BANDON, Ore. -

Even though transaction prices softened, CNW Research discovered that September represented a solid year-over-year used-vehicle sales gain as the total represented an 8.76-percent rise.

All told, CNW tabulated that the used-vehicle sales totaled 3.81 million units in September, a figure representing what both franchised and independent dealers turned during the month, as well as private-party transactions.

The firm broke down September’s total and compared it to the same month last year, determining:

—Franchised dealer used sales: 1.34 million versus 1,19 million, up 12.46 percent.

—Independent dealer used sales: 1.33 million versus 1.17 million, up 13.56 percent.

—Private-party sales: 838,889 versus 863,369, down 2.89 percent.

On a share-of-total-sales basis, CNW indicated that franchised dealers took 38.12 percent (up from 36.86 percent a year ago). Independent dealers held 37.99 percent (up from 36.39 percent a year ago) with private-party sales accounting for 23.89 percent (26.76 percent a year ago).

Looking at those average transaction prices, the figure at franchised dealers slid a bit year-over-year as CNW noted it ticked down 6.87 from $13,191 to $12,285.

At independent lots, the firm said transaction prices softened by an even greater rate — 13.6 percent — as deals went from $7,942 to $6,862.

Even more of a decrease was private-party transaction prices, which dropped by 17.49 percent last month to $7,078 from $8,679.

CNW computed that the total value of used sales in September came in at $31.53 billion, down 2.79 percent from last year’s figure of $32.44 billion.

On the finance side, the firm indicated there was a 13.7-percent increase in the number of buyers who received a pre-approved loan before purchasing a used vehicle.

CNW found that the market share held by buy-here, pay-here dealers jumped 33 percent versus a year ago with the number of subprime buyers increasing by 78 percent to 923,230.

Analysts also noticed buyers with FICO scores below 550 jumped 86.7 percent in September compared to the same month a year ago.

Finally, of the vehicles sold last month, CNW discovered the brand share held by domestic OEMs fell 4.8 percent to 60.1 percent while Asian brands jumped 24.5 percent to 32.99 percent of sales with European models slipping by a third to 6.9 percent.