CNW: Used Sales to Likely Drop 1.5 Percent in June

May might have been a great month for used-vehicle sales, but CNW Research president Art Spinella doesn’t expect the same for June.

He’s forecasting a 1.5-percent year-over-year downturn.

“The used industry had a stellar May, but June is looking to take some of the gains back,” Spinella said.

“Based on the first 19 days of June, used sales should top 4.4 million units, but that would be down about 1.5 percent compared to last year,” he continued.

However, Spinella emphasized that year-to-date sales through June are still projected to reach 18.6 million, which would be a 4.4-percent increase.

Breaking down the June projections, franchised dealers are projected to move 1.67 million used units, which would be a 1-percent improvement from June 2011, while independents will likely move 1.53 million used vehicles for a 4.3-percent decline.

Casual sales are projected to reach 1.2 million units for a 1-percent drop.

Turning to used prices, Spinella had this to say: “As seen on the wholesale side, the used-car prices at franchised and independent dealers have slipped versus May, with asking prices off nearly $500 (3.59 percent) and transaction prices lower by a similar amount (4.38 percent).

“Among independent dealers, asking prices are $9,809 on average thus far in June compared with $10,068 a year ago and $9,987 last month,” he added.