In a “promising” sign for dealers, about two-thirds of the participants in the latest dealer survey from KeyBanc Capital Markets said their used-vehicle gross profits per unit were up more than $50 year-over-year in February.

Only 17 percent saw their used gross profits per unit drop more than $50 per unit, and 17 percent showed static results.

Coupled with stronger F&I gross profits for most dealers, these results had KeyBanc calling the gross profit environment an auspicious one for dealers.

“Gross profit environment was promising in February as majority of our respondents indicated gross profit per unit in used and F&I increased more than $50 year over year, which should offset mixed results reported in new vehicles, and P&S gross margin was flat to up,” KeyBanc said in the report.

Here’s another good sign for the used-car business that KeyBanc illustrated: the majority of dealers were seeing their used sales increase last month.

In fact, 75 percent of responding dealers indicated increased used-vehicle sales. Breaking that down, most (58 percent) increased by as much as 5 percent, 8 percent were increasing from 5 percent to 10 percent, and 8 percent climbed more than 10 percent.

Meanwhile, 17 percent said their used sales were down more than 10 percent, and 8 percent said their used sales fell by up to 5 percent.

For more insight into the F&I side of KeyBanc’s analysis, see the story from SubPrime Auto Finance News here.