TORRANCE, Calif. -

In the first half of the year, Findlay Honda sold more certified pre-owned Hondas than it did in the entirety of 2010, and the store’s  year-to-date CPO sales through July more than doubled the sum from the first seven months last year, according to used car manager Chuck Loubert.

The Las Vegas dealership, apparently, is not alone in this certified surge.

The Honda brand has seen CPO sales jump about 16 percent year-to-date across the country, with July being the best-ever certified month in the company’s history.

More specifically, there were 21,186 CPO Hondas sold during the month, compared to 20,062 sold in July 2010, according to Honda’s national remarketing manager Dan Crowe. Year-to-date, the Honda division has notched 135,482 certified sales, up from 116,847 sales through July 2010.

“July was an outstanding month for HCUC,” Crowe said when July CPO results were revealed earlier this month.

When asked what has bolstered Honda’s certified offering nationally, Loubert told Auto Remarketing on Wednesday that he believes “we’re doing a better job advertising the certified Honda brand” and combined with attractive APR incentives, this has raised the awareness of Honda certified. Thus, consumer demand has increased.

At Findlay Honda, in particular, it moved 17 CPO Hondas in July, compared to 15 in the same month a year ago. CPO sales through July for the store reached 145 units, compared to 68 in the first seven months of 2010. The full-year total from 2010 was 127 CPO sales.

Loubert cited several factors pushing the certified gains at his store, including low new-car supply.

“New-car inventory is so far off that our used-car numbers are up a little,” he explained.

When asked if there has been a substitution effect — say a customer comes in looking for a new Honda, but because of low supply goes with a CPO Honda instead — Loubert said: “That’s more prevalent than ever right now,” pointing out the fact that he only has 32 new Hondas on his lot.

“And we normally have 200,” he noted.

Another factor Loubert cited was that he strives to certify any Honda that meets CPO criteria.

“I’m certifying every Honda that will go through certification, and last year I probably wasn’t,” he explained.

Loubert is also getting a strong buy-in on CPO from the store’s sales staff, and consumers appear to be more aware about CPO, as they often ask about the certified offering when they arrive at the dealership.

Looking at the national landscape, not only were certified sales on the rise for Honda, so were the prices of some of the most popular CPO models from the brand, according to one particular online auto marketplace.

Of the 20 most-researched certified vehicles on AutoTrader.com during July — five of which were Hondas — the two models seeing the highest year-over-year increase in asking prices were the Accord (up 11.42 percent) and the Civic (up 11.06 percent).

What’s more, the Accord was the second-most popular vehicle on the site during July, and the Civic was seventh. Other CPO models from Honda to make AutoTrader’s list were the Pilot at No. 13, the CR-V at 18th and the Odyssey at No. 20.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned to Auto Remarketing Today and AutoRemarketing.com to hear more insight from dealers on how they are driving CPO sales growth when used-vehicle volumes are so low.