The retail used-car market, including the certified pre-owned segment, showed some real strength last month, improving from both year-ago and January figures.

This after what appeared to be sluggish start to 2024.

Citing data from its vAuto business unit, Cox Automotive estimated that used-vehicle retail sales in February climbed 18% month-over-month and 5% year-over-year.

The company said in a Data Point report Monday that CPO sales were up 5% month-over-month and 2% year-over-year.

Cox is forecasting a 3% year-over-year hike in CPO sales this year, with sales projected at 2.7 million units.

In the first month of 2024, however, certified sales were off to a slow start.

Cox estimated in February that CPO sales for January were down 12% month-over-month and even with January 2023 figures.

In his latest Kontos Kommentary report, ADESA chief economist Tom Kontos shared preliminary January used-car sales figures from the National Automobile Dealers Association that show “2024 is off to a slower start than any of the previous five years.”

The 1.99 million used-car sales from franchised and independent dealers in January, per NADA estimates in the Kontos report, was down 6.3% year-over-year.

It was off 7.5% from January 2022, down 10.4% from 2021, down 13.3% from 2020 and 10.1% softer than January 2019.

Franchised dealers moved 985,325 used vehicles in January (down 6.3% year-over-year drop), according to the NADA estimates cited by Kontos. Independents sold 1,008,076, also a 6.3% decline.