AutoNation had some solid wins in its used-car operations during the second quarter, including a “healthy” supply of pre-owned units within the dealer group, stable profitability and expectations for off-lease growth in the second half.

During an earnings presentation last week, AutoNation CEO Mike Manley said the retailer continues to post strong sales of used vehicles above $40,000, but was challenged by lower numbers of more affordable used vehicles.

“Our volume was slightly impacted by lower mix of vehicles priced below $20,000 than we would like. And we continue to work to improve our accessibility to vehicles priced in this range,” Manley said. “Used-vehicle profitability remained stable at approximately $1,600 per unit. Total gross margin was just under 18% of revenue for the quarter, which represents consistent top-tier performance for the sector.”

Chief financial officer Tom Szlosek noted tightness among more affordable units, but also emphasized strong executive among the AutoNation team.

“Used-vehicle supply remains tight for lower-priced units and the team executed well, balancing sourcing, unit volumes, and overall profitability. Used retail unit sales were lower year over year, but mix remained favorable with units priced above $40,000, up 10%, driving an 8% increase in revenue per unit,” Szlosek said during the call.

“The unit profitability in this category is more than double that for the rest of our used business. Used-vehicle gross profit was $1,582 in the second quarter compared with $1,622 in the prior year with unit profitability remaining stable over the last year,” he said. “Our vehicle supply remains healthy with approximately 90% of used vehicles internally sourced and we expect the off-lease supply to accelerate meaningfully in the second half.”

Here’s more on how the used-car numbers shook out for AutoNation in the second quarter and first half of the year.

AutoNation retailed 64,521 used vehicles during the quarter, down 7.5% from Q2 2025 and sold 130,339 used retail units in the first half, a 5.4% decline.

AutoNation’s used-car revenue climbed to $2.01 billion during Q2, up from $1.99 billion a year ago. Through six months, used revenue has reached $3.98 billion, up from $3.91 billion in the first half of 2025.

Breaking that down, retail used revenue climbed 0.3% year-over-year to $1.85 billion for Q2 and was up 0.9% in the first half, coming in at $3.67 billion.

Wholesale used-vehicle revenue jumped 15.2% during the quarter, reaching $161.3 million, with first-half numbers up 13% at $305.5 million.

Overall used-car gross profits for Q2 were at $115.1 million, down 8.2% from a year ago. First-half figures were at $236.5 million, a 5.4% decrease.

Retail used gross profits fell 9.7% at $102.1 million in Q2 and were down 8.4% in the first half at $207 million.

Wholesale gross profits moved from $12.3 million to $13 million on the quarter and from $23.8 million to $29.5 million for the first half.

Revenue per used vehicle retailed was up 8.4% in the quarter at $28,674, but gross profit per used car retailed fell 2.5% at $1,582.

For the first half, used revenue per vehicle climbed 6.6% at $28,155, with gross profits per unit falling 3.3% at $1,588.