SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Roughly a week ago, Edmunds.com released an analysis indicating that certified pre-owned vehicles represented nearly 21 percent of total franchised dealer used-vehicle sales in the third quarter.

And the CPO share for the current month could be even stronger, according to data that Edmunds shared Monday with Auto Remarketing.

Analysts with the site estimate that 878,000 of the 2.64 million used sales expected for November are via franchised dealers.

And certified units are expected to command approximately a 22.5-percent share of franchised dealer used sales for the month, with about 197,000 CPO cars sold. 

The CPO segment becoming an increasingly larger part of the franchised dealer’s used-car operation was one of the key themes addressed at the CPO Forum and Used Car Week earlier this month in Las Vegas.

Not long after the events ended, Edmunds released its Q3 2014 Used Vehicle Market Report, which detailed just how strong the certified market had been through the first nine months of the year.

As the report’s data shows, franchised dealers are not just selling more used cars. A greater proportion of those cars are CPO vehicles.

In fact, the certified side of the business represented nearly 21 percent of total franchised dealer used-vehicle sales in the third quarter, compared to a CPO share of just under 19 percent in the same period of last year.

Edmunds pinpointed industry-wide used sales at 9.16 million for Q3 and 27.89 million year-to-date.

During the third quarter, franchised dealers moved 2.97 million used vehicles, according to Edmunds. Over 611,000 of those were CPO units, meaning that certified pre-owned commanded a 20.59-percent share of all used sales at franchised dealerships.

In Q3 of 2013, franchised stores sold 2.86 million used cars, with 540,260 being CPO (or, an 18.87-percent share for CPO).

Through three quarters of 2014, franchised dealers had moved 8.59 million used vehicles year-to-date, 1.74 million of which were CPO. 

That translates to 20.31-percent CPO penetration. A year ago, CPO share was at 19.02 percent through Q3, as 1.57 million of the 8.27 million used cars franchised dealers sold in the first three quarters were certified.

Here’s another way to look at it: Overall used sales for franchised dealers climbed 3.7 percent year-over-year in Q3. CPO sales jumped 13.1 percent.

Similarly, year-to-date franchised dealer used sales were up 3.9 percent through September; certified sales were up 10.9 percent.

One of the key drivers to rising certified sales has been the boost in lease returns, which tends to benefit CPO supply, in particular.

“After leasing fell into the doldrums in 2009, it has been climbing ever since,” Edmunds analysts noted in the report.

“There has been an uptick in number of lease returns — this leads to more certifiable vehicles which have seen the heftiest gain among all the used vehicle segments,” they added, referring to supply.