model supply in July, spurred by rising off-lease and off-fleet volume, CNW indicated.

That may be an especially good sign for the certified pre-owned market that’s becoming increasingly important to franchised dealers.

In July, supply of 1-year-old used vehicles was up 1.4 percent, CNW said, while supply for 2-year-old cars climbed 10.8 percent and 3-year-old cars jumped 1.6 percent.

As far as used sales, there were just under 4.5 million pre-owned cars sold in July, compared to 4.58 million used sales in July 2013 and 4.51 million used sales in June of this year.

Franchised dealers’ used sales were down 5.2 percent year-over-year and up 1.4 percent month-over-month. Similarly, there was a 5.2-percent downturn in sales for independents, who increased their sales sequentially by roughly 1 percent.

Casual sales jumped 6.5 percent year-over-year and fell 3.8 percent month-over-month.