FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

Almost exactly a year ago, AutoNation’s management was discussing its used-car performance during a conference call with analysts and said to expect stronger results from the retailer on the pre-owned side in the future.

It appears they were spot-on.

Reviewing annual results from 2012, AutoNation acknowledged at the time that its performance in used (relative to the overall industry) was better in the opening six months of the year than the latter.  

During the late-January 2013 call, president and chief operating officer Mike Maroone noted a “shift from used to new” that was happening and pointed to supply as the biggest challenge in the retailer’s used-car business.

But at the same time, he emphasized the litany of diverse efforts from AutoNation to ramp up its used-car inventories and forecasted a brighter used performance.

“We are working really hard on the supply side. I think you can expect better results with us going forward. We are actually working harder to retain more of our trades and have made some structural changes in the first of the year that our team is very bought into,” Maroone said during the call, later adding: “Certainly I think on a go-forward basis, as there is more supply available, I think the used-vehicle business will get better for the industry and for AutoNation.”

Now, consider the retailer’s used-car results from full-year 2013:

AutoNation said it moved 204,572 used retail units for the year on an overall basis, up 13.1 percent compared to 180,955 used sales in 2012. The retailer capped the year with 49,292 used retail sales in Q4, which was a 14.7-percent hike.

Retail gross profits on used vehicles reached $325.2 million (up 10.7 percent) for the year and $78.1 million (up 15.5 percent) for the fourth quarter.

AutoNation grabbed $1,584 gross profit per used vehicle retailed in the fourth quarter, up from $1,574 a year earlier. For full-year 2013, its gross profit per retail used unit was at $1,590, down from $1,623 in 2012.

Looking at same-store results, the retailer achieved a 9.1-percent increase in used retail unit sales for full-year 2013 and a 10.1-percent increase in Q4.

The retailer pulled in $75.4 million in same-store gross profits from retail used vehicles in Q4, which was a 12.0-percent increase. For full-year 2013, it was at $314.9 million, a 7.3-percent hike.  

Gross profit per used unit retailed was up 1.7 percent at $1,598 for Q4; for full-year 2013, it was down 1.5 percent at $1,597.

“There's a lot of interest in the used segment, and I think our execution is better than what it's been in the past. We've really worked hard in acquiring vehicles, both winning trades in the showroom and using other methods outside the store to acquire vehicles. And I think it's helped us a lot,” Maroone said in the company’s latest earnings conference call, according to a transcript of the call posted by SeekingAlpha.com. He was being asked about the increases in the used-to-new ratio and the drivers to that.

“We've also wholesaled lots, so we're retailing higher-mileage vehicles and continued to perform at a higher level. So to us, it’s both volume and margin. And this is our second straight quarter, I believe, of 10-percent same-store growth and we're pleased with that,” he continued. “So I think there's still more opportunity in used, you just have to really work hard to get the right inventory at the right time and the right price.”

In addition to the inventory generation opportunities afforded by the expected upswing in lease returns — which AutoNation and its management team “love” — the company was asked by an analyst about the amount of cars it is pulling from direct-buy programs.

Maroone said the company is testing “a series of different things.”

He said AutoNation is “buying trade-ins from Tesla. We're doing guaranteed offers. We've got a centralized buying team. There's probably 1,000 units a quarter that we get from new sources and we're continuing to mine for other methods of getting vehicle. So to us, it's about building a capability, and I think our capability of buying vehicles outside our stores is one that's very important to grow long term.”